For all their varied interests, riders tend to share a common frustration: the search for the perfect saddle.  A saddle that is comfortable both for the rider and for the equine partner: horse, mule, donkey, pony, perhaps a zebra.  Saddle makers and manufacturers of endless accessories such as pads and blankets strive to help riders find the perfect solution.  The quest continues.  Why? Two important reasons: Every equine has a unique conformation, as does every rider.  Equally important, every riding discipline from racing to jumping to ranch work, endurance, western sports and dressage may seek a saddle believed best suited to that use.  

We put together a “Saddle Purchase Checklist” for the students at the SCRT^TM Workshops.  When we needed a new saddle for the SCRT program however, the list turned out to be an organized way of discovering that one saddle after another failed to meet our needs.  Though most of our students are adult riders, they come in both genders and a variety of sizes. The shape of their pelvis can be crucial to rider comfort as can the way the legs articulate out of the pelvis through the hips. Not the least of our saddle requirements are very wide bars to accommodate most of our school horses. Naturally, we would like to have a saddle suitable for each horse and each rider. A fantasy. 

After our latest saddle search that lasted two years, one of our students recently arrived from Texas with a saddle for us to evaluate. The saddle, a Trekker Pro Endurance, is German-made, all leather, with a remarkable array of easily executed adjustments including seat size, stirrup bars, knee rolls, saddle width.  The saddle requires a dressage type girth. While it is treeless, it is comfortable for both rider and horse, and seems to allow the horse to step through from the hindquarters in an unusually fluid way. 

The Trekker Pro Endurance could be best described as a crossover saddle, combining the most useful features of an English and western saddle. The company carries other models.  After extensive testing, thanks to our student, we bought a Trekker Pro Endurance saddle to use in the SCRT program, for training green horses and for general riding. The workmanship in this saddle reflects the usual high standards of German saddle-making. The seat is extremely comfortable.  The horses have displayed no fitting problems. Finally, the price of these saddles is reasonable.