Customer Reviews
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Very excited to receive my
Very excited to receive my saddle I got even more discounted with spinning the wheel! I am a first time customer and will be ordering again! So happy with the company, best prices around by far.
Better than expected!
Quality was much better than expected and rode well for the first ride!
Breeches.com
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Great saddle for the price
I love this saddle, it looks amazing and is actually very light and comfortable. Fit my OTTB perfectly.
16.5 HDR Cahill
I'm a junior (18 in June 2021) at a hunter/jumper show barn in BC, Canada, and on a good day I ride up to 3/4 horses not including my own. All my peers and trainers have saddles from high-end French brands, and I would choose HDR and specifically the Cahill over those brands any day of the week. I did own an HDR before this one, but it was the wrong size in a couple areas for me and my personal horse. The Cahill took about 6 weeks to arrive to Canada, from ordering beginning of January to arriving mid/early February. It was pretty stiff out of the box although the calfskin was still very soft. I've only ever used the Effax leather balsam and CDM conditioning glycerine soap on it, and it broke in pretty well. Don't use oil on a covered saddle, the adhesive inbetween the soft leather and denser leather will dissolve and your calfskin will deteriorate and come apart. I have all the gullet sizes and switch them around 2-3 times on a day I have horses that aren't similar in shape, and while it takes a little time to get the hang of it, I'd say having a saddle that fits both the old swaybacked hunter gelding that otherwise goes in a front bump-up, and the flat backed jumper mare perfectly is completely worth the hassle. I'm talking picture-perfect sweat marks, no soreness, no breastplate needed except for over fences, no corrective pads. It fits every horse i've put it on, with the help of a cotton Thinline pad or sheepskin pad (always without shims!) depending on what we're doing. Not to mention the Cahill fits me like it's custom built. I'm 5'4 with freakishly long legs and a very small pelvis and upper body, so my knees go over every "forward flap" saddle I've ever sat in except for this one. I think the only thing I didn't like about this saddle at first was the nylon lined synthetic billet straps, but they seem to break in relatively similar to leather ones just much slower and no stretch. The billet covers are also a little clunky, but settle down if you take them off and hand-break them in. The saddle was quite dark out of the box and stained my grey Aztec Diamond breeches. I did use Fiebing's saddle oil on the grain leather parts of the saddle and on the billet covers. The foam panels are SO soft, they mould to every horse's back individually after a couple minutes. I wouldn't recommend this saddle for a draft or an obese, uber-flat backed horse since the panels on the rear are more of an A-frame shape, but as a personal saddle to put on a bunch of different horses this one is probably the best. That being said, the panels DO squish a little in the back once the foam warms up, so it really isn't an issue unless you've got an *extremely* round horse (which don't seem to be too common in North America so you're probably fine). All in all, a gorgeous saddle for an unbeatable price that will hopefully last me many years and many more horses! And when the time comes to replace it, I hope HDR will still have the Cahill in production. Maybe with more piping options.
Beyond expectation!
This saddle is super nice quality, gorgeous color combo (I got black/ blue) and very well balanced. The leather is excellent quality and just grippy enough. It fits well on my large withered OTTB and my round paint mare. Definitely recommend!!
Breeches.com
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