My personal favorite is still my daily saddle, which is a double bullhide Perry Ivory tree with 3 1/2" comfort cantle and Guadalajara horn,with monkey nose tapaderos. My uncle built it for his arab 45 years ago and it fits my boy perfectly. However its a brute 60+ lbs. So for the past 4 years I've been trying every saddle I can for a light weight second saddle. I like the Colegiate Marathon, very comfortable. Troopers saddles which are a copy of British military saddles are excelent and probably what I'll purchase, Tarpin hill makes a nice one. Peruvian saddles are very comfortable and most I've seen are very well made but almost as heavy as mine. Argentine gaucho saddles, my horse didn't want anything to do with it, but it was comfortable for me. Spanish saddles are all comfortable, I like the Vaquera style, but I ride in the desert around tucson and the amount of stuff that would stick in all the fleece is mind boggling I tried a few of the french trecking saddles, as with all things French the leather was exquisite and the workmanship perfect but a bit on the pricy side for a second saddle for me. As far as military saddles go, the way horses are built now compared to 60 years ago when these saddles were last built they just dont fit, but of these the Phillips was my favorite, I used my grandfathers for polo and for a jumping saddle all throught highschool and college. I liked a couple of the treeless saddles, the Ansur was nicely as was made and comfortable.

Going back to the Vaquera saddle they are actually very flexible only the pommel and cantle are ridged, on the lines of some of the treeless saddles that have the zipper pockets. The skirts it seems are made of straw and goat hair. I have had an email conversation with a saddle maker in Portugal who makes a model for short backed horses; his daughter raises Arabian's. I do not have his web page on this computer. I will post it later if anyone is interested.
I guess my fascination with these saddles is the sumptuous look of all that fleece. I was always taught that a hard ground seat was the only good saddle. Which considering the source was probably true, these were relatives who spent who spent 8-12 hours a day in the saddle in every weather condition. And in the days when they rode there was no closed cell foam, the padded seats sucked in and held water like a sponge. But I have realized that these are not the conditions I ride in. Like I said before I imagine keeping them clean would be a nightmare but if I want to go brush busting I have my old saddle

Any of you ridden side-saddle? How did you like it?