Imus - Gaits of Gold
4 Beat Saddle - Endurance Style
Trail Saddles
Manufacturer: Imus - Gaits of Gold
Model: 4 Beat Saddle - Endurance Style
Category: Trail Saddles
Purchase: From a saddle shop used/consignment for $1200.
Likes: The seat is comfortable when sitting on a saddle rack. It is kind of attractive. Many people seem to like it. The customer service at Gaits of Gold is great. I did not buy the saddle from them but they allowed me to submit photos of my horse in order to help me figure out what tree size he needed. They were super helpful.
Dislikes: Pretty much everything. It feels like you are sitting in a sling suspended over your horses back when riding. There is no contact, forget close contact. The saddle SQUEAKS loud. You have to powder it to make it stop. The quality/construction is not consistent with it's price/hype. It does not seem sturdy enough to do any great length of ride. The stirrups are placed 1" farther forward than most western saddles with the intention of putting you in a "chair position". I did not realize this when the saddle was sitting on the rack at the saddle shop. I did not like this positioning at all. I like the more balanced placement that creates alignment from head to foot. On the website the tree of the saddle is likened to "hard tire rubber" and flexes a lot more than most flex tree saddles, the panels that contact the horse are attached to the underside of the pommel and cantle and are flexi as well, this is what created (for me) that sensation of sitting in a bouncy sling over my horse. The design is questionable. Not a fan.
Quality: Mid-range, not up to the price or hype. Let me clarify that this particular used saddle was a Circle Y era saddle and Brenda Imus has said that she moved production from Circle Y to another manufacturer due to quality issues. So, perhaps the newer ones are better?
Summary: I returned the saddle. Not a fan of this design. The Imus/Gaits of Gold folks are very nice though and super helpful. I wanted to love it.
Rating: 2
Author: Trail gal
Date: 2010-10-31
Usefulness Rating: 3.46429 out of 5.
28 reader(s) voted.
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