Moran Show Western saddle?

Question

What does everyone think of this show saddle? I like its unique style and think It is just beautiful. I like the light colored seat and the layout and design of the silver. I know its on the high end but its for sale for such a reasonable price. Does anyone have experience with the Moran brand and whats the Quality?

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-WESTERN-SHOW-SADDLE-SILVER-RTL-6495-MORAN-SADDLERY_W0QQitemZ230276496243QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item230276496243&_trkparms=72%3A1011%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A4%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318

Answer 1

Although I like the lifetime tree guarantee, its impossible to tell from the photos how the leather quality is or whether its actually hand-tooled.  If it is premium leather and hand tooled, then this is a good price.  But the fact they put plated silver on it makes me think twice.  I wouldn't pay this much money for a saddle with silverplate, or for a saddle from an unknown maker.  It may have cost them far less to build this saddle, and you won't know until you recieve it -- then its too late if you aren't happy with it because they state they will accept an exchange or trade up if you want to pay even more but that you cannot get a refund.  I wouldn't buy it at all unless you don't care if the quality happens to be substandard.  It might be great but you'd be taking a big chance that it wasn't.  I personally also don't care for some of the other things I see on this saddle but that's just me.  And, it says this is not the saddle you'll get, if you buy from them they'll custom make you a saddle.  This is too low a price to get a premium custom western show saddle in my opinion.  Also standard options or features are not given; it doesn't say what rigging is included if any, it doesn't say how the saddle is rigged, what the hardware is made of, or even the tree specifications.  It should.  If they offer custom they should still state what options they can offer you, who makes their trees, what tree types, what seat sizes are available, etc.  Again if mediocre is ok with you or you want to take a chance go ahead, but I wouldn't.  You can get a better saddle for the same price.   Just my two cents.

Answer 2

i personally don't like it.

the coloring is too light for my taste and i dont think it looks good on many horses.

i myself like dale chavez (:

Answer 3

Looks exactly like the western pleasure saddle people were using at show Oo...Its cool and looks good go ahead get it if you want it.

Answer 4

i think it's tacky personally. i don't like all the tooling and the bronze accents. i think it looks too cluttered. personally, i'd much rather have a blue ribbon or harris saddle for the same price and get something i KNOW is quality. i've never heard of a moran?! sulphur oklahoma is home to several big name saddlemakers, so maybe they're good saddles, but personally i wouldnt take that chance with this kind of money. 3,000 dollars is NOT a reasonable price in my opinion. i paid less than 1,000 for a saddle that's just as nice looking and i'm very pleased. i think it's crazy to spend thousands of dollars on a saddle you're only going to sit in for a few minutes at a time once or twice a month.

Answer 5

Personally, I've NEVER heard of Moran Silver/Saddlery.  Looking at that saddle though it's a VERY nice saddle, but it's silver plate, NOT overlay.  The difference is that the tooled metal (Stainless) is dipped in a silver solution, whereas plate is a thin plate of silver is layed over the metal and then tooled.  The tooled leather looks very nice and I do like the brass on the silver with the black enamel, very BLING!

Take a look at what www.brokenhornsaddlery.com has to offer for saddles.  They've made several of mine throughout the decades.  Their head silversmith, Mario, was my silversmith long before he went to work for Broken Horn.

Answer 6

omgomgomgomg etc

that's like my dream  saddle.

our friends who had show QH's had a saddle very similar and i always begged them for it...i never got it though...hey E can i have that for my 21st????? please