I recently purchased an older 17', med/wide Stubben Tristan Extra dressage saddle. I was told it could be over 20 years old, and I was wondering if anyone could give me any information on the age? Perhaps the logo could tell...?
Another thing - under the right skirt it says Stubben and has the brand stamped, but under the left skirt there is a Schleese stamp logo & phone number. So what is my saddle, a Stubben or a Schleese? Is it a Stubben that was just 'serviced' by a Schleese saddlery or what?
Oh, and some of the nail heads say Stubben, and others say Schleese...
I'd bet money on this being an older Stubben Tristan. My guess is that Schleese did work on it, and that's the reason for the Schleese identification being added. It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen Schleese build, but why not contact Jochen directly - he blogs on Barnmice. He might have some very interesting insights with regard to the answers!
Stubben replied, but they said they couldn't give me any info on my saddle because they don't comment on altered saddles. Apparently another saddlery has 'tinkered' with Stubben's craftmanship and is no longer at their standard...
Many years ago, before the invention (?) of computers - well, at least before we had them - we used to put one of our saddle plates on the saddles we worked on in order to quickly tell whether or not we had seen them before during subsequent visits. This must be an old saddle; we haven't done that in over 20 years!
I also have an older Stubben. If you look on the off side logo flap at the very top, or possibly somewhere else on yours, you will find a stamped serial number. Stubben can tell you what it means, but the last two digits of the number are the year it was built. Below that might also be a number such as 31 or 32 which is the size, something like the cm measure between the tree points, I believe. These saddles last forever if they are well cared for, mine is the Wotan version, built in '72 in Switzerland. My horse is hard to fit, highish wither, broad, short back, but the Stubben came the closest of the English saddles I could find reasonably priced. If yours was reflocked by Schleese then you have an excellent saddle there.
-- Edited by Marlene on Friday 17th of December 2010 09:55:13 AM