[Overpaid Slacker]

Given my size, I'll be riding larger horses, and I'll buy a "large horse" saddle.

Granted, they may not all be Shires, Belgians, Percherons or Clydesdales, but I'm buying for horse-size, and I'll probably be doing a substantial fraction of draft horse riding.

Some more backstory -- the current girlfriend comes from a family of horse folk. Her dad was flown all over the country to judge horses, and her grandfather just had (posthumously) a New York State Draft Horse Association's award named after him. So her family has a lot of knowledge about the whole horse thing, and I'm comfortable with large horses. I don't doubt that there are tempermental draft horses out there, and I'll lose 100/100 arguments with them, but I've met a number of docile, well-mannered draft horses, and that's what I'll ride... and ultimately, perhaps, buy.

No show riding, no barrel racing, no fancy schmancy stuff. Just a good, durable leather saddle that will fit larger (but not necessarily gargantuan) horses. I figure it'd be a Western style, but if someone can 'splain to me why/why not have a pommel, etc., that'd help.

Mickey (the girlfriend's father) is ridiculously knowledgeable about this stuff, but my access to him is sporadic (he is a mountainman) and I'd like to build a knowledge base before he and I have discussions about what to buy... plus, although he knows "everybody" in the draft horse scene in New York and can find me something sooner or later, I'm the one with Internet access, so if I can take what I've learned and find some options to bring to him, I get to leverage both his knowledge and the Internet's information.

As I mentioned... mostly trail and open ground (not work) riding. Likely to be mostly afternoon rides, with a couple of day/overnight camping trips a year. I've been using one of Mickey's old barrel saddles. The seat is not "long" enough (it's a 17) and the stirrups come up a bit short. I'll be in a few other saddles in the next couple of weeks, but, again, I'm trying to educate myself about what I should be looking/looking out for.

Thanks.

JP