Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle Review: Comfort & Fit

Mar 18, 2023

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Got a hard-to-fit, gaited horse? Tired of coming home from a trail ride with a sore butt, achy knees and feet? If you have a gaited horse, a Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle could be the perfect solution for both you and your horse. Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter saddles are made for riding long hours on the trail in comfort.

Trail riding is so much fun. Or at least it should be.

With the right saddle, it is. But if you’re sitting on a saddle that could double as an antique tractor seat, the ride can lose some of its sparkle. And the next day? Yeah, you know what that can be like.

Stiff and sore pretty much sums it up. It’s the same for your horse too.

An Ill-Fitted Saddle Equals an Unpredictable Horse

Trail rides aren’t fun for your horse if his back is hurting, or, if he doesn’t have enough room for his shoulders and hips to move freely. Nor are trail rides fun for your horse if he can’t raise his head enough because the pommel is too low for him as a gaited horse.

A miserable horse is an unpredictable horse.

So, What’s The Solution?

No need for you or your horse to suffer. Why? Because the Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle is made for gaited horses. It’s made by people who understand what your horse needs for optimal performance.

The Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle encompasses everything you and your horse need to ride comfortably – no matter how long you ride, or the kind of terrain you’re traversing.

Fits a Variety of Horses (Even Hard-to-Fit Horses)

The Flex2 tree has a rigid ground seat with a dual bar system that provides both stability and flexibility where it’s needed. So your seat won’t cave in and hurt your horse’s spine over a period of time. There’s just enough cushion and rigidity in all the right places. This tree is available for riders of all sizes and has proven over time to fit a large variety of horses.

No More Sore Butts

Nothing kills a long (or short) trail ride like a hard seat. And with a Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle, you won’t have to. What’s the secret to this saddle’s comfort? The seat is super-soft with impact foam to cushion your ride with every step.

Here’s the kicker: Although this seat provides lots of cushion, it won’t wear down quickly over time like other saddles.

No Break-In Period Necessary

The comfort of this saddle is simply unmatched. Best of all, there’s no annoying break-in period. Jockeys and fenders are made of Softee leather, which are soft and supple right out of the box. What that means for you, the rider, is that there’s no twisting the stirrups into position until the leather molds into the right shape.

It also means no more sore legs while you try to twist your stirrups to suit you.

Absorbs Shock on Rough Terrain

Like I said in the beginning of this post, nothing kills a trail ride like riding over rough terrain and coming home with a sore body. Our Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle is made with a Neo-Shock Skirt.

What does the Neo-Shock skirt do? It absorbs shock from rough terrain and uneven surfaces through the neoprene filler. This filler is designed to muffle any vibration – providing a smoother ride for both you and your horse.

Best of all, this skirt conforms to the conformation of your horse! Pretty darn nifty, right?

Say Good-bye to Sore Knees, Feet and Ankles

If you find that after a trail ride, your knees and feet are sore, the Ergo-Balance stirrups are a real life-saver. The trademarked Ergo-Balance eliminates torque on a rider’s knees and ankles. It allows you to tilt the stirrups, and keeps you in proper position for balanced riding. Balanced riding takes the strain off your legs caused by improper riding position.

Eliminate Pressure on Your Horse’s Spine

Your horse will be grateful for you buying the Circle Y Kentucky Gaited Trail Saddle too. Why?
Horses suffer in silence. They can’t tell you when the saddle is putting too much pressure on their spine. Your horse can only suffer in silence.

Fortunately, the Circle Y Kentucky Gaited Trail Saddle solves this problem. The Flex2 Tunnel Skirt will save your horse’s back by creating a channel in the spine area. The channel alleviates rubbing and sore spots along the spine. It also helps your horse stay cooler by letting hot air escape, while cool air can flow in.

3-Way Adjustable In-Skirt Rigging

One of the features I love in this Circle Y Kentucky Gaiter saddle is the 3-Way adjustable in-skirt rigging. So, you’ve got several rigging options and positions to best suit fitting all of the different horse conformations.

Our Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle is an all-around winner. It’s hard to bet wrong with this saddle. Let’s take a look at the specs and the price.

Specifications

Color: Black, Walnut, Regular Oil
Seat: Suede or Grainout
Tooling: Border
Tree: Trail Gaiter A-fork Flex2 Regular or Wide
Silver: Silver on silver wire edge with balls
Leather: Herman Oak Leather
Rigging: 3-Way Adjustable In-skirt
Swell Width: 10″
Cantle Height: 5″
Horn Size: 3-1/2″ Neck, 2-1/4″ Cap
Skirt Size: 10″ x 25″
Weight: Approximately 27 lbs.

List Price: $2,475.00
Our Price: $2,150.00

Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle Reviews
From Some of Our Riders

Here are some reviews our riders have left:

“We ride some pretty extreme terrain and this is just the saddle I needed.”

Another customer wrote, “The high cantle, soft seat and Ergo Balance Stirrups allow me to trail ride for hours with no soreness, despite having back issues.”

Here’s one more:

“We mostly trail ride and after a long ride I am not sore at all. In other western saddles my knees and ankles would hurt.”

My Final Thoughts

You and your horse are going to love this saddle.

With all the features and benefits to help your horse move with ease under a saddle built with his special needs in mind, it’s really hard to go wrong with this one. Gaited horses need more shoulder and hip room than non-gaited horses.

Gaited horses also need to be able to lift their heads higher than most non-gaited horses at times. Our saddle will allow that without your horse’s neck banging into the pommel.

At the end of a day’s ride, the Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle will leave you feeling invigorated – not sore and achy. And your trail buddy’s back won’t be pinched or sore either. I highly recommend this all-around trail saddle as attested to by riders and their happy trail companions.

If you’re considering a new saddle for you and your horse, the Circle Y Kentucky Gaited Trail Saddle is the perfect choice.

Was this post helpful? Leave your comments below. If you’d like to see reviews of other trail saddles, read my post, Big Horn Gaited Saddle Review.

Comments

8 responses to “Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle Review: Comfort & Fit”

Jacob

I have to say, the “antique tractor seat” analogy is painfully accurate for anyone who has spent more than an hour in a stiff saddle! The focus on the Flex2 Tree technology is really interesting—finding that balance between a rigid seat for the rider and a flexible bar for the horse’s gait is often the “holy grail” of saddle fitting.

Reply
1. Shalisha Alston
  
  Thanks for you comment Jacob. It sounds like my post was helpful.
  
  Reply
Jacob

Hello!

I have just recently started looking for a new saddle for my gaited gorse and stumbled upon this post. Thank you for sharing this information. It looks like you have many helpful reviews to offer.

Have you saddled one yourself? How would you say it ranks among your favorites?

The style of your writing is admirable. You mention multiple times how the Circle Y Kentucky Gaited Trail Saddle is a desirable choice for both the rider and the horse because of its comfortability.

What sparked your interest in finding the best saddles for your horse?

Reply
1. Shalisha Alston
  
  Hi Jacob. Thanks for your comment. I have not yet purchased the Circle Y Kentucky Gaited Trail Saddle before. I wrote my review based on the reviews of actual buyers. What sparked my interest in Western saddles is my curiosity as to the different types of saddles and what events they’re used for. I realized that many horseback riders don’t know how to buy the right saddle for their horse, which causes great pain to the horse’s back and the rider. Please stop by again.
  
  Reply
John

Thank you for this informative post on the Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle!

As a gaited horse owner, I’ve struggled to find a comfortable saddle that fits my horse properly. Your description of the Flex2 tree and its ability to fit a variety of horses, including hard-to-fit horses, is especially helpful.

I appreciate your attention to detail, and I’m looking forward to trying out this saddle on my next trail ride.

Reply
1. Shalisha Alston
  
  Hi John. Thanks for reading my post and commenting. I’m so glad my post was very helpful. The Circle Y Kentucky Trail Gaiter Saddle is very versatile as it does fit a variety of horses – especially hard-to-fit horses. If you need any other recommendations, please stop by again.
  
  Reply
Tom

Hey,

This site is great and I love this article too.

My niece LOVES horses and loves to ride them. She is even planning on being in the Olympics in years to come in the dressage event. It is a HUGE dream but it is definitely worth pursuing, would you agree?

I am going to share this article with her parents (my brother and sister-in-law) to see if this saddle is worth purchasing for her at this moment.

They will also have the opportunity to browse your site and learn so much more about horse saddles and what’s important about them.

Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work.

All the best,

Tom

Reply
1. Shalisha Alston
  
  Hi Tom. Thanks for stopping by and for your question. Congrats to your niece. The saddle being reviewed in this post s a Western saddle.
  
  An English-style saddle is required for riding dressage, specifically a “dressage saddle” which is modeled exclusively for the discipline. It is designed with a long and straight saddle flap, mirroring the leg of the dressage rider, which is long with a slight bend in the knee, a deep seat and usually a pronounced knee block.
  
  Dressage saddles have longer billets and use shorter girth than other types of English saddles to minimize the straps and buckles underneath the rider’s legs. The saddle is usually placed over a square, white saddle pad. Colored trim on the white saddle pad is permitted. A dressage saddle is required in FEI classes, although any simple English-type saddle may be used at the lower levels. If you’re looking for an English saddle, you can find many excellent ones at The Horse Saddle Shop.
  
  Good luck to your niece.
  
  Reply