Last week we had a saddle come into the shop that my dad built over 25 years ago. The billets needed to be replaced because they where dry and cracking, an obvious safety issue. Also, in the customer’s own words “please make it beautiful again!” After looking over the saddle I recommended that we recondition the saddle as well as …
Saddle Pads And Saddle Fit
We get asked all the time about using pads to help a saddle fit better. First we’ll cover a tree that is too wide for a horse and then about the tree that is too narrow for a horse. To be clear when we talk about how wide a tree is we’re only talking about the front of the bars …
Buying A Used Synergist
Over the years we have found riders who will buy a used Synergist saddle from a third party based only on their seat size and then be surprised that the saddle either caused their horse to get sore or themselves. Our saddles don’t magically fit every horse and rider combination. They were initially created to fit one horse and one …
Custom Saddle ~ Is It Really?
We have had quite a few of our customers come to us who are very skeptical because of a bad experience with a custom saddler in the past. Some didn’t like the way the saddle fit them. Some didn’t like the way the saddle fit their horse. And some didn’t like the way it fit them or their horse. The …
Saddle Fit For The Rider
You always hear about fitting a saddle to the horse with the rider often times being left out in the cold. Saddle fit for the rider is just as important as for the horse. So many of our customers have struggled with having their horse fit properly that they say things like “As long as the saddle fits my horse …
Stages Of A Horse’s Life
From a saddle maker’s perspective there are three distinct stages of a horse’s life. Young age, middle age and old age. We always advise against building a saddle for any horse until they are at least three years old. Young horse’s back. Young horse’s back. At three years old we have a pretty good idea of how the horse is …
The Narrow Horse and the Heavyweight Rider
There are always certain rider/horse combinations that present unique challenges for fitting a saddle to a horse. A situation came up a few weeks ago with a very narrow horse and a heavyweight rider. What I consider a heavyweight rider comes from the American Endurance Ride Conference. The AERC heavyweight division is 211 pounds and up. This weight includes tack. …