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. …
The Combination Back
Our typical customer comes to us totally frustrated after trying three to five tack shop saddles that just don’t fit. A saddle that bridges the horse or mule’s back with little or no contact in the middle is the most common problem we see. Most riders with only a couple of years’ experience have heard of bridging. The second most …
Sweat Patterns and Saddle Fit
It’s just about impossible to walk through a big boarding facility or barn without the topic of sweat patterns and saddle fit coming up. If all you are looking at when assessing how well your saddle fits is the sweat marks after a ride, you are only getting a small piece of the overall picture. Typical sweat pattern Typical sweat …
Custom Saddle or Semi-Custom ~ Pros and Cons?
When faced with a decision between A and B, I love to look at it from the point of view of Pros and Cons. Choosing between a semi-custom or custom saddle is no different. What would be a great decision for one person may create a nightmare for another. Sometime around 2012 we started offering semi-custom saddles. Our initial intension …