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It’s expensive to buy a saddle for every horse! What if you could have just one, possibly 2 saddles to fit each and every horse you will ever own?
Imagine, a saddle that could be adjusted easily to allow for individual conformation and posture. A changeable fit to accommodate our horses as they go through varying amounts of training…
Sound too good to be true? Sound Impossible? Read on!
ONLY 2 SIZES — IT CAN BE DONE…
Our customers tell us consistently they’re amazed at how versatile our saddles are. “It fits every horse in my barn!” is frequent feedback.
Our extensive research, product design principles, easily adjustable saddle system (saddle, pad & shims), and the education and support we provide, empowers horse owners to do their own saddle fitting assessment and alteration for each of their horses.
WE’VE DONE THE RESEARCH…
From the moment we began our research, we considered the opinions of HORSES first. We were eager to find saddle equipment capable of enabling horses to move comfortably and efficiently so we could recommend them to people. We had NO desire to make our own! But we couldn’t find what we hoped would be available on the market.
So here we are. 20 years on.
We have a unique, beautiful, extensive range of saddles combined with our pad and shim configuration, creating a saddle system like no other.
Observation and scientific measuring proved to us that horses (no matter what breed unless tiny ponies) traveled much more happily if saddles were NOT as narrow as “Full Quarter Horse Bars”.
We felt forced to slog into the rather daunting project of prototype development and testing.
It took 3.5 years and 8 prototypes to arrive at a basic saddle tree shape earning the approval of every horse we tried it on.
No matter what you read or hear, test riding our equipment on your own horse(s) is likely the only experience that would convince you our 2 gullet widths and shapes are perfect.
Almost 10,000 horses have told us so already.
We’re eager to learn what you think yours have to say.
THE ‘SYSTEM’
So how can our saddles be refined in a way to fit every horse?
Great question…
The answer lies in our unique pad and ‘shim’ system, performing as the ‘interface’ between the horse and the saddle. It becomes the link between horse and rider offering auto-dynamic comfort for both. (by auto-dynamic we mean something that changes and adapts on its own during use).
Our unique tree shape, width, and angles required our development of this pad and shim system to customize the fit for individual horses.
We developed 2 styles of pads, along with a range of tapered foam shims to accomplish this.
Ultimately, it became surprisingly easy to adjust fit, balance, and freedom of the saddle no matter the breed or postural/conformational challenges.
Once you understand the basic methodology of the system, it becomes simple to use.
The shims or ‘inserts’ sit neatly inside our pad pockets and take no more than a minute or two to adjust to suit the next horse! If you’d like to read more, you’ll find information on our SMARTFLX tree/foundation and our Saddle pads and shims – on our website.
DO I NEED BOTH SIZES?
If you want to own just one saddle, here’s our recommendation:
Should you have a variety of horse shapes in your barn and most of them tend to be narrow (A-framed) in shape…and you would like to utilize ONE saddle to fit them all comfortably, our STANDARD gullet is the one for you.
With a properly positioned tapered foam shoulder shim placed back at the shoulder blade’s maximum backswing point of each horse, generous shoulder clearance will be assured on each horse. Preservation of shoulder clearance is the biggest key to success in saddle comfort for your horse and yourself.
For your wide horses, you would likely need only a half-size shim…but please DO use a shim for these horses, too, even if you can see that they are very wide. ALL horses will travel better with a tapered foam shim back there.
Now, if most of the horses in your barn tend to have wide, flat backs (shaped more like a coffee table) no matter how tall they are, they will really be super happy if you choose our SuperWide saddle shape. It will hug their backs all along from front to rear.
One caution: If any of your narrower horses have very high, sloped-off-the-sides withers, please choose one of our saddles with higher gullet clearance:
Easy Rider
Western Freedom
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Letitia Wade, color antique brown, Sunflower-B tooling
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Australian Halfbreed Sport medium oil with sunflower tooling
Durango Deep Seat inlay seat
Western: Easy Rider, Carry Me, Deep Seat Light, Durango Deep Seat, Western Freedom, Ranch Versatility, Australian Halfbreed Sport. English: any of our newer models: GP or Pro Dressage.
Anyone who uses our saddles is privy to a lifetime of free support.
Got a new horse who needs a new shimming pattern?
We can design one to try… Our FREE Saddle Fit Evaluation really helps us offer valuable feedback for you.
Happily however, we know many of our customers are so competent at designing the perfect saddle fit for their needs they rarely need us. Our Social Media pages, Website, Videos, blog posts, all create a knowledge database fortifying your education… as simple or complex as you’d like.
- Saving money avoiding multiple saddles is always a GOOD THING
- Making our horses comfortable is always a GOOD THING
- Having quality education, support, and self-sufficiency is always a GOOD THING
- Being backed up by research, testimonials and a proven history is always a GOOD THING
WHAT TO DO NEXT…
We’d love to have you TRY our saddles for yourself. If you’re in the continental USA you can take part in our TEST RIDE program
Or, please feel free to contact us directly to have your questions addressed.
Email [email protected] or Message us via our socials!
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