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Saddle Makers: Every saddle made will fit at least a few horses.  None will fit every horse, mule or breed.  We look for saddles that fit a range of horses well, more of the time.  At the same time, we want saddles that encourage a balanced seat for the rider.  And finally, we focus on light weight saddles. (Most people don't want a 40# western saddle if a 22# one will do the job.) We continue to search for saddles that accomplish these goals. 

So far, we've tried a lot and kept a few.  (We know there are more out there, that we just haven't found yet.  Let us know if you know of one!)  When we find them, new and used, we stock them so we can have them on hand for our fitting clients. We do not market saddles to non-clients.

Our Western favorites are:

* We always have fitting demos and consignments from these saddle makers (just the models/trees that we find work best) in stock to ride and try.

Allegany Mountain Trail Saddles - 11 trees, Western & Endurance*

Crest Ridge Saddlery - 4 trees, Western & Endurance*

Skyrider Saddle - Endurance or Western

Specialized / TW - Adjustable Endurance & Western models*

South Bend Lady Trail*, Big Horn Haflinger*, Big Horn Draft, Black Rhino, About the Horse

There are several small and very good saddle makers who make western saddles to order for your horse (JJ Maxwell Saddles, Andy Knight, etc.), due to production time, cost and/or weight, we don't stock them. But we do keep a list of used ones that we know of for sale.

 

Our English favorites are:

Bates / Arena / Wintec - Adjustable Endurace & Dressage models*

Frank Baines Saddlery - Dressage & Endurance & Hunt/Jump models*

Ideal Saddles - Dressage & Trail*

Lovatt & Ricketts / Arabian Saddle Co. - Endurace & Dressage models*

Sankey Saddlery - Dressage, AP & Trail*

Thorowgood / Kent & Masters - Adjustable Endurace & Dressage models*

Toulouse Saddles - Adjustable Dressage & Trail*

 

We also consign good used Dressage & Trail Saddles by:

Albion, Black Country, Borne, Corcoran, County, Duett Saddles, Dresch, Journey, Lauriche, Balance International, SDL, Custom Saddlery and other quality saddles.

 

Rider: Even the perfect saddle will create problems for a horse if the rider is out of balance. An educated rider is as important as a good saddle. We HIGHLY Recommend finding one or two instructors to help you along the path to excellent horsemanship. It will make a world of difference to your horse!

Seat & Riding Instruction:

Centered Riding Instructors including:

Becky Hart, San Juan Bautista, CA;

Karen Irland, WA - Centered Riding Level lV Instructor

Wendy Murdock, The Murdock Method, VA - Centered Riding & Feldenkrais

Carla Bauchmeuller, Berkeley, CA - Centered Riding Level lll Instructor

Zsuzsu Illes, S. CA - Holistic, Balanced Dressage and Trail riding

Horsemanship Trainers: There are many aspects of riding and many areas to improve your riding skills.   Here are a select few resistance-free Trainers who always work 'from the horse's point of view.'  While there are many good horsemanship educators, we have worked with these extensively and can highly recommend:

Julie Carpenter, Jackson/Santa Cruz, CA - www.horsemanshipfromtheheart.com

Kathleen Lindley, GA - www.greyhorsellc.wordpress.com

Mark Rashid, CO - www.markrashid.com

Larry Whitesell, TN - www.whitesellgaitedhorsemanship.com

Harry Whitney, AZ - www.harrywhitney.com

Saddle Repair: We do billet replacement and small hand repair work on English and Western saddles.  For extensive repairs we can direct you to the following experts with whom we have had good experience.

Giovanni Zappeta - Castleberry Saddle Shop: Vacaville, CA 707-446-1140/707-448-2972

Dutchess Bridle & Saddlery - Kate Anathas-Wilson: NY- 607-275-0320