You shouldn't really know you've got a saddle.

We say this a lot to people "You shouldn't know you've got this saddle."

Well what the hell does that mean? It it invisible or somthing?

No, don't worry, you will be able to find your saddle on the peg in the tack room. What we're trying to say is:

Your saddle should not be a worry at the forefront of your mind.

You should be able to turn up at the yard, decide to go for a ride and know that when you put your saddle on your horses back it is going to do its job!!

We don't want you faffing around with specialised girths to stop your saddle sliding around, we put time and effort into its strap configuration to mitigate this.

We don't want you spending half an hour painstakingly shimming out the front or the back of your saddle to balance it before you can mount up, we built your panel to your horses specification for this.

We don't want you putting more blankets under your saddle than on your bed, we selected the right tree for your horse for this.

We don't want you to question your saddle for the duration of your ride when you should be enjoying the ride, WE did all the thinking here so that you don't have to!

It is said that the first saddles where invented some 2,500 years ago. Designed to reduce pressure on the horses spine - a miracle of technology at the time! The Scythians are accredited for adapting the ancient method of securing a cloth to the horse by a surcingle of sorts, by making leather pads and stuffing them with hair or wool. These early saddles gave the rider a more secure seat and made riding much more comfortable for the horse. Soon after this they developed a saddle tree, a wooden structure which sat on the horses back which took the weight and pressure of the rider away from the horses spine and dorsal muscles. This idea of leather, wood and wool saddles have persisted since before the year 0 so it can be argued that if the above wasn't really suitable for the job of riding, especially in times where the only method of transportation was on horseback, I think we can fairly safely say that idea would have gone out the window a LONG time ago.

So why the random history lesson?

Saddles have come on leaps and bounds in current times, but the fundamental aspects are the same:

Soft padding or panel for the horses comfort, wooden tree for support and seat to help the rider balance. IF your saddle does not cover these three basic elements - is it really a saddle at all?

In the words of King Charles "Buy once, buy well." - Or as we like to say: "Build well, buy once."