Our Process
Handmade to the Highest Standard
Master Saddlers,
For Over 50 Years.
A labour of love and dedication, our family works tirelessly to produce the highest quality, handmade saddles in Australia. Our designs are backed by decades of knowlege and passion, and feature the highest build quality matched to the finest available materials.
Built from the ground up according to the needs and dimensions of the horse and rider combined, our saddles offer unrivalled comfort and performance, using modern materials and technologies yet crafted to the traditional standards of the trade.
Build Process
Get an insight into how we build our Jumping Saddles – from the raw materials to the final product
Fitting
The horse and rider are measured, a combination of the riders seat size and thigh length to ensure that balance and poise is maintained across riding conditions.
Style, usage, and custom colouring, engraving and design features are discussed and accounted for.
Tree Design
Once the fitting is complete, the backbone of the saddle is made – the ‘saddle tree’. This is custom fit to the riders dimensions and is 100% Australian designed and made, by us, from injection moulded polyurethane.
We are proud of our industry leading technology hidden within our saddles. Our trees are fully adjustable, with a one piece, changeable steel gullet that has integrated stirrup bars, allowing us to custom shape each tree to suit a multitude of rider and horse anatomies, whilst guaranteeing strength, reliability and serviceability.
Cushioning
Customised cushioning is then added to the bare tree. A combination of tension loaded strapping and proprietorial urethane foam padding is built into the cantle, positioning the rider into the correct riding posture.
This ensures both comfort and control, with the added benefit of greater material longevity over traditional low-density foam cushioning.
Upper
The upper – making up the seat, the pommel, the skirt and the base panels – is individually cut and sewn to the design and specification of the saddle and rider.
This is then attached directly to tree using premium quality leather. The weight and density of the padding is adjusted according to the horse and riders dimensions.
The knee rolls are also built during this stage, using high-density foam for support and individually shaped according to thigh length and purpose.
Panelling
The panelling is attached directly to the upper construction, making up the flaps, billet straps, stirrup leather keeper and stirrup leathers. The knee rolls are attached to the flaps, completing the base construction of the saddle.
The panels are 100% wool flocked with clean, medium fibre wool to ensure stability and comfort across all riding conditions, and is able to maintain density over long riding periods. It is easily maintained, holds an excellent lifespan and can be restuffed to allow for growth or a new horse.
Our panels also have industry leading reinforcements that maintain both shape and support throughout the ride, allowing the rider consistency in connection and control.
Moulding
With the base construction complete, we then load test our saddles to not only ensure quality of construction but also that our saddles are properly moulded to shape, reducing the break-in period and giving it that “ridden in” feel.
The saddle is placed under extended tension to mimic the stressors of riding, allowing the leather to naturally stretch and contour into place.
This gives our saddles an initial ‘break-in’, making them more comfortable and creating a more realistic fitment when compared to an off-shelf model.
Details
Our individual builders logo is then added to the saddle, as well as any other detailing according to our customers requests.
Following this, a high quality leather treatment is applied to preserve and protect the piece.
Readjustment
After six weeks of consistent riding, we then bring the saddle back into our shop and make any required adjustments as the leather moulds and stretches with use.
Any changes or alterations requested by the customer will also be made during this final step to ensure that the best possible product is received, and years of happy riding guaranteed.
