My boy is so big and broad with no withers, a flat but short back which makes him hard to fit.
So after looking-really looking-for a couple of years, I found a custom saddle maker that got rave reviews and offered the kind of saddle I was looking for.
My dream saddle was lightweight, but all leather. Had a rounded short skirt, and a deep seat. The stirrups would be set in such a way that I wouldn't be in a chair seat. I wanted it to be handsome with some nice tooling.
That's like the holy grail of saddles.
And I found it! Many thanks to Allegany Trail Saddles. I worked with them over the course of a couple of months- they were so wonderfully detailed oriented. First they sent me 10 (ten!) saddle trees to photograph on Dallas. They examined the photos, had me take a few more, then sent me out two more saddle trees. I took photos and videos of Dallas in those. I filled out a lengthy questionnaire that detailed my measurements, his measurement and all the bells and whistles that I wanted.
It took them about a month to build the saddle and when I pulled it out of the box I couldn't have been more pleased. First, the leather and craftsmanship is amazing. I don't feel I overpaid in the least, in fact I think I got a really good deal on this saddle. I never saw anything near to its quality in my search.
Thanks to a pretty yucky winter I've only gotten to ride it it once, but soon, very soon I'll start putting the miles on it.
Oh, I also bought a matching headstall, reins and breast collar. All the exact same leather, fittings and tooling as the saddle. Yep, Dallas is going to be looking very sharp this spring!
My new saddle!!!!!
