Finding a saddle that fits both you & your horse can be the
biggest challenge in becoming a horse person! Women need different support
than men in a saddle because of the
dramatic differences in our pelvis
types Let's
get together to talk saddle fit! I'd love to help!
Remember, you can have a saddle made for you...that doesn't
make it custom.
My custom made Hulbert saddle, wish it still looked that new,
but the last 100 hours I've spent in it have made it even more comfortable than
it was the first day I got it! Which by the way was more comfortable than
any other saddle I've ever sat in IN MY LIFE! Please note, my saddle rack
doesn't have withers & my seat looks a bit downhill in the photo, but put it on
a horse & the lowest spot is right under my seat bones.
A true custom saddle is made on a custom tree to better fit
you AND your horse. A custom saddle allows you to choose more than just
the leather color & tooling design you want. You choose the weight of
saddle, the quality of leather, the style & dish of the seat, the height & style
of the horn, the jockey & skirting styles, etc.
My saddle would be considered a 'Lady Wade,' I wanted a seat
that would enable me to keep my pelvis straight without putting undue pressure
on my hip joints, seat bones or the front of my pelvis. It has Arizona
narrow bars and Dave (Hulbert) shaved more leather away to allow my legs to drop
down comfortably out of my hip joints. It's made with 11oz leather to keep
it under 30lbs. My saddle has a ground seat, as all well-made saddles do.
A ground seat means it has layers and layers of leather on-top of the seat
strainer (metal attached to the tree) that are ground away to create the correct
rise & dish of the seat, this is especially important for a Wade style saddle.
My seat is also inlaid for extra padding for my bony butt on those long fence
rides. Dave twisted & wrapped the stirrups for me, so they are always
perpendicular to my horse, which relieves pressure from my knees. And for finishing touches I chose a dark oil leather that looks
great on my bay with a running W border & some corner tooling that Dave did
beautifully! I got bucking rolls that match my inlayed seat, which can be added
after the saddle is made. They're filled with horsehair & MUCH more
comfortable to run into if/when your horse jumps or bucks unexpectedly than the
swells on a swell forked saddle.
The craftsmanship on this saddle is beyond description. The
pictures just don't do it justice!
