Back to the Fold

We had a nice surprise the other day.
Our ace southern saddler fitter was called out to a fit in the south and met an extremely experienced event horse producer who probably new more about the Stubben saddle models then he did!
The husband and wife team had not only owned and used more Stubben saddles than most people see in a lifetime, they also knew all the names of the models as well! The lady herself had in the past competed at Badminton.
The main part of the story was that some years ago they had been weaned away from the brand to other manufactures based on the various marketing models of what makes a 'modern saddle'. New wider trees, enormous panels to spread the weight, etc etc.
This move away coincided with a loss of form with the horses and a downturn in performance overall. Good news- she is back, a new saddle ordered and raring to go.
And to quote the lady," I can't believe how foolish I have been over the past years to change from Stubben"
Moral of the story- 'If it ain't broke- don't fix it'

Oily leather

Bit of a disaster yesterday!

A rider came into our showroom with her saddle. It was a Siegfried MFS same type as used by Tim Stockdale. It had been fitted some 3 months ago.

Nothing wrong with the fit everything had been going well, saddle comfortable and performing correctly. No problems- except one!

It had rained a couple of weeks ago and concerned that the saddle had been completely soaked and could deteriorate she had applied copious amounts of a well known oil to the leather with disastrous results.

The saddle had soaked up the oil like blotting paper and turned a perfectly good looking piece of riding equipment into a very sorry looking mess indeed. The normal yellow coloured aniline tanned saddle panel, which is the most comfortable soft leather to put on a horses back was now a dark murky brown colour and the rest of the saddle had become oily and unstable in the seat.

The remedy we advised was to try and wash the oil out from the leather with natural drying using Stubben soap. And to treat the leather with Stubben Hammanol leather feed, again another natural product that enhances the hide rather than destroying it!

So don't oil any of your Stubben leatherwork, you have been warned!

It clogs up the hide, reduces the life of the saddle or bridle, affects the performance, and oil really belongs in a....... car engine!

Stubben soap and Hammanol leather feed- 30 years of saddle life guaranteed.

Fitting

Did you know there are 9 seat sizes and 14 tree widths with Stubben saddles to fit both horse and rider. So how is it that most manufactures have only 3 widths and 2 seat sizes? How can you possibly fit all the different horses and riders around today?

I notice that in most of the saddlers now that there are adjustable saddle trees. A sort of DIY for the rider to help themselves. What they don't seem to realise is that if you adjust the tree at the front arch it affects the rear and the important bit under the rider. So you can forget the concept of a spring tree with this type of saddle- this is something that is not mentioned by the maker and the fitter when they promote this type of saddle.

Hey ho its the rider and horse that suffer again!

Long live tradittional saddlery.