Does anyone know of any saddle makers who don’t charge an arm and a leg before you even get to the saddle? I tried a Veritas saddle by Fred Taht. He did not have my size, but he ordered me one in the next size up with a $250 non-refundable deposit and $90 trial fee. The saddle ran small. So $340 and no saddle. It doesn’t seem very fair.
I would try Custom Saddlery, when I purchased my most recent saddle I didn’t pay anything until after my 10 day trial in your custom made saddle. Also, before you even order a saddle they come out and let you try out several different saddles and let you keep one of those to try out for a a few days and sometimes a week or so depending on their schedule.
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Unfortunately, this is pretty standard. Try before you buy.
Fred is a nice guy and does a good job it has always been a lot more expensive than most other people in my area. I stopped working with him a while ago because his prices rose sharply and were not worth it
Op send me a pm and I can give you some ideas
Fred Taht is Custom Saddlery. I guess those rules do not apply anymore unless it is because it is his brand.
I guess it will depend a lot on your location, who is accessible. When I’ve saddle shopped at a distance, deal was pay for the shipping both ways on your trial saddle. Pay a deposit: ranging from full price to a % of full price—if saddle returns in same condition this is totally refunded. If saddle a no go—just out the shipping costs.
some names of independent fitters who have relationships with makers that I have had good experiences with:
Kitt Hazelton
Anthony Cooper
Patty Barnett
Gary Severson
and a guy in the MD area whose name escapes me but he sells Frank Baines (as well as other saddlers) google search would likely narrow down who I’m thinking of.
Saddle makers I like, have used, good quality, good experience with:
Frank Baines
Albion
Lovatt and Rickets
Black Country
These are wallsall english made. Frank Baines is not so common in USA but in UK he’s been awarded HM Guild of Saddlers award for “best made saddle” at least 7-8 times. IME these brands can do nice customization/ tree sizing/fitting, nice leather and custom details if desired.
Part of reason I can speak to these brands—they were readily available via the old Trumbull Mt. Saddlery which was somewhat accessible to me at ONLY 6hrs away LOL.
Another tip–if you seek an independent fitter with connections, you may be able to get into a great fitting saddle that is used at a discount price. Someone sold horse, kid out grew yadyada. The names I listed, and most independent fitters I think, are also able to tweak a used saddle as needed to make it just right.
Cautionary tale…I know people with $6k customs that made the horse buck from day 1, made mystery bumps on withers, were too small in seat because of the depth/shape/position of stirrup bar made the size they usually fit too small,. I myself have one saddle that every saddle fitter I ever saw believes fits my horse great…well, my horse doesn’t agree, only 2 x I tried it on him he clearly freaked about something with it and flew into frantic fit of bucking. After 2nd time I was like “you know, I don’t care, he doesn’t like it, I know not why, who cares—next saddle please.”
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I called Custom Saddlery this morning and apparently Fred Taht was fired from Custom Saddlery for bad business practices in selling his own brand and promoting his brand while working for them. Totally dishonest.
Custom Saddlery charges a fee if someone comes out to your place. I think it is about $250 - you are paying for the reps time to come to your place, fit your horse, let you try saddles, etc. If you can find them at a show or event, you can probably try saddles for free - you are really paying for the reps time to COME to you.
Other then that fee, once you order a saddle, you don’t pay anything until it comes, and you spend some time (I think it is 10 days) riding in the saddle.
If you want to avoid that saddle fitting fee, you need to go to the saddles, not have them delivered to you to try. So either find a tack store or a horse event where the fitters are present with their saddles. Or you can try saddles by mail, but that means paying for shipping.
[QUOTE=easystride;8924113]
I called Custom Saddlery this morning and apparently Fred Taht was fired from Custom Saddlery for bad business practices in selling his own brand and promoting his brand while working for them. Totally dishonest.[/QUOTE]
I’ve seen some of his new saddles and they are nice, but not enough to justify the ridiculous trial fees he is charging. A friend of mine has one. Nice, but not the end all be all of saddles. Not worth the crazy fee to try it!!!
Fred left them
[QUOTE=easystride;8924113]
I called Custom Saddlery this morning and apparently Fred Taht was fired from Custom Saddlery for bad business practices in selling his own brand and promoting his brand while working for them. Totally dishonest.[/QUOTE]
Other way round. Fred left Custom before his saddle was developed.
All fitters and saddle reps charge a fee for coming out to see your horse, it’s paying for their time and gas etc. If you can find one at a show (WEF, Global, anywhere) that you like for you and either have tracings of your horse or will try it without it being adjusted, you can usually bring one home with a trial fee.
Most brands/reps/fitters will also charge a deposit for a custom saddle and there are no backsies if you don’t like it. If you are just ordering a stock saddle, you should not have to pay a deposit to get it in to see it. If you do, go elsewhere.
Just a thought, try from a place that has a trial period like fine-used-saddles.com or CenterlineStyle.com . Both offer five day trials and you can often have it adjusted to your horse prior to arrival for a fee.
I have several fitters that I really trust if you’d like any contact info.
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I just purchased a Veritas saddle from Fred, I paid $90 for a fitting/trial appointment & then $250 deposit to order the saddle. His saddles are very new & there may be some that want to try them, without any intention of buying. His consultation was very in depth & was more than worth the $90 considering the time he spent & his travel time. The custom rep in my area wanted over $200 to even see me. I love my saddle & was really happy with the experience.
I currently have a Veritas Libero saddle on trial. Fred was more than accommodating and is very knowledgeable. So much has changed in saddle fitting. The one IlI have is designed for a croup high sensitive backed horse. I’m under no pressure on the 10 day trial and a $90 fee to try, trace, fit and ride in the saddle is extremely reasonable. If I buy it, the fee is deducted from the price of the saddle.
A Custom Rep let me try saddles when they came to a big barn where I boarded. They had a full day’s work of flocking/fitting saddles so it wasn’t like it was a special trip for me. I paid a $150 or $200 I can’t remember. They just put saddles on my horse and never bothered to actually fit the horse. I would highly recommend Fred. He had his own ideas about saddles which were not in line with Custom so he decided to start building his own and and developed his own company. Great guy. I have known him for close to 20 years.
My Custom fitter only charges mileage for a new saddle purchase. I am 100% sure of this as I have bought three new saddles from her. One of which was hand delivered to me in FL when it came in, for no additional charge.
I imagine this must be fitter dependent.
Or - it may be because you bought a saddle each time. Most of the reps will let you apply the fee to the saddle purchase. The charge is to cover those who DON’T buy a saddle - otherwise the reps would spend all their time just carting saddles around to barns for people to test ride. I have bought a couple of Customs over the years and the fee was always applied to a purchase, so essentially, all I paid was mileage for the rep. OTOH, if I didn’t buy the saddle, I would be out the fee.
My Custom rep is good about splitting her fee up if there is multiple people who need her at the barn. But I agree - with the number of saddle brands out there, many people would tie up reps just tire kicking if they had no skin in the game.
In my case, I had no intention of buying a new saddle, but the rep was coming out for another couple of riders, so for the $100 fee (I think it was about that) I decided to give a couple a try. Ended up actually buying one that day right off her trailer - so didn’t even get charged the $100 fee.
The quality of the saddle is incredibly important, but the relationship (and integrity/knowledgeability) with the fitter/rep is paramount.
I feel like saddle shopping is kind of like car shopping – most of the top brands make a really good car, it’s just who you want to deal with during the sales process and count on for the future maintenance.
I just purchased a Veritas Eximo about 6 months ago from our rep here in New England. There was a barn call ($130 split between a few boarders) and an assessment (tracings, photos, evaluation) done for about $60. If you provided photos and details ahead of time, the fitter brought saddles (new/demo and consignment) that would likely suit my horse. I was able to try multiple saddles on that day, ride around, see what I thought. I am not sure about an extended demo period (maybe a week?), but that seems customary if you’re truly in the market to purchase the saddle.
If you know what you like (brands/styles, etc.), why not check out Pelham Saddlery or a similar store – they allow paid 7 day trials with money back. Or, if you are open to purchasing a new/used saddle, see if you could do a paid trial with the seller. I feel like I can’t get through Facebook without someone selling a Custom saddle-- I know of at least 2 boarders in my barn selling them, and all would be open to paid trials.
Why the bump?
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If you look back to the date of the original post it was 5 years ago. Someone resurrected this post and it popped up as a notification for me. I never pursued a Hennig, so I didn’t bump it.
