Equation Saddlery

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Great Success with George’s saddles

I am an FEI Dressage trainer who has had wonderful success working with George and his saddles. Five of my clients bought saddles from him and each have seen their riding improve from being in a saddle that fits them and their horses better. The owner of our farm has 3 horses and each of them has a saddle made by George. Some of the saddles were purchased new and others were used.

The first time I met George and discussed saddles with him I told him that I loved riding in my Passiers. He agreed that the saddle I had was a great saddle for me and happily adjusted it to fit my horses better. Last year I bought a new Warmblood who was not comfortable in the Passier. George made me a saddle to fit my horse, whose movement improved greatly. It is a saddle that I am very comfortable riding in as well.

We have all been nothing but happy with George’s work here at the farm. As for having to wait for an appointment, anyone in this business that is any good at what they do is going to be very busy, and therefor often hard to get in touch with. As a client you need to know this and organize yourself so you get on the schedule ahead of time so you are not left waiting with a saddle that needs adjusting.

Elizabeth King

[Bogey2]

We just got our most recent Equation saddle for a hard to fit Sport pony and a petite adult rider. Both are very happy with it! :yes:

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George Gullikson Saddles -

I have been riding in an EE saddle built by George Gullikson for 2 years now. I have a 10yr old Lipizzan X who due to his compact short back and HUGE shoulder was very very hard to fit correctly… My trainer and I tried several saddles both new and used and could not find the right combination. When George came to our barn, he was there on an appointment for someone else. We waited and found time to talk with him. George was very knowledgable, and made time for me and my horse to be examined for fitting. I also expressed that I could not get a NEW saddle and that budget was an issue. I say this because what ended up happening was above and beyond. George reached out to a former client of his whom was selling a specialty made saddle that could be adapted to fit my horse, he then drove almost 400 miles to pick up this saddle (on the way to other appointments). Upon returning to our farm with this saddle, he made final adjustments to ensure a good fit on my horse, and also put air panels in the shoulder area to accommodate for my horses confirmation. George was extremely easy to work with, allowed me a payment plan and has been back regularly to check the saddle and how my horses back is changing / developing underneath it. The saddle also fits me very well and for the first time since riding dressage I am able to sit evenly on both seat bones. I have had zero problems with the saddle, with George, with my horse - it was money well spent. My chiropractor, and also my dentist for my horse both have commented on how balanced my horse is - that he only needs touch up visits at this point (and I should point out that both of these profesionals are some of the top in the country). In my opinion, George is an artist at what he does - and without my semi-custom saddle I am sure my horse would have developed musculature, skeletal issues by now. My horse is sound, happy and has a very secure strong back… Thank you George!
CC

[Indigo424]

George Gullikson

Here’s my 2 cents: I think George is an incredible saddler. We went through several saddle fitters before finding him. He has made all the difference in many horses and riders. He gave 2 horses their careers back, and has made all the difference in the comfort and effectiveness of several riders. He never pushes the sale of his saddles, has let people try them for several weeks- months even.

He is not always the easiest to get a hold of- but this has been the case for me with other talented professionals: he is in high demand and probably needs more support staff to answer calls/emails. Also, I think he’s hard to book because he travels to some out-of-the-way spots (thankfully). In addition he’s an artist-type… he functions on feel and senses energy, along with the more practical side of what he does. Some people may not feel comfortable with this.

Of course, I do believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinions… now mine is added to the mix.

Life is good- enjoy the ride!

[HFSH]

I’ve been using George for 10 years. I tried a saddler from County who messed up my saddle so BADLY that I had to send it back to the manufacturers representative to repair it. Now I will wait patiently for George to come!

George has NEVER pushed me to buy a saddle from him. I ride in an Albion, he’s told me some of the pro’s and con’s of my saddle but never pushed me to buy one from him.

IMHO, George is a genius and I’ve told him that. :lol:

[Boomer]

He is coming to Mississippi 6/27 so I am trying to line up some saddles in my price range for him to look at.

Fitting the high-withered is not much fun.

[3s1]

George

Well George is another saddlefitter who originally was trained by Jochen Schleese - it’s great to hear how well these people are doing all over the country! You learn from the best to become one of the best yourself!

[Dressage_Rider]

I am STILL waiting for a call and adjustment of my saddle. It’s been 3+ months now and not even a call back. How do you all get a call back? What do you do? I bought two saddles I figured that’s plenty of money spent. Please tell me your secret as I would love to get my saddle fixed that I could actually ride in it.

[Keg-A-Bacchus]

Hey Dressage Rider! I’m sorry to hear you’ve had trouble connecting. I usually call Patricia at 262-472-0014. I usually will leave a message and recieve a callback within a day or two. Otherwise email her by following this link: http://equationsaddlery.com/contact-us/

Perhaps you slipped through the cracks…give it another go:) He’s worth the wait IMHO! Best of luck to you!

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hollyb

I’ve been using George for over 10 years. He’s helped me advance from training level to FEI. I have always been happy with his saddles - as have my horses. Yes, it can be hard to get him booked, but he is one busy man. My horses have never had sore backs. Sore backs can result from sore hocks. Before you blame the saddle fitter, look at your own riding position and training techniques first. A good saddle fit isn’t the cure all for poor riding.

[Dressage_Rider]

[QUOTE=hollyb5424;4196159]
I’ve been using George for over 10 years. He’s helped me advance from training level to FEI. I have always been happy with his saddles - as have my horses. Yes, it can be hard to get him booked, but he is one busy man. My horses have never had sore backs. Sore backs can result from sore hocks. Before you blame the saddle fitter, look at your own riding position and training techniques first. A good saddle fit isn’t the cure all for poor riding.[/QUOTE]

Hollyb, you have never posted here before sounds like you were asked to post something here.

At this point my saddle does not fit my horse and I have been waiting forever to get it fitted. How do you think one supposed to ride without a saddle? Do you know how? I bought a new one. Thanks to George I now have a saddle I am unable to use. At this point I want good service as well as a good saddle and I do not think it’s too much to ask after spending over $6k with in less than two years. How am I supposed to ride and show when George will not bother calling me back and refitting the saddle. Also the saddle has a broken ring and he told me I should take it to someone else to fix it when clearly it’s poor craftsmanship. I am over all very disappointed with his service and attention to detail. How can you leave your customer high and dry during the show season? So now I have $10k worth of saddles. George costs me more money than it’s worth.

[Dressage_Rider]

[QUOTE=Keg-A-Bacchus;4185322]
Hey Dressage Rider! I’m sorry to hear you’ve had trouble connecting. I usually call Patricia at 262-472-0014. I usually will leave a message and recieve a callback within a day or two. Otherwise email her by following this link: http://equationsaddlery.com/contact-us/

Perhaps you slipped through the cracks…give it another go:) He’s worth the wait IMHO! Best of luck to you![/QUOTE]

Patricia cannot do anything about it. She used to return my calls and now she won’t even do that. Even when she does return my calls it’s useless because there is only so much she can do. She doesn’t control George she just schedules appointments. At this point I just want George to buy the saddle back as I cannot deal with this every year and every show season. Who do you know that has a backup saddle? Well, now I do because of all the issues with George’s poor customer service.

[mickeydoodle]

@Dressage_Rider;4196914

Patricia cannot do anything about it. She used to return my calls and now she won’t even do that. Even when she does return my calls it’s useless because there is only so much she can do. She doesn’t control George she just schedules appointments. At this point I just want George to buy the saddle back as I cannot deal with this every year and every show season. Who do you know that has a backup saddle? Well, now I do because of all the issues with George’s poor customer service.

I have had the exact same experience, I now have another custom saddle from another saddle company. I have the custom saddle that G. made me for sale, as I could not get him to come and adjust it.

[Dressage_Rider]

[QUOTE=mickeydoodle;4196946]
I have had the exact same experience, I now have another custom saddle from another saddle company. I have the custom saddle that G. made me for sale, as I could not get him to come and adjust it.[/QUOTE]

Same here. I ended up buying a Custom Saddle from Custom Saddlery and LOVE it. The customer service is unbeatable; the saddle is super nice and comfortable. My horse moves better in his new saddle by Custom Saddlery. Hensley Georges saddle did fine when we did walk/trot/canter but once we started to work on upper level movements the horse was locked in his shoulders due to saddle fit. The new saddle solved the problem. I have been waiting for months to get my Equation saddle fixed and fitted to my horse with no luck.

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[indyblue]

There are so many first time posters on this thread.All singing his praises.Hmmmmmmmm I wonder…

[Dressage_Rider]

[QUOTE=indyblue;4198307]
There are so many first time posters on this thread.All singing his praises.Hmmmmmmmm I wonder…[/QUOTE]

Hmmm you are right I have not even noticed that 90% of posters who love George are with a single post. That has to make you wonder.

[Boomer]

I went back through the posts and found 15 positive posts, 9 of which the poster had joined June-2009, so about 60%.

What does that mean?
Maybe the newbies are lurkers who have never wanted to post before. Maybe George put them up to it.

I am trying an Equation saddle right now and it fits my gelding better than anything else I’ve tried thus far. My gelding was more relaxed in this saddle than any I’ve had on him. But I’m only on ride #2, so I’ve got a few more to go before thumbs up.

I’m struggling a bit with my position, but that is not unusual for me in a medium seat. The only saddle I didn’t struggle in is Custom Saddlery Advantage (much deeper seat than any saddle I’ve tried… ever), but it did not fit my gelding and made him sore. He is a very hard to fit type, and George is the only fitter than comes here.

My most recent George experience was positive - he looked at all the saddles I had in tow to try. He was helpful explaining why or why not a saddle worked on my gelding.

All the ladies at the barn RAVE about how wonderful he is. If his customer service continues to be good & horse keeps being happy, then I might get closer to the band wagon.

[Dressage_Rider]

[QUOTE=Boomer;4198511]
I went back through the posts and found 15 positive posts, 9 of which the poster had joined June-2009, so about 60%.

What does that mean?
Maybe the newbies are lurkers who have never wanted to post before. Maybe George put them up to it.

I am trying an Equation saddle right now and it fits my gelding better than anything else I’ve tried thus far. My gelding was more relaxed in this saddle than any I’ve had on him. But I’m only on ride #2, so I’ve got a few more to go before thumbs up.

I’m struggling a bit with my position, but that is not unusual for me in a medium seat. The only saddle I didn’t struggle in is Custom Saddlery Advantage (much deeper seat than any saddle I’ve tried… ever), but it did not fit my gelding and made him sore. He is a very hard to fit type, and George is the only fitter than comes here.

My most recent George experience was positive - he looked at all the saddles I had in tow to try. He was helpful explaining why or why not a saddle worked on my gelding.

All the ladies at the barn RAVE about how wonderful he is. If his customer service continues to be good & horse keeps being happy, then I might get closer to the band wagon.[/QUOTE]

You are one of the few that gets good customer service but then again you have not bought the saddle yet. He has been great before I bought my saddles and regularly came out to my ex-trainer’s farm but now that I am on my own and didn’t buy his latest saddle he wants nothing to do with me. He literally told me to purchase a saddle that didn’t’ fit my horse and I had a ton of issues with it during my rides. As I have never said anything bad about how his saddles are made (other than the ring that broke) I am saying his customer service is VERY poor. Out of all people he should know that you should never leave a rider without a saddle during show season. The saddle that I have for my WB puts me in a chair seat and he recognized it yet didn’t buy it back. I didn’t like the saddle from day one but was told to keep riding in it. Needless to say I have a saddle that doesn’t fit my horse. Right now I feel like I am stuck with a saddle that I am unable to sell or use. How would you like to be stuck with a $3000 saddle that you cannot do anything with and your saddle maker will not fix it / adjust it?

[Boomer]

[QUOTE=Dressage_Rider;4198988]
How would you like to be stuck with a $3000 saddle that you cannot do anything with and your saddle maker will not fix it / adjust it?[/QUOTE]

That does totally suck. I may only be getting good service now because I have a saddle to try, like you said. Time will tell. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t spend a lot of time with me originally - I wasn’t remotely in a price range he wanted to deal with.

There is no excuse for poor customer service.

Do you have another fitter that could fix the George saddle if you like it? It totally stinks to cut bait when you’ve been done wrong.

I’ve also PM’d you.

[Dressage_Rider]

[QUOTE=Boomer;4199204]
Do you have another fitter that could fix the George saddle if you like it? It totally stinks to cut bait when you’ve been done wrong.

I’ve also PM’d you.[/QUOTE]

No one in my area wants to touch George’s saddles. My saddle has air panels and when a saddle fitter hears Equation Saddlery they tell me “Sorry but we cannot touch this saddle” No one wants to be responsible for it. I am not sure why they won’t do it other than air panels. However George broke his own trees in the past and one of them I have witnessed myself. He broke a tree while adjusting his own saddle. However he did replace the tree for the girl I just do not know if she had to pay anything for it but it took a very long time to get it back.