Yes, but not every saddler or company in the Uk follows or is part of the sms or their standards. The is also true for a saddle fitters for sure. The closed group sms talks about them all of the time especially during covid as they do not follow their recommendations as far as guildlines. It for sure is a lot more prevalent than outside of the uk.
Please type things that make sense.
Is this better?
SMS is not an all inclusive saddle fitting organization even in the UK. There are lots of other people/company making saddles or saddle fitting who are not registered with the SMS. It is a trade organization.
On the SMS members only closed facebook group, there has been a lot of complaints of non SMS fitters not following the COVID procedures. This is causing a lot of issues for the people who are following them. This is how I know non-SMS fitters are not unusual in the UK.
The UK has the most abundance of SMS people in the world.
For the OP, you might want to contact Kelsey Hamer with Four Winds Saddlery. She would know a lot more about the Canadian market for saddles since she lives in Alberta.
PS, I was typing on my cell phone which makes everything harder.
There is no reason why all UK saddlers and fitters should be members of the SMS. The Society of Master Saddlers is underwritten by the Worshipful Company of Saddlers. who are " A Not for Profit City of London Livery Company, committed to Saddlery, Equestrianism and Education". You can read about the Livery Companies here; https://thesaddlers.org/the-livery There are other similar organizations.
From Vancouver BC to Grande Prairie AB is 740 miles/1191 kms driving across three major mountain ranges. Estimated drive time 13 hours over two days basically through wilderness. Also it’s a much smaller rural community in cowboy country so probably fewer used English saddles. I think it’s hard to imagjne the distances in western Canada if you don’t live here :).
For comparison London to Edinburgh Scotland is 400 miles/7 hours on a flat freeway.
She actually has traveled to the coast on saddle fitting trips. It was more about what is available in Canada for saddles compared to the us. I know she does a lot with used saddles.
I actually do have an idea about distances in Canada. When I worked for Caterpillar, I visited some of the Canadian dealerships including sparwood, b.c. talked about an interesting trip.
Now - that really is stating the bleeding obvious.
A lot like saying America has the most abundance of baseball players.
What exactly is a most abundance ?
Ok, apologies! Sparwood is pretty remote in think, right in the mountains!