What are the many price points? The price points are identical to the Tota bridles. $800. How does that appeal to the lower budget consumer?
I like quality, luxury, the environment, and animal welfare but I will never pay that much for a bridle.
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What is the name of the website?
Is there a website thatās not Facebook?
Thank you.
Hmm. No specifics about where the tack is manufactured or what it is made of.
Handmade where,and by whom?
They certainly are pricey.
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says artisans from all over the world on the web site. Thatās pretty generic. At that price Iād like to know what country the products are manufactured and assembled in etc.
I just looked at the RobertSquared website, attempting to get a better idea about the tack. I think they need to improve on the description/clarification between the bridle models. Some photos show bridles appearing to have a glossy sheen to the non-leather material while other photos show a rather dull porous looking texture. Pretty much every description is the same, whether there is a crank cavesson or Tota-type cavesson displayed. "Choice of cavesson " is mentioned for each model, but likely intended to mean choice of cavesson width rather than type. Confusing. Prices on bridles appear to start at about $700, which puts them on par with Otto Schumacher leather bridles made in Germany. Discriminating buyers might expect Swarovski crystals as are used in the Schumacher bridles. No mention of crystal origin. No mention of where these bridles are made. Presuming that potential buyers might only have Internet access for selecting one of these non-leather bridles, details and clarity are meaningful. Personallyā¦I wish the Roberts hadnāt chosen to label every item with an āLVā suffix. Coupled with the Tesla/Mercedes reference on the opening pageā¦itās a bit much. Regardlessā¦good luck to Robert x 2. I donāt shop DressageConnection for cause, so my tack room will never see one.
I do wish they had more info about the materials on the website, given that the materials are the innovative thing here.
Iām not as curious about where the āhandmadeā tack is handmade ā presumably that part of the supply chain isnāt so different from other tack.
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I do want to know where products are made. Especially leather saddlery. Especially expensive products.
I donāt know if it would matter (quality wise) where synthetic tack is made, but it does matter when it is called eco-friendlyā¦
I do try not to buy from China whenever possible.
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I browsed the website as I was curious. Seeing as how everything is $$$$ Iām not really concerned where and how it is made since itās way out of my price range. That alleviates me from voting with my wallet. I could maybe reconcile those prices for boots or a saddle thatās leather from a manufacturer that I am familiar with. I suppose if I was a vegan I could reconcile those prices after I see reviews and hear how it wears.
I do hope the claims of eco-friendly are true. I am skeptical as at the beginning of this thread it sounded like the products were going to be affordable. $800 bridles and $475 paddock boots are not affordable for most people.
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Oh, Iām certainly not in the market for tack, vegan or otherwise. Iāve always invested in good leather tack. Good leather and workmanship purchased used, being better than cheap bought new. I was interested to hear the details because Iād never heard of āsynthetic leatherā referred to as āveganā. In this day and age it is a good marketing scheme.
Without the particulars of where it is made and what it is made from, the veracity of the 'eco-friendly"claim canāt be judged, and at that price point Iād expect the marketing to include specifics.
Sellers of good leather tack have always included the type of leather, type of dye, and the country where the saddle is made. They did when I was buying anywayā¦
For $5,500 a hand made saddle had better not be made in China, unless itās made by the best master saddler in the land! The bench work and stitching arenāt the parts of the manufacturing process where most environmental consequences are incurred, though, so to me that part isnāt particularly relevant to eco-friendliness claims (but it could be indicative of quality). At that price point Iād want to know a lot more about the saddle design, fitting, and construction generally ā not because those stages of manufacture are a big contributor to eco-friendliness but because that kind of cash is a big investment. Materials on the other handā¦ yeah would be good to know more about substance and sourcing to evaluate eco claims. And of course to consider quality/performance (e.g. what kind of vegan flocking?)ā¦ Plenty of questions.
As for price, the saddle I now ride in cost more than that when it was new (I bought it used). Iād consider a vegan saddle at that price point if it the function, quality, and longevity matched what I currently expect from a high end saddle. Wish this line had bridles at a lower price point though!
I agree that the quality, which includes bench work and stitching as well as materials, should be exceptional in a $5K saddle. China, India, South America and many other places in the world are not known for quality saddlers.
My experience has only been with leather tack. An example would be Argentine saddles. Those that I have seen were of inferior quality, not only in materials but in workmanship as well.
I think we agree that most sensible people would require more information than is available on the website before spending 5k on an āeco-friendly vegan leatherā saddle or an $800 āvegan leatherā bridle.
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@skydy you know unsensible people with lots of cash are going to dive right in lol. Honestly, what would go far for me is if Mr. Dover rode all the time in the boots, saddles and bridles.
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Unfortunately I had to change my plans and couldnāt go. So I have no idea about the quality of the material. Did anybody go? Now I will wait and hope that I will see one of these bridles in real
Oh thatās too bad. Perhaps someone else went.
Iāve always wondered why mutually exclusive terms are so often used with āveganā. Vegan leather and Vegan cheese for example, since leather and cheese are repugnant to vegans.
I think I have too much spare time. 
The Web site says they use artisans from around the world? Honestly, the first thing I thought was its either made in India or China. Just say where itās made and say what it is, synthetic calling it luxury vegan and pricing it out of range of most riders doesnāt change that.
It says on the web site that no animals were killed to make the products, kudos for that but isnāt leather a by product of the meat industry? Hence, no animals were killed specifically for their hides to make tack or am I wrong?
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I donāt think vegan is supposed to mean something exclusive. I think it is kind of a promise that really no animals had to suffer in the process of producing it. So many things which you would think are vegan (although they are not labeled vegan) are not because at some point there were parts of animals used to produce it. I am not sure whether there are rules for using this term. in Europe there are many different brands which call their products organic and all of them have different rules for producing them. It can be very confusing and as the term vegan is not protected and doesnāt have an exact description, people can use it for their own purposesā¦
this s one label not sure whether itās the only one https://vegan.org/certification/. I think this article gives a good explanationā¦https://ethicalelephant.com/cruelty-ā¦-labels-logos/
and unfortunately RD is very vague about his standardsā¦ So we donāt really now anything about his materials and his production standards
