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We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

The downhill horse

Posted by RodandDenise on October 29, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 Oct 28 1 very downhill horse.jpg

I’ve had a couple discussions in the past week about how to deal with downhill horses. (Yes, despite life changing, we still talk a lot about saddles, trees and horses.) Lost in the archives, in the middle of the section on evaluating a horse for fit, I talked about how we decide if a horse is downhill or not.

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The Table

Posted by RodandDenise on September 18, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 Sept 17 1 table, band saw and work bench.jpg

When we started the business over twenty years ago, Rod built his workbench, and the table. He built them the same height as each other so they would match, and the height chosen was the height of the table on the band saw. This way he could use either table or bench to support the end of a long board that hung a long way out past the band saw when cutting.

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Mysterious Barricades Concert

Posted by RodandDenise on September 5, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

Mysterious Barricades Image.jpg

I know this isn't about horses, or saddles, or trees - but suicide has touched our lives personally a number of times. The barricades that stop us talking about mental health need to be broken so that hope can come to suffering people. This first time event consists of eighteen hours of incredible music from thirteen professional concerts across the country, all volunteered, with the goal of bringing awareness to mental health and suicide prevention. The concerts are free, and it is being live streamed from a link on the website for the full duration of the concert.  Some of the artists normally command thousands of dollars per performance, but all the musicians and almost everything about this event is being volunteered by people who see the need to open up communication and remove the stigma about suicide and the mental health issues that so often lead to it. Information about mental health and suicide prevention will be available at all the venues and people will be present to talk with as well. Please go to the website to learn more, share the links, live stream the music or, if you are close to the venues, go to the concerts themselves.  It will be a day of hope and education. Please join it!

If you want to know more about the background to the concert, here is a link to a short video where the president of this organization, Elizabeth Turnbull, talks about the concert and her late husband.

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The effect of the rider - Part two

Posted by RodandDenise on August 28, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 Aug 27 1 sitting straight.jpg

In part one about rider effects on the horse, we talked about the effect of movement - horse and rider - on how the rider impacts the horse. (Pun completely unintended.) But how about rider position? What have studies shown about that?

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The last tree

Posted by RodandDenise on August 20, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 Aug 21 1 last saddle tree being built.jpg

has been built…

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Semi-retirement

Posted by RodandDenise on August 3, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 Aug 2 2 nor more orders.jpg 2016 Aug 2 1 orders are done.jpg

Well, Rod rawhided his last tree on July 23rd. Now not only is the orders-in-waiting clip empty, but the working-on-orders clips are all empty as well.

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Introducing Dusty Smith

Posted by RodandDenise on July 27, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 July 26 1 Dusty Smith saddle trees.jpg

Dusty came to visit us in February to learn to build saddle trees. We knew he was high energy when he wanted to get here so much that he made the plane arrive early and was standing on the edge of the curb waiting for us when we drove up with what should have been lots of time to spare…

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The effect of the rider - Part one

Posted by RodandDenise on July 23, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 July 22 1 Jeordie and Denise.jpg

Daring to walk into a lion’s den here… When discussing “big picture saddle fit”, we have to look at more than just the tree and the saddle. There are other factors that affect the pressures on the horse. (We give a run down on these on our Troubleshooting Saddle Fit page.) One of the main ones that can be touchy to discuss is the effect of the rider. But here goes…

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11:10 am

Posted by RodandDenise on July 12, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 July 12 1 Rod rawhiding a saddle tree.jpg

Around about 11:10 am today things in the shop looked pretty much like they may have looked any time in the last quite-a-few years. Rod was rawhiding a tree…

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Getting to The Lasts...

Posted by RodandDenise on July 4, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com websiteWestern Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)

2016 July 4 1 getting to the last saddle trees.jpg

Like we said last November, this has been a long winter of goodbyes, as one by one we have made The Last tree for individual customers, some of whom we have been supplying trees to for twenty years. But now we are getting down to the final few trees, and we are hitting some of The Last times we are doing certain parts of the job.

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