We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western 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.)

Western Stock (Aussie) Trees

We have now added Western Stock trees to the styles of saddle tree that we make – thanks to LOTS of help from Dennis Lane in New South Wales, Australia. While we in North America would probably call it an Australian or Aussie tree, it really should be known as a Western Stock tree, which is what Australian saddle and tree makers call this style.

Where does the name come from?

The original Australian Stock saddle has an English style tree with panels underneath it in to be the weight bearing surface.  The knee pads are leather, not an integral part of the tree. The Western saddle has a tree with bars composing the main weight bearing surface and different fork styles. The Western Stock saddle is a cross between the Australian Stock saddle and a Western saddle because it has a western style tree with bars in it with an Australian style fork with the knee pads built in.

Variations

We have patterns (pronounced without the “r” - patt-ens - for true, authentic Aussie flavour) for different knee pad styles and, as always, are willing to work with saddle makers to build the type of tree they want. The Factors that Affect Fit are modified as needed to fit the horse’s body type, the same way all our other trees are made.