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We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

Video for the Dennis Lane Equine Back Profiling System

Posted by RodandDenise on May 4, 2020

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

Hello again!!  For any die-hards who still check here, we wanted to let you know that we have a new video out on the Dennis Lane Equine Back Profiling System. It shows you what the system consists of, how to use it properly, and we also discuss how it helps in other ways because it is an objective standard that doesn't change over time. Enjoy!!

 


Western Saddle Fit - The Basics is for sale!!

Posted by RodandDenise on March 28, 2017

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

2017 March 28 1 Western Saddle Fit home page.jpg

Our new website, where our Western Saddle Fit videos are for sale, is called westernsaddlefit.com and as of NOW it is up and running! Whoo hoo!!! We’re thrilled as it has been pretty much a two year process to get this far.


Already, but not yet...

Posted by RodandDenise on March 15, 2017

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

2017 March 14 1 Big yellow truck.jpg

Today was an exciting day!! A big yellow truck drove up to our house…


"THE VIDEO" - It's coming, it's coming...

Posted by RodandDenise on January 28, 2017

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

2017 Jan 28 1 working on the western saddle fit video.jpg

We keep mentioning the video we are producing on Western Saddle Fit. Many of you may remember last May when a major forest fire ended up burning a fair proportion of the city of Fort McMurray in north-eastern Alberta. It was nicknamed “The Beast”. Well, this video project has morphed into a monster named “THE VIDEO”, well deserving of all caps and a deep voice, if not ominous music...


The "Trinket"

Posted by RodandDenise on January 13, 2017

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

2017 Jan 8 1.jpg

Rod got all fancied up for a Christmas banquet this year. He even waxed his mustache for the first time in years! And it was the first time he was able to wear “the trinket” one of our good customers had sent us.


An Academic Study on Dennis Lane’s Equine Back Profiling System

Posted by RodandDenise on December 12, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

2016 Dec 11 1 The three Aussies.jpg

In 2007, the Australian tree and saddle maker Dennis Lane first showed paper copies of his Equine Back Profiling System to a few saddle makers, including Jeremiah Watt who posted about it on a blog he wrote for the Western Folklife Center (now no longer available, unfortunately). Over the next couple of years, Dennis, with the help of his friend, saddle and tree maker as well as engineer David A. Morris, worked on getting the system into an easily usable, easily transportable, easily saleable format – the plastic cards which you have seen on our website before. (If you are not familiar with Dennis’s system, I suggest you go to his website and click the EBPS link so you know what we are talking about here -and order a set!) Here are the three musketeers from when they came way up north to visit us on their 2008 trip over the ocean – from left to right, Hank Statham, Dennis Lane and David A Morris.


Introducing Greg Cymbaluk

Posted by RodandDenise on December 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.)

2016 Dec 5 1 Greg Cymbaluk saddle trees.jpg

Last January, Greg made the long trek four miles down Alder Ridge Road to take our tree making course. We have known Greg since Rod first took him out hunting when he was twelve, and we have enjoyed watching him grow and learn in many ways over the years.


The downhill horse

Posted by RodandDenise on October 29, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

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.


The Table

Posted by RodandDenise on September 18, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

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.


The effect of the rider - Part two

Posted by RodandDenise on August 28, 2016

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

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?