Diary Dates!

Last Saddle Order dates for Christmas Deliveries is the 18/11/23

If you are hoping to buy a saddle for a Christmas present or feel that you would like to escape any Christmas madness by taking a ride out in your new saddle then please get your order in by Friday the 18th of November, saddles booked between the 11/11/23 and the 18/11/23 will also recieve a little Christmas 

New prospects!

Equestrian Supported Studies

We are very excited to announce that we have recently qualified to teach Equestrian Supported Studies.

 I have experienced the therapeutic effects that horses can offer myself in the past when I had suffered badly from anxiety (I still do  if I don't keep a check on my own mental health) and I also home tutor my own children so I am aware of how enjoyable equestrian based studies can be and just how many subjects can be covered within this sphere,  We have a small heard of very loved family horses that are well trained, kind and love fuss and company - so this opportunity was a very exciting one that we were very keen to take advantage of. 

I undertook the professionals course at 'TEAL' (Theraputic Equestrian Learning at Oxted) and here I am receiving my certificate and a congratulatory kiss from the very gorgeous 'Smokey'

Competition!

Summer Memories

Congratulations to our 'Summer Memories Photo Show Winners!!

We run a free online photograph competition for all of our HM saddle owners, winners receive a goodie box with a sweet and a treat cone, a Beautiful Rosette and a winners plaque! for more information please checkout our facebook page!

Our Story

Pre-Pad-dle Woes!

Well, I have been though many very stressful situations in life such as moving house, changing job, starting a family.....but then there was that whole other level of stress whenever I had to find saddles to fit ponies!

 Those early riding days are magical and our ponies always hold a place in our hearts but  also it is really important at this stage to set children up into a good, balanced position so that they don't have things that they would need try to relearn and correct as they progress and also with ponies catching kids at different stages and ages then we have ponies working under youngsters and beginners well into there mid 20's and beyond, in fact quite often this is the very stage when the ponies have the most  value to add to their work . We have ourselves just got a gorgeous 21 year old as his experience and calm head will help my daughter to take her next steps  - so it is really important for these riding school rocks to have their backs looked after and protected properly.

My eldest daughter is now 11 and so she always caught the experimental stages  - my youngest gets tried and tested options with everything and subsequently lives a much less risky life :-).   Her first pony was our mini-Shetland who came with a popular, reasonably priced synthetic saddle that resembles some sort of tiny western, it has a fixed plastic curve at the pommel with a handle and a hard little sharply angled cantle at the back, this little instrument of torture has polystyrene panels that are about as soft as paving blocks, so what we realised about this saddle is it was undoubtedly a factor in causing Shetland-roulette......the little handle at the front was a brilliant feature because when the ridged pommel pushed into the ponies shoulder (because anything other than the smallest butt would tip forward from the angle of the seat and drive the weight downwards) and at the same time the hard polystyrene panels would be trying to push and strip and muscle and connective tissue from the ponies spine......then you might need to grab that little handle when said Shetland (understandably) broncs and whips faster and higher than anything I have seen on Yellowstone......even with a teddy on board........damn that teddy could win some buckles.

So then we have the pad,  good....but very - very short lived, a taller child can find themselves pulled into a chair position and a child progressing with there riding may not find that their position is supported enough to be able to build a secure seat once you move into wanting a few strides of canter or to pop some poles and the ones that do offer more in the way of support around the child tend to get grown out of quite quickly, also I found that with any sort of wither pads can slip or they would rub if not shimmed correctly. 

So with growing kids comes bigger ponies and more options with traditional saddles and more opinions from eldest daughter who wants a saddle that looks good, is kind to her butt and that can give her a feeling of security to pop a little jump.......I was over a year trying to find something suitable, we tried everything! lots of GP saddles with more substance and support for my daughter had the long French panels at the front which do not suit our wide pony no how saddlers try to adjust it,  show type saddles often had owen panels but had hard seats (referring to the point about butt kindness, think princess and the pea but with a saddle seat) and they did not offer too much in the way of support,  Adjustable gullet saddles were not adjustable through the gullet only the gullet bar so as they were still equip with a rigid tree the correct shape could still not be achieved, THEN as a last ditch attempt we tried a brand new and rather expensive sheepskin type pad with a rigid cantle support........they could not have slipped more if they had tried to ride on a bin bag coated in Vaseline both sides!!  Plus.....on closer inspection, the stirrup loops (that the kids hadn't really used as they looked as if they would cause pressure across the wither) were sewn on completely wonkey! leathers would have needed to be on the top hole one side and the bottom the other.

There was the pink saddle .

Fitted niether child nor pony.......but it WAS pink........so didn't that cause a mutiny of epic proportions when I had to pull rank, put my foot down and say its going because its no good!! (I gave it to her in the end, its cleaned and in her room as decoration....it was my only way to end the drama).

Complete and utter desperation!! 

 And then, as if someone had heard our wishes - the Pad-dle!! Ta-Daaaaaaaaaaa!!

Eldest image conscious daughter's reaction was 'Woaaaaahhhhh its beautiful' so that was a win (much better than past reactions of 'if you think that's gonna be comfy mum YOU ride in it!' .... youngest daughter would generally waft out to ride in boots and full fairy / princess attire and tell me that actually the pony was dragon, so she always saw what she wanted to anyway), we could achieve a fabulous fit with it right the way through, realising the ponies movement not just at the shoulder by the sideways movement through the spine and belly, it helps the kids to sit in alignment and feel supported,  as a bonus with a little adjustment it worked on my horse so no needing a seatbelt to stop a child from sliding the length of a saddle meant for my ass......also its lovely and light,  so  they can go fetch the bloomin' tack themselves and pack it away again rather than treating me like some sort of wannabe Victorian groom to the ladies of the manor when they don't pay me for that shit, honestly, some small saddles weigh a ton! I just wish I had seen them sooner, I could have saved a whole saga's worth of money, time and "don't crouch"  - "Mummmmm ITS THE SADDLE!!!!!!" (wasn't always) scenario's!

So there we are, these were some examples of our pre-Pad-dle predicaments and the reasons why I will never not bore  everone's seatsavers off banging on about them! ......for a quite life....at least until they start nagging for a FlexEE (there will be a whole chat coming up on this I assure you).......just grab a Pad-dle.