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CUTTERS ROPERS RACERS
REINERS OPTIONS PRICING
SADDLES
by
TOM AND CHARON CALDWELL 		"Anybody who doesn't ride a Caldwell Saddle is a damn fool!"
       George Floyd, Augusta Futurity 1994     
". . . maybe riders in the winners' circle have a secret . . . they may be riding a Caldwell High Performance Saddle!"
       Horse Sense, September 1992
"The only saddle worth riding is a Caldwell."
       Martha Fender, cutter, Augusta Futurity 1995
TO INQUIRE ABOUT CUSTOM SADDLES CALL US AT
706-886-0314  or e-mail  caldwellsaddle@windstream.net

HIGH PERFORMANCE SADDLES are what we do . . . and we do them very well indeed. Consider the comments above.

Why do these people -- and many others -- speak so highly of our saddles? There could be any number of reasons, but they all revolve around the same aspects: quality in design and in execution.

There are many saddlemakers; they can be divided into two broad categories - those who make production line assembly saddles and those who build custom hand-made saddles. Custom saddles follow traditional building techniques. They are made from the best material available, using no shortcuts, and built by highly skilled workers. In the making of production saddles, costs are cut by using an assembly line, cheaper materials, and techniques that shorten labor time.

A Typical saddleAssembly line builders frequently build on speculation and in bulk. In order to reduce material costs they tend to use:

  • Fiberglass or plastic trees
  • Argentine leather
  • Cotton stitching
  • Machine pressed tooling
  • Nickel plated hardware
  • Plastic stirrups and a
  • Traditional design.
The diagram shows some of the problems with traditional design. The rigging (1) is placed high and forward under the swell and the rearward seat (2) shifts the rider's weight toward the cantle, resulting in an unbalanced rider. The fender also is unbalanced; stirrup pressure forces the fender backwards (3). The net result is that both horse and rider are out of balance and synchronization.

A Caldwell High Performance Saddle Caldwell Saddle Company is a custom builder, since our saddles are cut, fit, and finished one at a time. We see no need to cut material costs, since we wish to give each customer our very best work. With each of our saddles we will use:

  • Our own custom-built wood trees (hand-sewn rawhide over southern yellow pine)
  • American leather from Wickett & Craig
  • Hand-sewn 5-strand nylon stitching
  • Hand tooling
  • All stainless steel hardware and
  • Metal-bound wood stirrups.
Our design gives a mid-saddle seat (2) which equalizes the rider's weight over the horse's entire back. The rigging design (1) ensures greater stability (and comfort to both horse and rider) by reducing saddle movement. These two factors, along with a difference in fender design (3), reduce or prevent the "kickback" found with traditional saddles.

There are plenty of custom saddle makers, but our unique designs, as discussed above, place Caldwell Saddle at the pinnacle of tailor-made performance saddles.

NOTE: Also see the Physics of Saddlemaking.  

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Charon Caldwell Video on Saddle Trees and Fit        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8mZwUyNISk    

Charon Caldwell and Dr. Joseph Leviner,
Chiropractic Physician, discussing Saddle Fit
Part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acNfU-id_Fg
Part 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQZaM1EDqxw

 

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