At 15 years old, I purchased a beautiful 15 yr. old Palomino Quarter / Standardbred Cross - (Tippy). This lovely mare barely passed the Vet Check, but still gave me about 7 years of good Trail Riding. She was well schooled enough that I was able to take lessons on her for several years and she taught me a great deal. . I paid for all my lessons by cleaning the trainers tack several times a week. This was my first introduction to the importance of having good tack and how to take care of it
I borrowed or tried out a few horses before I bought Shady, a three year old AQHA Peppy San Grandaughter. Only 14.2 and 3 years old, she was not my first choice, but It was her steadiness and willing to go where I pointed her that sold me on the plain Little Bay Mare. Shady is now in her 20's and has never dumped me nor even tried. What she lacks in personality, she makes up for in her seirious attitude and work ethic and the fact that you can take her anywhere by herself. She teaches all my youngsters to pony. They don't dare monkey around when she's leading them.
However this is where my saddle fit nightmares began.
The first year I owned Shady was constant trial and error on saddle fit. I borrowed every saddle from every friend, and even some aquaintances and nothing would fit. I would ride for several days and this mare would have swelling behind her shoulders. Going downhill seemed suicidal as the bars dug into her shoulders and caused great pain. I even tried to rig cruppers on most of the saddles As you can see from my pictures below, we have mountains, and not too many hills. I had a saddle custom made and waited nearly 6 months for it, however it did not fit. I had the saddle maker come out and showed him, and he shook his head and admitted he put a narrower tree in the saddle as he didn't believe I knew what I was talking about. Well the saddle fit a lovely dun mare I had bought for my husband, so I used it on her and had the saddle maker start another one. I rode the dun mare for 4 months while waiting for my saddle only to end up asking for my deposit back as the saddle maker had not even started work on my saddle. So much for customer service there.
I went to a second saddlemaker who would not guarantee the saddle would fit, but recomended a new company called Ortho-Flex, so I purchased a saddle from them and it worked really well. Needless to say, there was another 4 months of waiting for the saddle to be made. The Ortho-Flex saddle also came with a crupper ring, and extra tie rings. Although I never considered it pretty, I loved my good old Ortho-Flex Tradional Saddle and it was one of the first several hundred made. I eventually became an Ortho-Flex Dealer. During this time I learned a great deal about saddle fit. I eventually quit selling Ortho-Flex saddles after the poor customer service I felt they gave me and my customers. Since then the company is under new ownership and I almost signed up with them to sell again. I believe the new owners truely put the customer first, however the prices had increased enough that paying $2,000.00 and up for a saddle is more than what I felt my local market can bear.
During the last year I purchased 2 saddles that convinced me to go back into the saddle business.
On the first saddle, I sent them the the measurements of 3 of my mules (all identical at the shoulder) and after a few months, the saddle arrived, but did not fit any of them. It did however fit a narrow, tall withered Standardbred Race mare I had just bought so I kept it. I then purchased a mule saddle but the rigging was different then what I had asked for and they refused to put a crupper ring on the saddle because they did not believe in them. They even went so far as to not put breast collar rings on a trail saddle because they felt you should loop leather around the pommel and strap through that. I must admit, this was a great way to hook up your breastcollar that I had not seen before, and I'll use it, but I could not understand why one persons would tell you what you could or couldn't have on your saddle. I figured it was their company, they could run it the way they wanted, but me,, I just wanted something to tie my pommel bags so so they wouldn't flop around. I understand opinions, we all have them, but tell endurance riders who ride 50-100 miles that their cruppers do not work. Better yet, tell them they should be riding with a bitchin!!! That company. did offer to let me trade the saddle in the next time they were in my area at a show, but that was 4 months away. Needless to say, I sold that saddle on ebay. Since the quality of that saddle was really good, and it fit well, I tracked down the actual manufacture of the saddle and contracted with them to make saddles for me and started my own company where I could sell saddles the way my customers wanted and needed them. You see, saddle fit and customer service has become a passion with me.
My goal is to now share my saddle fitting experience and knowledge, and offer you excellent customer service.
I feel I'm lucky in the sense that I enjoy and have participated in several riding disciplines. I understand why Western riders feel about their Western Saddles and Leather the way they do. I understand why Endurance riders feel about their lightweight saddles, helmets and biothane tack the way they do. Most importantly,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I understand why some people like to ride 5 miles, and why some like to ride 50.
Lastly, a bigger change came into our lives over 13 years ago. My husband is an occasional rider and I talked him into finally going on a pack trip with me. "Not unless I can ride a mule." he said. Well he did and he was sold on mules. Of course it took another year, and another pack trip, but we ended up buying that same mule (Iris).
Iris has been with us ever since and opened the door to our owning and raising mules as well as being exposed to other types of saddle fit issues. Ah,, those lovely Longears.
We only raise a few mules to sell, however we do stand a very nice Jack to the public.
You can view our Jack at our website; www.hawleyday.com
Below, just inland from the Pacific Coast.
with one of her mule foals
< just before a mule halter class.
Right, Shady's last foal,
A Palomino Filly -
Grace Elizabeth >
We figure by the Grace of God I got a palomino out of Shady
just before a "lead line" class.