If you are and do, for jumping and cross country then you might be interested to see this saddle. It was made for a young man in Ireland who is tall, very long in the leg and who likes to ride very short across country. This is a Walsall Riding Integra Monoflap made extra forward cut and with a bigger knee roll.
Integra Monoflap, extra forward cut
Well, it’s been quite a year! The UK, our home country has topped our list of countries this year, followed closely by Australia, New Zealand and USA. Closer to home, we have had orders from Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark. Norway, France and Ireland. So, we continue to live up to our name!
Reflecting this diversity is the range of types of horses: Warmblood, TB, Hafflinger, Andalusian, Gypsy Cob , Pure Bred Spanish, Connemara, Highland, Welsh Cob, Irish Sport Horse, Stationbred and even Friesan X Apaloosa!
The Suzannah and the Suzannah Monoflap top the list for choice of model. Popular jump saddles were the Impala, the Gazelle and the jump GP, Nyala. Very notable this year was the need for wide fitting saddles. The new Ozelle came in to its own for this as did saddles built on the new FWB hooped tree although in some cases the answer lay in old favourites, the H&C and the Jessica tree.
As ever, some saddles were made to a very individual specification, not only in terms of creating the perfect fit but also appearance. Some saddles were quite exotic!…as described in earlier posts.
Here are a few stories of this year’s happy customers. Forgive me if I begin with Page from the USA and Cheryl from New Zealand. Both have described our service as “AWESOME” which as you can imagine made us very happy too! Page is a returning customer, this time needing a saddle for her youngster, Anja, seen here in the photo below. She decided upon a 1550 GP with 3 sets of knee blocks on Velcro, thigh blocks on Velcro, no rear pad on the flaps, show bar ie stirrup bar in the dressage position & dressage length billets. Cheryl’s saddle for George was also a 1550 but built on a FWB tree.
Page….” As I have said before – you guys provide the BEST customer service”!
Cheryl…”Thank you again for all your help. You are awesome”!
Next is Kaitlyn, from USA, riding in her Impala, made with slightly longer flaps than standard and with Buffaloe skirt & flaps and Grippy Hide seat & pads.. We weren’t asked to fit this saddle to a specific horse and here is what Kaitlyn had to say……
“just wanted to update you and aside from the saddle being beautiful, it is breaking in super well! Fits such a variety of horses, more than I anticipated! And with the grippy leather and thigh blocks has saved me from some falls off some frisky horses! I just wanted to thank you again!”
Feeling secure on frisky horses!
Lets now go to France! Jane has three PRE Spanish horses and needed a saddle for Lunar. The new Ozelle was the answer, made for Lunar in Buffaloe with Suede seat & pads & white stitching. Jane sent us a lovely message:
“Hello Jane.
Please can you tell Ian that he made a great job of the saddle for Lunar. It doesn’t slip to the left and is about as close to perfect as I think I could get.
A huge long distance success!”
This is the lovely Lunar
The new Ozelle was the answer for Lunar
Now we’re off to Norway! Jenny had had a long and fruitless search for a dressage saddle to fit her Danish Warmblood, Attack . The issue was his big shoulders and tall, wide, long withers compounded by his short, straight back. As a result Attack had been out of work for some time and was loosing muscle. Jenny was despairing. The solution was to put our heads together with Ideal. We often ask for their input when faced with a particularly difficult fitting. The result was a Suzannah, probably the only tree that will accommodate his shape, with the panels cut and shaped to conform to Attack’s conformation. We were delighted to hear that:
“the saddle fit him good, he works good in it and I think he has a little bit more muscle on his back”
and
“I have to say that the saddle is just amazing to ride in and people on the stable think it looks so nice and good to sit in”
Here is a now happy Attack!
A Suzannah with panels specially cut and shaped was the solution to his fitting problems.
Well, dear reader, I could go on and on and on but if you have got this far, thank you for your perseverance!
Roll on 2018. We look forward to “meeting” lots more great people and their lovely horses here in the UK and around the world!
Happy 2018 to all!
4 NEW SPECIAL OFFERS have just been posted on our site:
1/ Ideal Suzannah Monoflap Dressage saddle 17 1/2″ MW Black
2/ An exotic version of the Barclay Majestic Dressage saddle also 17 1/2″ MW Black. This saddle has special detailing on the flaps and patent leather rolls.
3/ Ideal Roella Dressage saddle 17 1/2″ W Black with Memel skirt & flaps
and
4/ Ideal FWB VSD cut 17 1/2″ Brown. This saddle is stamped XW but will fit anything super wide.
The August issue of Equestrian Trade News included a feature on Made in Britain and met some “major players” with reasons to celebrate being British.
One of them was Ideal!
ETN gave a brief history of the company which I summarise here.
Founded in 1986, Ideal today employs 73 skilled craftsmen and women across two manufacturing sites. In 2007 Ideal purchased Walsall Riding, itself established in 1946. More recently Ideal purchased Beebee & Beebee, saddle tree makers since 1870. Ideal also purchased out of administration, the (Barnsby) patterns, now made under the Barclay brand, from Jabez Cliff Company. This year saw another acquisition, that of Aulton & Butler, saddle tree makers since 1955.
So, not only are Ideal one of the largest saddlery manufacturers in Walsall, they can also claim to have more tree blocks and patterns than any other company in the world!
Black saddles with white piping and/or white stitching have been quite a thing this summer!
This saddle, an Ozelle and made for a Spanish horse in France is in black Buffaloe with suede seat and pads with white stitching…..
and this saddle, a H&C Wide Seat Jessica, made for a Hafflinger in Switzerland has both white stitching and piping…..
To complete the picture i.e. white stitching, white piping and white patent moon we have a Suzannah in the making for a lovely piebald dressage horse in Ireland. Photos to come!
