Buying a Saddle

Buying a Saddle ETC

Please understand that the prices of some materials are beyond our control and may be subject to change without notice.

Don't be fooled by all the Indian saddle photos online, as many are from other websites and are not theirs (USA, Europe, Aussie).

Basic instructions before you purchase a saddle from us: we do insist upon you tracing out your horse's back lines in the four positions found on my 'Saddle Fit' page, so please go there first to save you and us communication time. There are no long waiting times in the making of our saddles; we can have one under construction even on the day you order it, so be sure you know what you want, as it may be too late to change. In fact, you can have your saddle within a week or two, as we are set up along the lines of the American saddle factories and use polyethylene injection-moulded trees (forms). These are made of high-tensile plastic under pressure, in which the plastic is forced to the outer mould and then turns in on itself to case-harden. We also press-cut most of our saddle parts with our 60-tonne press. Most trees will be fitted with precisely cut leather parts from our specially made shaped cutting dies (knives). To give you that often expensive carved pattern, we have invested in very expensive bronze mirror copies of genuine leather carving plates to press the pattern into the leather in a matter of minutes instead of hours of hand carving. When you order your saddle, chances are we may start it the same day, so make sure you have thought things out thoroughly before you put your order in, as we may not be able to change things. If you do require a saddle within the week, don't, on the other hand, take too much time about it, as another customer may just jump the queue. Sorry to say, it is first in, first served, and as my kids say, 'you snooze, you lose.'

You may also have the option of having the appropriate trees sent to you for on-the-spot fitting. This will only cost you the freight there and back, but we will require your credit card number for security. Before we start work or send you a saddle, we will also require a credit card number or cheque as security, plus freight prepaid up front: $75 North Island and $95 South Island, plus $20 if rural. We don't have rural pickup and have to deliver the saddle with a 12 km round trip, but we do send the saddle by rural delivery.

PLEASE NOTE REGARDING RETURNS AND REFUNDS

When purchasing a saddle from stock or custom-made, we reserve the right to charge a $60 restocking fee when the saddle comes back to go back into stock, or up to 10% of the original price of the saddle if any redyeing, finishing or other work is required to put the saddle back up for sale. Any damage to the saddle that puts it out of stock until repairs can be done will be assessed for the cost of the damage at the time.

There will be no refunds on saddles that have names or titles stamped into them, or are of a design that is so far out it will be hard to sell on, or where you have tried a saddle with the same tree in it and it fitted both you and your horse at the time of choosing, as a new saddle will need time to settle. This also applies where a tree has been tried with the barebones kit and has been approved. In other cases, you have one month after purchase to decide if there are any issues regarding a partial refund.

PLEASE NOTE — Leather is a natural material and will, from time to time, have cuts, scratches and bands in the hides. We do our best to avoid these as much as possible, but they may still slip through occasionally.