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Don
West
Training-Trail Saddles
Proud to say, made in the USA!
All
breeds of naturally gaited horses,
including Paso Finos and Peruvian Pasos, and most
Spanish blooded and short backed horses need a special
saddle. Most of the saddles being built today are
designed for Quarter Horses. The saddle tree bars in
these saddles are too long and too straight for gaited
horses. The thick pommels, required to anchor a roping
horn, just make the bars even longer in the front,
almost guaranteeing a poor fit. A gaited horse saddle
should be built on a close-fitting, short-barred saddle
tree, with plenty of flair at the bar
ends, and a lot of "rock" (rocker shape) in
the center of the bars. For the horse to be
comfortable and do it's best gait, the tree must make even contact with the horse’s back between
the pommel and the cantle, and not"bridge" when the
horse is in it's natural working conformation.
Don West's tree
design puts the rider as close as possible to the horse,
in the "sweet spot", the same place that you'd end up in
if you were riding bareback, with you're legs
hanging comfortably forward, in the "rider's groove", the narrowest place
around the horse's chest. The Don West Saddle Tree spreads the rider’s weight over the largest area
of the horse's back, without interfering with its
shoulder action, or digging into its loins. A
rider’s weight change and leg aids should be able
to be transmitted immediately
and accurately to the horse, without causing pain or
discomfort. The bulkless rigging in our saddles gets you
even closer to your horse. Devices like spring panels, etc., that lift
the rider off the horse's back and dull the communication between
rider and horse are neither required, nor desired. Don
West Training-Trail Saddles are the result of Don's
thirty years of experience; breeding, training, and
trail riding naturally gaited horses. They are the original
gaited horse trail saddles, designed for what Don calles
"sit-down equitation"... "the saddles with the fit built in...not added on!"
Each Don
West Saddle is built one at a time, to your order, on a Don West designed saddle tree
for ultimate fit, comfort, and security for both horse
and rider. This special tree, along with forward hung,
free swinging stirrup leathers, puts the rider in the
correct position for both training and trail riding. Don West
Training-Trail Saddles feature top quality materials and
excelent workmanship. Don't you and your gaited horse deserve the best? Well
then, why saddle for less? Ride with pride on a
Don West Training-Trail Saddle.
As Don says:
"SADDLE UP-
LET'S RIDE!"
DON
WEST TRAINING-TRAIL SADDLES
for
all naturally gaited, paso, and short backed horses
Here's a letter from Don West
Dear naturally gaited trail horse
rider,
Thank you for your interest in my
Don West Training-Trail Saddles. Just like you, I
care about my horses. And, like you, I want what’s
best for them. I started my career as a professional
horseman;
breeder/trainer/teacher/speaker/clinician/author/and
product designer and field tester over forty years
ago. For twenty years, 1980 to 2000, I bred, raised,
trained, and sold pure blood Peruvian Paso Horses.
For the past ten years I have been cross breeding my
Peruvian Paso mares with my Mountain Pleasure Horse
stallion, “Big Red”, producing gaited trail horses I
call Paso-Pleasure Horses. As a teenager, I began my
association with horses as an English rider. When I
moved to Colorado I worked as a working cowboy. I’m
now a teacher, trainer, and trail rider, but I’ve
been a competitive trail rider, an endurance rider,
a backcountry packer, and a hunting guide. Once I
switched breeds from Arabs, Quarter Horses, and
Appaloosas to Peruvian Pasos, it didn’t take long
for me to become disillusioned and disappointed with
the traditional saddles and tack that came from
Peru. That stuff was certainly an esoteric
curiosity. It produced lots of interesting questions
from folks seeing the Peruvian Pasos ridden in
parades and at the shows! But it was an abomination,
an accident waiting to happen, out on the trail. The
Peruvian saddles were ill-fitting, and made my
horses sore and unhappy. The big wooden stirrups and
long hanging tail piece got hung-up in each bush or
tree I passed.
My philosophy has always been
that a comfortable horse is a happy horse, and a
happy horse makes for a happy rider. So, first I
tried all my old walk, trot, canter saddles on my
new naturally gaited horses. But that didn’t work,
either. The Western saddles were built on a tree
that had bars that were too long, too straight, and
didn’t have enough rock in the middle, or flair at
the bar ends. The English saddles didn’t give enough
security for the rider, and the endurance type
saddles had the fenders hung in the wrong place, too
close to the middle of the seat so you could stand
up in them. But riding a gaited horse requires a
different seat position than walk, trot, and canter
equitation. When riding a gaited horse properly, you
carry most of your weight in your seat, not on your
feet, a position I’ve come to call “sit-down
equitation”. A gaited horse saddle should let your
legs hang in the “riders groove”, the narrow place
right behind the horse’s shoulders, and put your
weight down in the seat, “on your pockets”, in the
“sweet spot” on the horses back. It should not tilt
you forward onto your crotch. In fact, to bring out
the best gait in a naturally gaited horse, your
saddle should place you on the horse where you would
end up sitting naturally if you were riding bare
back, and in the same natural, relaxed position.
After going through the process
of trying out every kind of saddle I could lay my
hands on (or put my fanny into), on my new (to me)
gaited horses, and having no success in finding a
saddle that would be: 1.Comfortable for the horse,
2. Comfortable for me, 3. Give me as much security
as possible, yet not interfere with the ability of
the horse to function at his best, 4. Place me in
the right place and in the right posture for riding
gaited horses, and 5. Have the quality of materials
and workmanship that would reflect the pride I felt
in my horses, I came to the conclusion that if I
wanted the right saddle to train and trail ride my
gaited horses, I’d have to design and make it
myself. And so, that’s exactly what I did! That
decision was made was more than a quarter century
ago.
My first few saddles were pretty
funky, that’s for sure. Never the less, they caught
the attention of folks that saw them at the Peruvian
Paso shows. That’s where I competed with my home
bred horses back in those days. What started out as
a personal quest for a saddle to fill my training
and trail riding needs, soon started to take on the
beginnings of a small business.
I kept
working at improving the shape of my saddle tree,
the heart of every good saddle, the framework that
saddles are built on, tweaking the shape so that the
same bars would fit more and more short backed
horses comfortably. Because I was hauling the
saddles around with me to the shows, and because of
the popularity of the TV show Paladin, Have Gun-Will
Travel, I started to call my budding business “Have
Saddle-Will Travel”. It just followed naturally
because of the saddles intended use that they should
be called “Training-Trail Saddles”.
I was amazed at how quickly
the word spread about “the new Don West
Training-Trail Saddles”. Soon owner/riders of other
breeds of gaited horses began to inquire about my
saddles, too. Paso Fino owners quickly overtook the
Peruvian Paso owners in numbers of orders. I suspect
that that was because their horses are usually a
little smaller than Peruvian Pasos and that made
finding a saddle that would fit their horses
comfortably, and not interfere with the gait, even
more of a challenge for them. Then, before I knew
it, I began to hear from all the various American
breeds of naturally gaited trail horse owners. It
quickly became clear that I wasn’t alone in trying
to solve my gaited horse saddle fit problems. In
fact, most gaited horse trail riders were
experiencing the same basic problems, and were
trying to make Western or English Saddles and tack
work on their gaited horses.
With their more laid back
shoulder angle, gaited and Paso horses need a
special saddle with a tree that is very short in the
front. The average Western saddle, with its thick
pommel (fork), needed to secure the horn for roping,
ends up putting the gaited horse rider either too
far back on the horse, or, if the front ends of the
bars are set up on the horse’s shoulders so that the
rider can sit in the right place on the horses back,
the riders weight, pushing down through the bar ends
on the horse’s moving shoulders soon makes the horse
sore (and sour). My saddle tree, with its short
bars, lots of rock in the middle (twist), and plenty
of flair at the bar ends, solves those problems. My
saddles give the best in both comfort (for horse and
rider), and security (for the rider), meeting the
needs of the discriminating gaited horse or paso
trainer or trail rider!
Just so there is no
misunderstanding, let me tell you right up front, my
quest has always been to produce a high quality product
at a fair market price. My saddles may not be the
cheapest, but when it comes to naturally gaited horses,
or Paso Fino, Peruvian Paso, Mangalarga Marchador,
Spanish Criollio, or any other short backed, difficult
to fit horses, mine are the best! Each Don West
Training-Trail Saddle is built, one at a time, on a
genuine Don West saddle tree; either our Pecos model
(with a horn), or our Spanish model (without a horn).
They are all built to your order, out of the finest
materials available, by skilled craftsmen, right here in
Colorado, USA. You get to choose the model, the size,
the color, and all the items found on the order form.
You custom design your own saddle to meet your personal
taste. You’ll be happy. Your horse will be happy. And,
you will ride with pride on a Don West Training-Trail
Saddle. So order yours now, and “Saddle up, Let’s Ride!”
Happy trails, Don West
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