Hello All, Over the past few weeks, I have been working with Karen Borne and Simone Mauhl of Borne Saddlery to talk about a custom saddle for Blessi. Several owners of hard-to-fit mountain horses have gotten these saddles and loved them. Karen gave me permission to share this email from her on why she believes she cannot sell me a custom fit saddle at this point in time. I find this type of honesty and cusomter focus very rare and refreshing. "Pamela, I spoke to Andy [Karen's master saddle maker in Scotland] at length this morning and I wanted to go over some issues regarding saddle fit as it relates to your Icelandic Horse. Andy is currently working with a very large Icelandic club in Scotland to develop a saddle that will perfectly fit this breed of horse. Also involved in this research and development is a local Physiotherapist and, between them, they are finding that most traditional english saddle trees are just not functional for these horses. In large part, the framework on the trees is too wide and lays on the ribcage of the horse instead of the longissimus muscle that attaches the ribcage to the spine. This is causing a great deal of soreness and even (in worse cases) bruising to the ribs themselves. So far, the findings are indicating that a narrower saddle tree is what is needed and Andy is currently discussing this with the tree mfg. in Wales. Borné Saddlery is dedicated to truly fitting each and every horse properly. For this reason, I am writing to tell you that we just do not have a saddle tree that is suitable for your Icelandic at this time. The saddles that were presented to you by Simone at the time of your fitting simply will not work. While it may seem like a waste of time, showing Andy photos like yours only helps to further identify what will and will not work for these horses and, speaking on behalf of all of us, I want to thank you for helping us with the effort that is already underway. I will keep you posted on how we are coming along with this new (and very interesting) journey of fitting Icelandics and hopefully we can help you in the very near future! Should you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me directly (713) 504-6812. Regards,
Karen Borne Borné Saddlery (281) 342-3709 (713) 504-6812 cell www.bornesaddlery.com"
