Try Before You Buy Demo Program:

We will ship you a demo to try for three weeks. To be considerate of other customers, please return demos in the time allotted. We have several demos, the particular one you may wish to try may be in use. Plan ahead if needed for a particular trail ride or special event.

There will be a charge of $50 for the shipping and handling of the demonstration saddle! We can send leather samples upon request.

Keep in mind the demos have seen many miles on the trail.

Ship demos back to:
Custom Tree and Saddle Co.
2323 Hwy 12 North
Ashland City, TN 37015

Our standard fit to the horse is fitting 85 to 90% of the horses that we send it out to regardless of breed. We have many other fits for the other 10 to 15% that our standard fit to the horse does not work for. Our saddles come in S, M, L and XL. For example a female weighing 140-190 lbs. would require a medium fit. If you are 5’7” and under, please let us know to include short fenders. We also offer half sizes.

Another option is for us to send you a mold kit. You would heat it in the oven for 10 minutes, lay it on your horse’s back to cool and return it to us. This way we have a replica of your horse’s back in our shop to build the tree by. We then add stirrup leathers, rigging and a temporary seat to the tree so you can actually ride the tree to check the fit to the horse before we complete the saddle. A good fitting tree should be like a ski in the snow. A skier’s weight is distributed properly underneath the hard surface of the ski from front to back. Our tree has a hard surface under it; there’s not a lot of padding. We insist on the rider not using a thick pad in order to distribute your weight underneath the tree just like that ski in the snow. The hard surface needs to allow your weight to flow from front to back evenly with no pressure points for the horse. If you use a 3ž4 or 1 inch pad like most riders use with their saddles, you will create your own pressure point from the thicker pad. In other words, you will stop the flow of your weight being distributed evenly from front to back. The rider helps this fit tremendously because the rise that comes up in front of the rider tilts their pelvis up straight and tucks the rear-end under into the center of the saddle allowing even weight distribution under the tree.

There are three things that we recommend when trying a demo with our saddle:  

1. Please take pictures and e-mail them to me. I need to see front, side and back views with and without a rider. Lift the fender and take a picture of the girth system. Then step away from the horse and take a picture of the whole horse and saddle so I can check levelness (in other words, I need to see that the saddle is not running downhill). This is very important. Our demo program is very valuable to the customer. Please take full advantage of it. We are here to make sure we get the best fit to the horse and the rider.
2. A thinner pad than normal (1ž2 inch or less) will usually work just fine, when designing the tree it took 4 1ž2 years of riding the bare tree on the horse with no padding for the horse and no padding for the rider. This is why we suggest using a thinner pad because the pad is used for shock absorbency not to make a bad fitting tree fit. This same concept is used for the seat for the rider. We use minimal padding for the rider because the seat in the tree fits the anatomy of the rider and the padding there is also used for shock absorbency. Just like for the horse no amount of padding in the world will ever make a bad tree fit.
3. On almost every horse that we come across, your girth will fall 2 to 3 inches behind the front legs of the horse. Our rigging system for the girth is set up to flow at a forward angle. After you tighten the girth, the front 20% of the saddle with lock down on the horse’s withers to enable the rider to get on and off the horse. You will notice that the back end of the saddle will be up off the horse just slightly. When the weight of the rider is in the saddle, the back end of the saddle rests down on the horse’s back. The front 20% will raise up slightly, and now you have even pressure throughout the bottom of the saddle. The rider works with this fit to the horse because we have designed a rider’s groove that has a rise which comes up in front of the rider. This rise kicks the rider’s pelvis up straight and tucks their rear-end under creating a deep-seated pocket which adds a lot of security. This keeps the rider’s back up straight and keeps pressure off the knees and ankles. Most saddles do not have a rise with a rider’s groove for the rider. Due to this, it causes the rider’s lower back to slump over, their pelvis to tilt over on their pin bones, excessive weight on your knees and ankles. This causes extreme pressure and soreness to the horse under the front end of the saddle on a saddle that is already poor fitting to the horse.

If you would like to try a demo, give me a call at 615-792-3884 to make arrangements for shipping of your demo. The customer is responsible for shipping and handling of the demo secured via credit card. If you decide to purchase a saddle, this amount will be waived.