Your Expert Fitter

10/16/2025

We are excited to be adding to our treeless and ultraflex tree lineup of saddles, as well as shimmable pads for all disciplines, and even bitless bridles with EDIX saddles & bitless bridles

10/15/2025

We've been having a BLAST riding in the Signum Paddle which offers the security of a saddle, and the flexibility and closeness of a ba****ck pad. We stock the original Paddle and the Spring Paddle which simulates a more forward flap of a GP or jump saddle.

10/05/2025

At YEF, our tracings are a vital piece of information. A single tracing holds all the information necessary to hand make a saddle for a horse. It also has information on how that horse is holding themselves and using themselves, thanks to the metrics we use and a consistent means of measuring.
A series of tracings tells the story of that horse, how they are progressing, where they need more focus, and it can also spot changes that could indicate injury or pathology before we otherwise would notice.
To start us off, here is a series of tracings on the same horse. After one of these tracings, the horse was immediately pulled from riding, and the vet was called for a complete workup, despite moving evenly! There was an increase in weight starting around May of 2025 of about 50lbs, otherwise weight has remained constant.

Which tracing do you think was the cause for alarm, and why?

10/04/2025

Saddle Fitter Spotlight:
Saddle Fitter, Georgia, Kristyn Dudley

Kristyn grew up foxhunting in the outskirts of Charlotte NC, and her career in horses has spanned many disciplines and landscapes. She has lead pack horses through the mountains of Utah, managed Arabian breeding stock, and been the home groom for Olympian McLain Ward. Her long-time specialty has been rehabbing horses from injury back to full performance.
She now resides in the NE region of Georgia and enjoys developing foxhunting horses for equestrians of all abilities. Kristyn has an unwavering commitment to putting horses first and a keen ability to listen to their needs, developing trust, balance, and longevity.
Kristyn’s passion for saddlery was born from her time training horses and seeing that so many horses improve merely with properly fitting tack, as well as seeing what a difference the right saddle can make for the rider. She has undergone extensive training with YEF and is pursuing her qualifications with the SMS as well. Her saddle fitting education, combined with her experience with world class equestrians, allows Kristyn to bring to you a saddle fitting experience unlike any other.

10/01/2025

POP QUIZ
What's wrong in this photo 👀

10/01/2025

09/27/2025

Reading articles about equestrian life in the past, authors tend to lament a simpler time. Sure, ignorance is bliss, but what if it actually was a simpler time?

You could plop your thoroughbred saddle on any thoroughbred and off you went! I remember pretty much all horses were medium trees and occasionally there was a wide something in the barn and that was it.

Saddle brands, even today, typically only have 2 maybe 3 tree options that are marketed in a variety of flaps, blocks, or gusseting to give the consumer the perception of variety beyond width. This is where we developed the behavior or "what do you recommend for a xyz horse" and people blanket replying just a brand name.

Its all just spaghetti sauce; just slap on the label. 🍝

Were we ignorant back then? Were horses suffering? Were saddlers cheating us?

No.

Horses were more uniform back then. As the world has become more accessible to us all, we have made huge changes in how horses are bred too. This has huge impacts on how they are built, especiallywhere their saddles sit.

There no longer is a "typical thoroughbred" or a "warmblood back" and what the heck is a "draft tree" now?! Breeding has become more about registries and attributes and less about closed books and cookie cutter breed conformity. Some brands have broadened their tree options, but many have stuck to what they are good at, and what they've always done. Horses are becoming varied wildly, but brands.... mmmmm, well 😏, their in house lineups are still for very specific types. There's nothing wrong with being niche, but its important to know this as a consumer so you don't end up with an incompatible saddle due to your allegiance to a brand.

To meet the demands of the modern horse, Your Expert Fitter carries 18 brands and is ever expanding! With access to over 550 trees, and treeless options on top of that! We went so far as to create our own brand of saddles to provide solutions to the challenges of the modern, well developed horse that were not being adequately addressed in the market. Even with 18 brands and 550+ trees, and our own niche brand, we still occasionally access the vast network of other SMS fitters and stockists across the world to obtain obscure inventory for the wild and weird. Can you imagine? With all those choices we still occasionally have to "phone a friend?!"

How blessed are we to have so much choice to keep up with our ever changing horses. Now a days welfare is measured not by the consistency in saddle covers in your tack room, but by the variety.

Special thanks to my SMS colleagues for our collaborative conversations and the inspiration of this post. While we may be independent, we never stand alone.

09/26/2025

Delivering this gorgeous custom trail ranger today! Got ideas? Get started creating your dream saddle 🤩

09/17/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15wZtYzfQT/

09/07/2025