True Partner Saddlery

We made this ranch slick fork roughout several years ago for a friend. This is her new horse and is a foundation Quarter. Saddle looks like it was made for him I would say! The tree in this saddle is a 42 angle with a 13.50 spread and my B2 bars which have some rock.

These pictures represent what fit should look like. Level with great angles in the front and rear and just an overall Natural conforming appearance. The Mattes pad really looks good under the saddle. Of course understanding what bar angle, spread of the bars and rock of the bars each horse needs is the only way to create this look!

True Partner Saddles are all about fit first and understanding just what the saddle support muscles are AND are not! It’s not about even pressure over the whole back but rather correct pressure.

Let me know what you think.

It’s been a long 2 weeks trying to find out what happened to this saddle that was shipped to a customer in Washington state.
Two saddles were shipped UPS at the same time to the customer. One arrived. I was notified this statement by UPS on the other saddle “ content was missing and box was discarded.
I spent the next 2 weeks investigating and calling as well as notifying a contact I had at UPS.
The search turned up nothing so a claim had already been initiated by UPS so I complied with the never ending process of being notified about insufficient documentation no matter what I sent in.
Hours on the phone with the call center( I need to apologize to a lot of folks with foreign accents)to no avail.
So what happened yesterday was an answer to prayer and forgiveness because even my wife commented on how I was “communicating”my feelings to a world wide company!
Yesterday I got on the phone again trying to get some answers and I stayed calm and used my inside voice and actually spoke to people that seemed they cared.
Right after that I got a call from Suzanne, a friend and saddle customer. Suzanne works at Dover in Alpharetta part time but on a sporadic basis.
She said “Mark I was opening shipments from the Corporate office and it had one of your saddles in it “
I had her describe it and it was my missing saddle!
So I rushed over and picked it up. It only had a small scratch and horn cap rub after being shipped with no foam protection.
Long story short.
UPS Washington St shipped my saddle to Dover headquarters.
Dover for some reason shipped it to the Alpharetta store.
Susan just happened to be there that day.
I rushed over and picked up the saddle.
Moral of the story…..

“Trust the Lord and lean not unto your own understanding”

From now on I will put an identifiable tag on the saddle itself for when they “fall” out of the box!

By the way the original box was a double walled box with heavy duty tape covering all seams with double and triple passes. Heavy foam and bubble wrap protection.
This saddle traveled around 8,000 miles. Now it has another 3,000 to go.
Thanks Suzanne!

Koper Equine continues to provide clear and thought provoking information.
Please read and study this.
True Partner saddles are all about fit and finish for the horse and rider. When either has to compensate then both start a downhill spiral.

Pictures are from an out of state customer checking fit of her new True Partner saddle she had just received. It was the first time on her mule.
We fit to the angle of the shoulder, not the angle of the wither, rock of the back and correct spread of the bars on all Mules and horses. Any saddle can be custom designed for rigging and britching dee placement.
The customer will ride soon and provide feedback but I’m thinking they both are going to like it.

Below are comments from an AI overview of a FLIR Camera scan of a horses back after riding a True Partner Custom Fit Trail Saddle and a poplar treeless saddle that has some flex to it. The horse had been under the Treeless saddle many times and was always fit according to professional and manufactures standards.

If you have followed me and understand my concept of fitting a wooden tree you know my trees offer relief over the thorasic trapezious muscles and correctly puts pressure on the saddle support muscles of the back. This would most likely render different results and comments if the typical western bar fit of matching the angle of the wither instead of the shoulder was used.

I will refer to this saddle in my comments as Saddle A and
my saddle as TPS.

1) AI"s first statement was the horse was very clearly telling a story in these images.

Over all Comparison Summary:

Saddle A: Hotter, more concentrated, less organized heat.

TPS: Cooler overall, broader contact, more even distribution.

"That alone already tells us a lot " AI quote.

Saddle A: 94 to 95 F consistently. Heat spikes are localized especially :
Behind Shoulder
Mid back
The heat is deeper and more intense.

This suggests Higher pressure per square inch.

Saddle relying on flex + pad to absorb pressure

BODY WORKING AROUND THE SADDLE, NOT UNDER IT

TPS:
Temps 85-90
Heat is spread out, not spiking
Clear spine Channel remains cooler
Left/right symmetry is much better

This all indicates:
the load is being carried by the panels, not dumped into muscle
Less Friction plus less compression
The horse is not bracing as hard under it.

Saddle A:

Lifting back sharply creates hot spots
The saddle flexes. but pressure concentrates.
You see patchy heat = micro pressure points
The horse is working harder
horse is tolerating it but not comfortable

TPS
Back is evenly warm, not spiking
Muscle is accepting contact instead of guarding
Heat trails look smoother and more uniform
Looks more settled through the thorasic area

TPS is the pattern you want for:
longer rides
consistency
longevity

Saddle A:
notice how the hottest areas align vertically, not horizontally?

that's usually:
rider weight being focused
Not enough True panel surface area
The pad is doing the heavy lifting

TPS images, heat spreads horizontally along the panel which is what a treed saddle should do

Final Verdict
Saddle A: tolerated it but it ran hot and pressurey

TPS fit:
objectively better load distribution and LOWER STRESS

The horse isn't just fine in the TPS..... They are more comfortable

BODY WAS WORKING AROUND THE SADDLE NOT UNDER IT.

The above is verbatim from AI! AI was reading the scans of the horses back. It had the real name of the saddle.

I have always said that horses don't need flex, they need fit!

The most important thing we can do as riders is to understand the anatomy of the horse and then understand what

THE HORSE WANTS YOU TO KNOW

Send a message to learn more

In the clinic this past weekend we talked about what a horse wants most and that was Safety, comfort and play. Linda Tellington has been talking about a horse wants to feel safe for a long time. Horses that are not comfortable with their saddle fit don’t feel safe and so their nervous system becomes elevated. (Do you want to ride your horse in this state)
It’s important to understand what correct saddle fit is. It’s not about even pressure over the whole back but correct pressure on the saddle support muscles.
Feel free to express your thoughts on this.

Here is an example of my fitting process done long distance with my fitting system. The customer just received the saddle and placed it on the horse. She is a very experienced horseman. She will ride tomorrow.
The saddle has a great orientation on the horses back. The angles and spreads are what I look for. Also total relief on the Trapezius and Spanalis muscles.
I am excited to hear how her ride goes tomorrow but she feels it is fitting very well( glove).
I will let you know good or bad!
She chose half roughout, half smooth leather with no tooling. If I do say so myself, this 3B with a post horn has a great look and style!
Good job Dana.