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Please feel free to contact my Webmaster to if you'd like to share your saddle made by Crystal H. Smith. We are also looking for photos of your saddle on your horse (and you)! Thank you!
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Jared putting his new Saddle Smith Saddlery saddle |
For years I have herded cattle for the local cattle association, and I spend a lot of time in the saddle. Over the past three or four years, I have looked at hundreds of different saddle makers and tree makers trying to decide who I should choose to build me a saddle. I have sat in almost every custom saddle I could find over the past several years, and I finally decided I should start with the tree. After I did a lot of research and visited with a lot of people, I decided that I wanted to build my saddle on a Warren Wright tree. I then started looking at saddle makers who use Warren's trees and checking out the seats in their saddles. Of all the saddles I've sat in, Crystal Smith put in the best seat. However, the problem I encountered was that Crystal only used Frecker's trees, so the search continued.
I had almost settled on another builder when I heard that Crystal had started building on Warren Wright's trees and had left Frecker's shop. I went down to her saddle shop and placed an order. The whole process was incredible. Crystal allowed me to design my own saddle. I told her exactly what I wanted down to the exact location of every bit of tooling. When the saddle was completed, it was exactly what I had requested and couldn't have turned out any better. I stopped in at Crystal's shop several times during the building process to check out the progress, and she was always happy to help me. I picked up my saddle this morning and came home and rode it for about four hours checking cows and tagging calves. I couldn't have been more pleased with the saddle. It was extremely comfortable and felt like it was already "broke in." The saddle fit my horse perfectly too. I would strongly recommend Crystal to anyone who is looking to have a saddle built. As far as I am concerned, she is one of the best in the business! Sincerely, |
Suzanne enjoying her sunflower tooled saddle. First ride in the snow on 16hh Jake and |
One evening in the fall of 2010, I was searching for a wade tree saddle with sunflower tooling for a reasonable price when I came across one of Crystal Smith's saddles on RanchWorld Ads. It was a beautiful 1/4 breed saddle with roughout seat and fenders. Unfortunately, it was a 16" seat and I was pretty sure I needed something a little smaller. So I gave her a call and asked if she could custom build a 15.5" saddle for a similar price. Before I knew it, she had found the perfect tree for me and we began to discuss all the details of my perfect saddle. T hrough the next couple of months, she kept me posted on the progress, and when my saddle was complete, I could hardly wait to see pictures. She kindly sent an email and I couldn't believe that she truly built the saddle of my dreams. The last reservations I had about the saddle were eased when I put my first ride on it. I was able to squeeze in a short ride before the snow really started falling. It was more comfortable than any other wade tree saddle I had sat on. And it was MINE! But...I was only able to ride for about 20 minutes. The ultimate test of the saddle's comfort and durability was when I took it to ride in the four-day Buck Brannaman Clinic in Phoenix in April 2011. The previous years sent me home with saddle sores and chafing. After this clinic in my new Crystal Smith Saddle, I came home with the most-amazing experience and not a single sore. I am overwhelmingly happy with my saddle and will recommend Saddle Smith Saddlery to anyone shopping for the best quality custom saddle. Thank you so much, Crystal. I LOVE my saddle. ~Suzanne from California |
