Superior Saddlery

still waiting to hear from Paul about saddle fit failure. It has been over 6 months. Part of my decision to buy from Paul was his commitment to service and his master saddle maker claim seen on his website. He compared his service to many other saddle makers and it seemed to me I had quite a guarantee of service. While my saddle is no longer in use because it does not fit, I find I am having to sell it as — even verified master saddle fitters and makers– just don’t want to touch it. I have had to reflock it as I determined that the wool flocking was synthetic after it noticeably hardened. I called Paul about this also, and did not hear back from him. I was successful in having this saddle reflocked with real wool in my attempts to achieve the ability to ride in it.

Paul is one of the greatest craftsmen I have ever met. His saddles are all works of art.

I called Paul to come out to fit me and my Thoroughbred mare and I because I was sick of riding in the old Niedersuss saddle that I had been using for the last 2 years. As soon as he arrived, he was pleasant, professional and funny! I felt very comfortable telling him what I needed, and what my horses needs were as well. After getting to know my basic needs over the phone, he brought with him a big selection of already made, custom saddles. I sat in about 8 of them (some a couple of times) and then when I picked the one that I thought fit me best, he went and made sure that it fit my mare.
After taking it for a test ride, and FALLING IN LOVE WITH IT, I knew that this was the saddle for us! Velvet seemed to move more freely in it and for me, it was like sitting in a CADILLAC!!! He gave me a great deal on it and I was so pleased to get such a beautiful saddle that fit me and my horse so well from the first time we tried it on!!!
It’s been a month, and my horse and I have never had more fun and I believe that it’s all due to the great fitting saddle for my horse, and the way it fits me so well. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate Paul and his ability to know exactly what we needed. Thank you so much Paul!!! Velvet and I have NEVER been happier!!! :-D

I am a 3^rd level dressage rider with a 16.2 young and sensitive Thoroughbred mare. I was sent to Superior Saddlery by my trainer (now my ex-​trainer), as she had determined that my horse needed a full-​custom saddle. I trusted her, since I knew next to nothing about saddles at the time in terms of the technical details of saddle fitting (i.e., I only knew whether I was comfortable or uncomfortable, and I could feel if my mare was comfortable or uncomfortable when I rode her, but I couldn’t say if it was due to, e.g., insufficient panel depth – although NOW I could after what I learned through this horrible experience). All I knew at the time was that when I sat in a saddle on my mare, it felt like it was tilted downhill. My mare was also sore around her withers from previous saddles, where it seemed like they were pinching her. So, I simply assumed my trainer was correct and that my mare had some kind of weird back that required a fully custom saddle, and I went ahead and contacted Paul Selvey, owner of Superior Saddlery.
Paul came out to see my mare that week, and from the get-​go, I noticed a bit uneasily that he had very little interest in hearing about my feelings/​thoughts/​wants/​needs, and was mainly interested instead in telling me why OTHER saddle companies were not as good as his. That should have been the first red flag. He was even contemptuous about recent saddle fitting innovations (such as full wither gussets, shoulder panel cut-​outs for greater shoulder freedom, etc.), but since he was supposedly the saddle expert AND my trainer had recommended him, I decided that I should trust him, as well, despite my personal misgivings at the time. That was a big mistake.
Next, he took ONLY one measurement of my mare’s back before making the full-​custom saddle: the width of the tree she would require right behind her withers. He never even traced the curvature of her back. I had never had a custom saddle made before, and he was such an intimidating person, that I figured to myself that perhaps he was SO good that he could just «eyeball» it without needing to take specific tracings or additional measurements. Big mistake #2.
I eventually discovered his saddle trees are not actually custom-​made. He simply stocks a variety of ready-​made wooden trees. So I was about to pay $ 5000 for a saddle with a stock tree. Big mistake #3.
He told me the saddle would be ready 3 months later. I asked what would happen if my mare happened to change shape between now and then (since she is a young horse in training and very prone to sudden muscle developments), and he said it wouldn’t be a problem – the saddle could easily be refit to her. Then I asked what would happen if, for some reason, the final saddle was produced and I didn’t like it. He confidently told me that EVERY SINGLE ONE of his customers was 100% satisfied. It did state on the back of the sales contract that he guarantees the fit of a full-​custom saddle to both horse and rider, so I felt somewhat more comfortable with it all. That was big mistake #4.
Before he left, however, I told him that if he could just make the saddle fit my mare so that she could move comfortably, and if he could make the seat so I would no longer feel like I was tilting downhill, I would be happy. All the rest would just be icing on the cake. He said that it would be NO problem whatsoever.
As you can probably imagine, when the final saddle was produced almost 5 months later, it felt terrible to me, and yes, I was still tilted downhill. Worse, it was definitely still pinching my mare, as she actually started bucking from a WALK. I pointed out the area where his saddle was pinching her withers just like others I had tried, and he had no comment at all. Ultimately, he made it clear that his saddle fit guarantee only holds true if HE thinks the saddle fits… if the rider thinks it doesn’t fit the horse or herself, that’s basically too bad. When I tried to insist on returning the saddle and getting even HALF my money back, he gave up all attempts at being professional and actually personally insulted me, saying I was too overweight to ride properly (and I am only size 10) and that my mare’s back was too downhill to fit his saddle (despite never having said any of these things prior to taking my money), and finally, that he was sick of dealing with «amateurs who don’t know what they want» even though when I had TOLD him what I wanted, he made the executive decision not to fulfill those requests, and/​or was incapable of doing so. I am leaving out many of the more sordid details due to space issues, but suffice it to say that I never got my money back. So, buyer beware! Even if you know specifically what you want, it’s quite possible that the final product won’t match your expectations. In conclusion, after researching saddle fit much more thoroughly, I found a ready-​made saddle that fits my horse and I beautifully for about ¹⁄₃ the price. Don’t go custom, especially not from Paul!