My wife has ridden a Steele Plantation tree saddle for the past 14 years and I’ve had 3 saddles in the past 10 years. When we first married 10 years ago, I bought a custom saddle that was beautiful and fit great UNTIL I rode it for a couple of hours. I got down from my horse and we went saddle shopping at the Emminence Trail Ride. I had learned my lesson and tried the next saddle first before buying it. The Circle Y Flex Tree Plantation seat was a good fit and I ended up buying two of them as I wanted something with a wider cantle for the young horses we were riding and training. Our farm is www.GenesisTWH.com and we have horses in more than 17 states which we train for people who want a walking horse that is bred with World Champion sires or better, a great gait, and better personalities.
I rode the Circle Y and kept the spare just in case. 5 years ago, I discovered an issue with my Circle Y as it was causing saddle sores on some horses right at the back top of the saddle where it pressed into their backs. I fixed my saddle pad and as I didn’t change horses for some time, thought the problem solved. Then I rode one of our Jose’ Jose’ mares on 20 mile trail in Big Southfork. I was sick to discover just how bad it had sored her. She couldn’t be ridden for more than 6 weeks. It was then I started looking for another saddle.
My wife, of course, wanted me to try the Steele Saddle demo program and I resisted as I felt sure the expense was too high for just a saddle. She ordered one anyway for me to ride during the next Eastfork 10 day ride and….I was wrong.
First, eliminating the issues so that no other horse was left with a saddle sore at the end of the day is priceless and the comfort for the rider is just amazing. I have bad hips and after 10 days riding I discovered, that I did not suffer as I had before and was not overly sore. We put the horses in several difficult situations on long trail rides and steep inclines and it performed perfectly. I am waiting on my new Steele Trail Boss trail saddle now and have ordered it with the lightweight cedar tree, tapadaros, and the new hand tooling that Steele Saddle now offers. I’ll have to thank my wife for showing me why she has been such an avid Steele Saddle fan for all these years. We actually ordered two as she is getting the new Platinum Steele trail saddle with tooling. 
This is my wife’s Jose’ Jose’ mare at Eastfork October 2012 trail ride with her Steele.
