Origin of the “Steele Plantation Saddle”, by Wayne Steele
My favorite type of riding has always been trail riding, I just enjoy riding. It occurred to me that there were plenty of saddles to rodeo, show or perform on, but there weren’t any trail saddles available anywhere. Years ago, you could find them and they were Plantation saddles made primarily for riding long distances and for several hours in the saddle. They were made to be easy on the horse’s back as well as for the riders bottoms. There was no other transportation available. We are talking back in the 1800′s when you had several saddles to choose from.
Since my family had been in the tree and saddle business for well over 100 years, I was familiar with most of them. I decided to take the best quality from each saddle and combine them into making THE PLANTATION SADDLE. This would outfit them all. The bottom of the tree should fit the horse. The top of the tree should fit the riders.
I built a tree close to what I thought it should be. Put some rigging and a pair of stirrup leathers on it then, began riding it. I rode this bare tree for many hours, days and many miles on many different horses. I always carried a wood rasp, a pocket full of scrap leather and a tack hammer. This way, I could change the shape of the bottom or top of the tree to make it more comfortable for the horse and myself
I began to build saddles and received fantastic reviews from my customers. With about three years of adjusting and correcting minor imperfections, I have made the BEST shaped tree “Steele Plantation” to fit the horse and riders both.
As time has moved on over the years, we have added a line western style saddles with forks and horns. They still have the same shape top and bottoms to insure great fit and comfort. These saddles will fit the vast majority of horses well. The riders can enjoy riding for up to 8-12 hours per day.
The Steele saddles are unique and genuine. The saddles are comfortable and are like no other. When you settle down into it, you will then know, that it is the most comfortable saddle that you have or will ever experience.
Custom Tree & Saddle are one of the few saddle custom saddle makers who build their own trees. We encase them with fiberglass to make the strongest tree available anywhere. Most of the saddles are built for trail and pleasure riding. Our trail saddles are strong enough for roping as well.
We use American made materials with the exceptions of a few items of hardware. On the western saddles, we use 2” thin stirrup leathers backed with bio-thane. We feel that this is much more flexible and they tend to swing much more easily for trail riding in the rough country.
We pull all fork covers on wet so that they fit tight against the fork all over. You can’t feel soft places anywhere with this. Our horn covers are sewn on by hand and fastened to the horn so they will never get loose and turn in on the horn cap.
The seat shape is perfect in the tree itself and the seat is laid in with no buildup so the ridges or bumps of the trail will never show up after the saddle has been rode. There isn’t any padding to cover up under the saddle. When the seat shape is correct on your saddle, it should be much more comfortable with little padding. If the seat shape is incorrect, there is not enough padding to correct this.
1998, Jacks Fork River Emminence Missouri Trail Ride
We offer a seat shape that fits. We refer to it as “the rider’s groove”. This is very well defined to contour to your body so the weight will be distributed evenly all over to give you a perfectly comfortable saddle. This also helps in sizing of the saddle. Sizes arrange from Small to Extra Large. You can easily see the differences in our saddles and most importantly, you will feel it.
You will frequently hear references to “pressure points”. This is were the tree doesn’t fit the horse correctly and the area’s that support the weight on the horse’s aren’t divided equally. You will hear experienced riders tell some inexperienced riders that they will just have to get used to the uncomfortable feelings and walking funny as they dismount their horses. This is not something that you will get use to. This has to do with an incorrect saddle. You will never have the feeling of wasted money with our saddles. That’s why we offer the try before you buy. We have all the confidence, and truly stand behind our work. Put our saddles to the test. Come in and experience the comfort in our saddles.
Thanks -Wayne Steele, Custom Tree & Saddle, Inc
(Photo Left: Fred Egli Jr and Eric Hawkins at the Jacks Fork River , Eminence Trail Ride)
