It is our pleasure to explain to you what is ‘special’ about Cloete Saddles.
Here are a number of points to consider:

1. Our trees are made of Polyurethane, which is chemically engineered according to Franco’s spesific research-based specs.

(Note: A couple of decades and hundreds of thousands of any currency of your choice, have been invested in the advanced development of our product – researching the structure & combination of choice chemical components) Finally, we achieved the perfect combination of urethane, glass strands and roven matting fused with elastomers, which enables the rotational flexibility of our saddle trees and successfully accommodates the ingenius cable rigging system.

The material our Cloete saddletree is made of withstands extreme temperatures (hot/cold), which means it maintains its stability – i.e. it will not crack, break down and lose screws and nails as is the case with tree products using fibre glass/carbon fibre made with polyester resin.

Our trees are also specifically constructed to be lightweight & durable.

2. Only the best quality leather available is used to craft our Cloete Saddles i.e. harness tanned leather, which remains in a tanning pit for 4 to 6 weeks. This specialized tanning process does not interfere with the integrity of the leather fibres and the result is , strong, lustrous hides that display class and durability.

3. Only stainless steel hardware is used to top off the superior quality of our saddles
Our stainless steel buckles, D-rings, nails, conchos, screws & screw caps are all imported from the US of A.

4. Our Cloete Saddles’s seat is another aspect which makes our saddles desirable.
Our saddle seats are designed and constructed to fit a rider’s individual posture and physique with uniq seat-adjustability features!

We use a combination of 2 different specialty foams in our seat-construction, that support a rider’s bonestructure, muscles & tendons independently.

5. Cloete Saddles’s bar pads are designed in conjunction with the saddle tree to accommodate asymmetry, muscle atrophy and injuries in horses – unlike any other saddle in the market.

The foam used in our bar pads is designed with an open – and closed cell dual-functionality, which ensures that our saddles fit well in motion, as well as in the horse’s static position.
(Fun fact: this foam is designed and supplied for Mercedes Benz SA)
Our bar pads are also removable (by means of an easy to use velcro system), as well as shim-able – allowing a rider to wash and reconstruct their bar pads as needed.

6. And last but not least; the craftmanship of Cloete Saddles has been recognised as being a cut above by many a master craftsman.

All this and more obviously sets our saddles apart from the ‘run of the mill’ saddles and up there alongside the saddles made by the saddle masters in North America.

We trust that those who have an eye for quality and class found the above info superfluous.

Most saddles shipped within Canada, will ship via Canada Post.
Deliveries beyond Canada’s borders are placed in the capable hands of DHL Express which safely ships our Cloete Saddles to wherever on Earth our clients are located.

Our trees are made of Polyurethane, which is chemically engineered according to Franco’s specific research-based specs.
The perfect combination of urethane, glass strands and roven matting fused with elastomers, ensures the rotational flexibility of our saddle trees.
Cloete Saddles trees are also cable rigged, light & durable. The bars are custom built to an individual horse’s back profile measurements.

The approximate weight of our saddles is between 16 lbs/7 kgs and 20 lbs/9kgs, with the Cloete Endurance Saddle being the lightest in our product range and the bulkier Western saddles weighing in at a managable 20 pounds!

We offer a 5 year warrantee on our saddle trees and 2 years on the saddle itself (leather parts), depending on whether the saddle is used under acceptable riding conditions.

The price of your Cloete Saddle includes an initial 3-D back profile assessment visit (+- 1 hour), custom constructed saddle tree, hardware of your choice (solid brass or solid stainless steel), leather/seat leather colour (black or brown) & stirrups of your choice, as well as one follow-up visit to make sure your saddle fits you and your horse comfortably.

Note: Affective only until March 1st 2021

This is a question everyone needs to ask when ordering a custom saddle.

So in the unlikely event that a horse dies or can no longer be ridden, his/her custom fit saddle could be refitted to a new horse if its back profile formula does not differ more than 20-30% from the original formula. In this case the shim-able bar pads can be quite easily adjusted to fit the new horse.

However, if the two horses’ back profile formulas differ more than 30%, it would be advisable to have a new custom tree built according to an entirely new back profile formula.

The entire re-tree process, which includes a whole new back profile assessment, new custom tree, stripping and re-assembling the saddle, would cost $1200 (excl. tax, any extra adjustments/repairs/additions and the saddle fitting.)