How Arena Saddles are Made: Interview with the Design Team

Enjoy this interview courtesy of Arena Saddles with the design team behind the popular brand to find out their inspiration! 

Arena Saddles was borne from rider requests… As riders, we know that other than our horses a saddle can be our next most expensive and often complicated purchase. It was a genuine struggle for us to find an affordable saddle that ticked all of our boxes while avoiding the risks associated with buying second-hand.What was it that riders were seeking?

Something we could trust! After speaking to a number of riders around the world, we found that we all shared the same struggle, and all we wanted was something Beautiful, Comfortable and Practical that was actually affordable. We started with a firm price and worked back from there to achieve everything we wanted.

You say Arena Saddles are Beautiful, Comfortable, Practical and therefore Perfect (in any Arena), can you elaborate?

Absolutely! We found these themes kept popping up during our research as the key areas riders were looking for.

• Beautiful:
• Beautifully made, where the care and attention to detail reflects that of our own standards for presentation and competition.
• Comfortable:
• Every second we spend in the saddle is precious, so our comfort and that of our horse is essential. We want softness, close communication, balance and something relatively lightweight.
• Practical:
• All riders know life is unpredictable. One of the key reasons riders want a new saddle is that they won’t compromise on all the benefits of modern Horse and Rider Technology, which enables a saddle to be customized to perfectly support each horse and rider throughout their levels, injury, new partnerships, time out and when they are at their peak. Arena Saddles meet this gold standard of what riders value most when it comes to practicality!

Did you do any testing?

When it came to the ultimate test of how much would you expect to pay … riders wouldn’t have blinked an eye at double their actual price, with some prepared to pay triple. That’s when we knew our saddles were very special! They delivered everything riders value in a high-end new saddle at a price we can actually afford.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the interview where we find out more about what the riders really thought!

Reproduced with permission from Arena Saddles.