My Jason McKenzie Saddle

Around 4 or so years ago (ok who’s counting?) I needed to find a saddle. Being the particular and relatively frugal person I can be, this was a big decision for me. Buy something I wasn’t in love with, but was inexpensive and functional, or bite the bullet and make a purchase that I would keep for the rest of my life. So my indecision led to me beg, borrow and steal (ok, mostly stealing..) a saddle from my mom.

But my freeloading came to an end this June when my dad gave me a push in the right direction and initiated a conversation with the saddle maker Jason McKenzie. He was willing to work with my artistic vision and helped me chose the traditional all around saddle I was looking for. Not only did he listen to my “no basket weave” demands, we also sat on the phone while he googled the perfect image of the dogwood flower I wanted incorporated in the tooling. On my saddle I wanted two flowers throughout, a wild-rose the provincial flower of Alberta and the dogwood flower which is the provincial flower of British Columbia. The two places I’ve called “home” in my life and I wanted that story on my saddle.

I also love the close contact design that Jason offers in his saddles, allowing closer contact between horse and rider without forgoing the strength or integrity in the saddle. Jason describes the difference of skirt lining options he offers and explains the design,

“Two types of linings are available. The first option is the traditional, real, sheepskin lining. This type of lining works well and is what most people are used to.

“The second option is high-density, closed cell foam and split leather. Western saddle trees are designed to bear the impact and pressure of roping and the riders weight on the bars of the saddle tree. For this reason it is very important to have a saddle with properly shaped bars.  This is also the reason why the cushioning material is only required directly beneath the bars.  When Larry Nelles and Roy McCaughey were designing the close contact saddles they came up with this idea. The special foam is smoothly attached to the leather skirt following the shape of the bars. Split leather is then placed over the foam and stitched to the skirt. This modification makes cleaning easier, causes the blanket beneath the saddle to stay in place better, cushions the horse from the rider’s weight, and wears much longer than sheepskin.”  Thank you so much to Jason for such a wonderful saddle and my parents nudge in the right direction to getting a saddle I will treasure for many years.