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The Beau Galyean Cutter: 

About 9 years ago, Lindy Burch came to me with a challenge; "make a saddle fit Cisco, my favorite horse". Little did I know I was looking into   the future, at the next generation of horses, their backs, and the problems we would be facing. I took the challenge. I studied it and realized that the breeding of quarter horses has changed dramatically, which in turn has changed the structure of the horse from one generation to another. 

But the challenge lies two-fold. I recognized the slight changes in today's breed, as new blood and genetics have caused the horse's anatomy   to evolve. The back is becoming more defined, with the withers being slightly more prominent, and the underlying musculature on either side of   the withers not being identical, and the back line forming into the croup being higher and more pronounced. These changes cause a strict problem with the bars and trees of saddles I made 9 years ago. To make a saddle tree lay evenly on the horse's back, against these changes, without the slightest bit of compromise to the integrity (Webster's - soundness) of the horse and its ability to perform its job, is one aspect to consider. 

The second consideration is the rider, who must be in harmony with the   horse to achieve greater ease and less resistance. Events are becoming ever so money-oriented, requiring a higher skill level from both horse and rider, with little or no margin for error in 2 -1/2 minutes. Until now, there has never been such an urgency to enhance the rider's ability for longer time periods, with no hindrance to the horse. To put the rider at ease, and also bring the rider as close to the horse as possible, and to make the saddle pure enjoyment, is the other part of the two-fold challenge. 

I studied kinesiology (the study of muscles and their movements involving both skeletal and muscular structures), and recognized new patterns in the horse's genealogy that became the basis for my experimentation.  Realization of these new patterns played big role in the construction and implementation of my new, revolutionary saddle tree design.  

It was a dream come true when Beau Galyean called me from Las Vegas with a  request for "a saddle that will work for me, fit any age horse, any  horse's back, and any specific breed. And I need a saddle maker who will  listen to my needs, meet them, even exceed them, in every way, and I need it now!".  I told him about the design I was experimenting with and that it was just what he was looking for. I went to his training facility a week later with the prototype. It was going to be hard to sell the new design in the rough stages, just a bare tree. Fortunately, Beau had the  foresight to understand the principles of my new design, and experimented with it on many different backs, even sat on it on a horse and rode it around. A bare tree! I felt like everything clicked.  I sent it off to be covered and the finished product was delivered to him at the 2006 NCHA Super Stakes event in Ft. Worth, Texas.  Beau exclaimed, "I can't find anything wrong about it. It fits everything and feels like a dream to me. I am going to show in it immediately." The rest is history.

I am confident my new design works, not only in theory, but also in the implementation of it. Please consider this design when thinking about a new saddle for any event. It crosses over to any event, any breed, and any riding style. This design is the future of horsemanship and riding expertise, the answer to many unfulfilled dreams, and a way to let every horse develop, mature and soar without limitations for many generations to come.

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