Call Us On 01934 622044
WIDE HORSE, COB AND PONY
SADDLE SPECIALISTS
ABOUT US
AH Saddles provide high quality traditionally handmade English leather saddles developed to fit the modern horse and pony exceptionally well.
At AH saddles we understand that the tree of the saddle needs to follow the shape of the horse’s back which is why our saddles are designed by Andrea Hicks who has specialised in difficult to fit breeds for over 20 years. Her designs incorporate different tree shapes so that they correctly fit a large variety of wider and flatter breeds such as native ponies, cobs, warmbloods, native crosses, Iberian horses, Arabian horses, draft horses and more. All designs offer well designed and shaped panels and four strap girthing to make fitting these types of horses and ponies easier. We firmly believe that when you’ve tried one of our saddles you won’t want to go back!
Our saddles come in widths from medium wide (3 fit) to quintuple extra wide (xxxxxw or 9 fit!).
ANDREA HICKS AND AH SADDLES HISTORY
NATIVE PONY & COB SADDLES
IS NOW
AH SADDLES LTD
In 2014 Andrea’s company Native Pony & Cob Saddles Ltd became AH Saddles Ltd. The company is the same; we provide the same outstanding service and quality of design, we have simply changed our name from Native Pony & Cob Saddles as it no longer reflects all of our saddle designs. Despite our name change we now have more saddles than before for native ponies and cobs, it is just that we also have additional designs that are also suitable for a variety of other breeds and types of horses.
DESIGN HISTORY
In 2002 Andrea Hicks took the opportunity to purchase the Native Pony Saddle Company and introduced new models including the first early versions of what are now the Sport and Supercob trees. A year later she and her partner started Saddle Exchange Limited (which at the time also traded in “Comfort Saddles”). In 2011 the company split and she started Native Pony & Cobs Saddles Ltd (now called AH Saddles Ltd), where she had the full freedom to develop her own new range of specialist saddles for native ponies, cobs and wide horses. These new saddles were, and still are, not only exclusive to AH Saddles but have enabled her to incorporate significant improvements in panel design and offer even better-fitting tree options.
Pictured above is one of our customers on the Sienna GP, a model made from 2011 to 2016.
EPC GOOD HORSEMANSHIP
Andrea Hicks has been a saddle fitter and designer for over 20 years. She has been awarded the Exmoor Pony Club GOOD HORSEMANSHIP Award. This award recognised her and AH Saddles Ltd for outstanding product design, outstanding saddle fitting, outstanding customer service and outstanding quality of saddles including the consistent superior quality and finish of her saddles.
HOW IT BEGAN
Andrea’s interest in saddles started when she was just 10; she had a problem with an ill-fitting pony saddle and wanted to know why it didn’t fit. At 10 she took the saddle apart to see how it worked, by the age of 18 she had started buying and selling saddles and learning how to saddle fit and started “Andrea’s Saddles” in 1990. During saddle fitting she became frustrated with limitations in saddle design; wide fitting saddles built to fit native ponies and cobs seemed impossible to find, traditional saddles had trees that did not suit their flatter rounder shapes so in 1998 Andrea started designing her own specialist native pony and cob saddles to fill this gap.
Pictured above is Andrea with the saddle she took apart aged 10.
AH SADDLE RANGES
Our saddles have been developed to accommodate the gradual changes we have seen in the shapes of the horses we are riding. Not only do we now ride more naturally wider breeds and types but on average horses are fed better and worked less so tend to have wider shapes. This means at AH saddles we can help you find the right saddle to suit the contour and width of your horse whether it be a small native pony, large native pony, cob, warmblood, draft horse, Arabian, Iberian or Haflinger (and this is to name but a few of the horse types our specialists saddles can comfortably accommodate).
Pictured above is one of our customers using our Symphony show saddle; designed with a slightly deeper seat, it works well on show ponies, show hacks and Arabs.