Big Changes Ahead
15 Nov 2024
Wow!
After a very long trip all the way to Wow HQ in Canterbury, England, my husband Joe and I are proud to announce we are the new and only Certified Wow Saddle Representatives and Authorized Wow Retailer for California, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon.
Wow's owners and developers, David Kempsell & Maggie White, patiently instructed us over dozens of hours in classroom and lab time. To say we are blown away by the innovation, consideration, and breadth of their work would be an understatement.
David opened his Monday lecture by stating, "Today, more technology is invested and involved in purchasing a single golf club than a saddle". Joe and I know this is true more than the average person; Joe's father has been the golf pro at a very well-known, very exclusive golf club on the peninsula for decades. Go into any big shop, and you'll find a complex, advanced setup like this:
Photo courtesy https://www.puresciencegolf.com/
Whilst the typical saddle fitting experience involves something a little more low-tech...
Your saddle fitter or brand rep will probably show up with a few saddles which they place on your horse's back. They'll likely run their hand under the points of the tree behind your horse's scapulae to determine the correct width of the tree - narrow, medium, or wide. Sometimes, they'll check the center of the panels for bridging, and a really excellent fitter will check that the gullet is appropriately wide and the withers have a 3-finger clearance between the pommel. Once satisfied that the tree is correct, you may get to sit in a few saddles until you find one that feels right. You pay for your new saddle and off you go.
Humans have been riding horses for at least 5,000 years and likely longer, with some records dating back to as early as 3,000 B.C.E. Golf has been played in some form or another for approximately 600 years. Yet somehow, this much newer sport has received far more investment in science and technology; ensuring that new $800 club is exactly what you personally need to correct any musculoskeletal imbalances, faults in stance or grip, and current ability.
Wow Saddles are offering horses and riders something new - over 1,700 possible combinations of saddles. Due to their revolutionary modular design, that means you can take apart your saddle with a single screwdriver and swap out or change the angle of the flaps, change seats, change skirt padding, adjust blocks, adjust your girthing arrangement, move your stirrup placement, change the angle of the panels, swap out your panels, widen the gullet, and swap out headplates.
For a 3-Day event rider, that might mean purchasing two different flaps and perhaps two different seats, then adjusting the flap angle or changing them out for each phase instead of purchasing three separate saddles. One could even purchase a saddle that transforms from english to Australian in a matter of minutes. A trainer could quickly and easily change their saddle's headplates to correctly fit every unique horse in the barn, even if one horse has an exceptionally forward girth groove and would normally require a crouper to hold the saddle in place. Instead of purchasing a new saddle every year as your young horse grows withers and develops his topline, you may just need new panels or a single pump of air in one of your Flair bags.
Wow Saddles have been independently tested by Master Saddlers and consistently performed better than every other saddle on the market today. There are no gimmicks - only results.
Wow makes custom saddles one by one for each horse & rider pair by approaching saddle fitting in a scientific way using their patented Wow Saddle Gauge and Contact Mat as the first step in the fitting process.
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Here is Wow Saddle's founder and creator, David Kempsell, discussing his patented Wow Saddle Gauge and Contact Mat and how they are used together to find the perfect saddle build for you and your horse.
When used correctly by a Certified Wow Saddle Fitter, both you and your horse can finally find the saddle of your dreams. One that fits both of you perfectly, relieves pain and pressure for horse and rider, and can adjust and adapt to the demands of our sport over the lifetime of your horse like no other saddle ever has.
Over the coming weeks, Delfina Saddlery will be going through some changes in order to carry Wow equipment exclusively. We hope to educate you in all the amazing technology involved in the creation of a Wow saddle, and how improving your horse's comfort under saddle will bring improvements to their overall performance, their quality of life, and your enjoyment of our sport.
Thank you, David & Maggie, for welcoming us into your home and providing the experience and education of a lifetime.
Look out for Joe and I at your next horse show, and if you're interested in having your horse fitted for a Wow, please don't hesitate to call, email, or PM us to make an appointment.
Wow Saddles offers over 1,700 different saddle combinations, guaranteeing there's a Wow for literally every horse and rider combination, regardless of discipline. Some of Wow's exciting options are listed below!
11 Seat Styles with the narrowest twist on the market, ranging from extra-deep to extra-flat, featuring:
- 16", 17", 18", and 19" measurements
- 6 Different 'Seat Comfort' Options for Riders
- Removable Pads Under the Skirt
- Double Dee Rings
- Rear Dee Rings
- Air Jacket Dee Rings
- Padded Wings over the Stirrup Bars
- Custom Covered Cantle Plate
- Custom Bling
- Custom Cantle Embroidery
- Custom Skirt Embeds
- Engraving Options
3 Stirrup Placements:
- 2 Traditional Stirrup Bars
- 1 Up-and-Over Stirrup Fixation **Please always use the Wow Up-and-Over Stirrup Leather with safety irons when using the up-and-over stirrup point**
5 Girth/Billet Setups:
- Standard Double-V
- Fore-Girth Option
- Point Girth Option
- Back Balance Strap Option
- Military Girth Option
38 Flap Styles:
- 15 Dressage Flaps
- 8 General Purpose & VSD Flaps
- 12 Jumping Flaps
- 3 Baroque Flaps
- New Western Flaps
- All flaps (except western) can be rotated by the rider forwards or backwards by 3cm; a significant amount given there is only a 5cm difference in angle between standard dressage and show jumping flaps
- External Blocks
- 2-Tone Blocks
- Wear Strips
- Wear Strips with Infills
- Stitched- and Double-Stitched Knee Blocks
- Decorative Flap Stitching Patterns
- Decorative Quilting
19 Headplates Ranging from 73 to 143 Degrees:
- 3 V Style Headplates
- 11 U Style Headplates
- 5 UU Style Headplates
10 Styles of Blocks
Hundreds of Panel Permutations:
- 11 Basic Categories
- 5 Gullet Widths
- 4 Rear Gusset Heights
- 3 Front Gusset Heights
- 4 Panel Lengths
- Extra-Forward Panel Option
- Short Panel Option
- Specialty Panels for Horses with Lordosis, AKA 'Sway Back'
4 Panel Fills:
- Wool
- Foam
- Flair
- Flair MkII
Multiple Leather Options:
- Carbon Fiber Prints
- Sparkly Leathers
- Faux Stingray
- Croc Belly Print
- Gator Backstrap Print
- Ostrich Print
- Dollaro Print
- Haircell Print
- Elephant Print
- Pig Print
- 8 Basic Leathers
- 11 Specialty Leather Colors
- 9 Patent Leathers
- 3 Croc Print Patent Leathers
- 25 Overall Types of Fancy Leathers
Customization Options:
- Blinged Cantle
- Covered Cantle, in which the trademark silver Wow cantle strip is covered with a specialty leather of your choice
- Custom Cantle Infill, in which a panel of custom leather or crystals is added above the silver Wow cantle strip
- Skirt Infills
- Flap Infills
- Wear Strips
- Wear Strips with Inserts
- Decorative Flap Stitching
- Custom Skirts
- 16 Custom Thread Colors
- Quilting
- Crystal Infills
- 2-Tone Knee Blocks
- Stitched- and Double-Stitched Knee Blocks
- Custom Piping
- Custom Front
- Seat Facings
- Custom Rear Seat Facings
If a fully custom Wow saddle does not appeal to you, there are several simpler/less expensive options for you, including:
12 Signature Saddle Models:
- A Signature Saddle is ordered as a complete set and has all the additions and design enhancements already put together in one attractive package.
13 Standard Competitor Saddle Models:
- A Standard Competitor saddle is a complete saddle that is made in either black or brown panel leather. There are no options and no frills. These saddles do not have wear strips, butt skirts, infills, fancy stitching or bling.
21 DMK Saddle Models:
- The DMK Range is currently a range of Jumping saddles that appeal more to the show jumping market that wants a close contact, easy / no maintenance saddle.
- The panels are either foam or Flair MkII.
- Flair MkII can be ridden on without air.
- The air bags in these panels act like a mini air jack at the back and front of the saddle. They are sandwiched between the hard panel top and a resilient layer of foam.
- The panels being filled primarily with foam means that if all the air is removed there is little danger of the saddle clasping down on the horse when the air bags are empty.
- These panels ride slightly firmer than the original Flair and typically appeal to show jumpers who do not have saddle height adjustment on their list of priorities.
- A range of mono flap and dual flap versions.
4 Classique Saddle Models:
- This range is a budget WOW saddle. It shares the tree and headplates of a WOW, but the functionality is far more limited. It does not come supplied with Flair and is considered an "off the shelf" saddle.
- The Classique range of saddles offers your horse the chance to enjoy many of the benefits of a WOW Saddle, yet with traditional wool flocking and at a fraction of the cost. Available in Dressage and Jumping styles, in black or brown leather, 16”, 17” and 18” seat sizes.
As Well as a Full Line of Accessories
- New! FreeSpace Bridle in Snaffle and Double models
- SuperCool Saddle Pads in 10 Colors
- Rid'Up Safety Stirrups in 5 colors
- FreeSpace Girth in leather and vegan leather
- Korrector Saddle Pads in English & Western styles
- Nagga Riding System
- HufZorb Herbal Hoof Treatment
- Elegance, Split, H, Release, Switcha, Straight, and Stud Girths made in leather and vegan leather
