Special Leathers, Welting & Stitching

Leathers Ideal have over 25 different materials to choose from! Impossible to cover them all here, so our aim is to give you an idea of how you can customise the look and feel of your saddle.

Let’s begin with what is used as standard: plain leather for the skirt and flaps and Grippy Hide for the seat, knee pads and panels.

Very popular is Buffaloe for the skirt and flaps. This oil impregnated material softens and moulds as it warms up under use. Buffalo is often combined with Makela for the seat and knee pads. Makela is similar to Nubuck i.e. a very fine suede.

Another option for the seat and pads, combined with say Plain leather for the skirt & flaps, is Calf as is Shrumpf which gives a textured, grainy leather finish.

Memel is another textured finish often used on the skirt and flaps of dressage saddles as it has a slightly grippy feel and helps still the leg.

Nordic is heavy duty, grained and patterned. It can be described as like a heavy duty Buffalo. Weather resistant it is used on Icelandic saddles, hence the name!

Last but not least is Supplex which Ian describes as “lovely, gorgeous”! Supplex is very soft and flexible, smooth yet not shiny and more like a smooth, less textured Buffaloe.

Great combinations (respectively on skirt & flaps and seat & Pads): Buffaloe and Makela Supplex and Calf Nordic and Schrumpf

Welting & Stitching There is a wide choice of colours for welting and stitching if you would like to create a contrasting or tonal difference with the main body of the saddle.

Prices Skirt & Flaps: Buffaloe £175, Memel £175, Nordic £210 and Supplex £210. Seat & Pads: French Calf £105, Makela £90, Schrumpf £90. Multi Cell Soft Seat (Comfort Seat) £20.

Examples:

Click on the smaller images to enlarge and then scroll through! Each image has a caption with detail.

FOR MORE IDEAS to customise the look and feel of your saddle please visit this page on our site: MORE IDEAS!