Lauren Sprieser riding Cleo

Albion Dressage Saddles for Comfort, Balance & Precision

One of the primary challenges of saddle technology is getting a close and stable feel through the rider's seat and thigh without compromising the tree and panel design and causing areas of intense pressure on the weight-bearing surface of the horse's back. This is one of the most unique and highly celebrated design successes of the saddles built by Albion in collaboration with Klaus Balkenhol: the SLK Ultima, the SLK, the Brentina, and the SL Ultima dressage saddles.

The tree and seat design in these Albions has evolved to remove excess bulk from beneath the rider's thigh, allowing the leg to hang straight off the hip and the rider's pelvis to be stable and neutral with minimal effort. Without exaggeration, the leg-hang on the SLK Ultima is superb, and many of the world's leading dressage riders have identified this as the saddle's most unique and outstanding feature. When the saddle is correctly balanced, the rider's position is close and correct, with all the support needed to maintain stability even on extravagantly-moving dressage horses.

The SLK tree comes in two profiles and two shape variations. The standard low head tree is suitable for the majority of horses and riders. The high head is contoured more steeply through the pommel for Thoroughbred-type horses that have very high, long withers.

The SLK Ultima with the hoop tree adaptation is a good choice for horses who are a bit thicker at the base of the withers. By spacing the rails of the tree slightly wider under the stirrup bars, the shape of this tree conforms better to the thicker, wider back. This has been the tree of choice for many of our clients who ride high-performance warmblood stallions with thickly-muscled top lines.

The SL Ultima is built on a tree that is highly suitable for many warmbloods who are more traditionally built than the lighter-bodied warmbloods whose body type shows more Thoroughbred influence. It is a generous tree that we enjoy fitting, with a much better panel than the original SL, and is often an excellent choice for Friesians, Lusitanos, Andalusians, Lipizzans, and "foundation" warmbloods of heavier body type.

Advanced Saddle Fit maintains a substantial inventory of SLK Ultimas, SL Ultimas, and Albion Brentinas in a variety of seat sizes, flap configurations and tree widths. We also stock SLK Ultimas on hoop trees in both wide and extra-wide widths, as well as Brentinas in a variety of seat sizes and trees. We work closely with Albion Saddlemakers on specifications for each saddle we order either for inventory or for a particular customer, and we carry saddles with a selection of different panel types to further refine the fit for different back shapes.