Saddle fitting career advice

[Cleopatra90]

Looking for advice on a change of career in the city to saddle fitting. Does anyone have any contacts for local sms fitters - if possible, those who are involved with the running or training side that are willing to help get people into Saddlery and Saddle fitting. Ideally looking for someone I can shadow initally to have an idea what the career prospects are before making the leap. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[sbloom]

You say local but not said where . I was in headhunting research before I did this, plus some time in corporate finance, so am probably a good case study! Specialist fitter for 15 years.

There's another post on this I think where I posted a fair bit of info - becoming a saddle fitter is SO tempting, but it's not for the remotely faint hearted. We think it must be such a fun career (it definitely has its moments, and moments of joy of course) and perhaps that how come so many saddle fitters just aren't that good, surely we can do better? About 5 years down the line a huge proportion of new fitters have given up for many many reasons. Be very sure you want to do it, go out with fitters for the day, SMS and no (good to see the other side, the non-qualifieds, the specialists etc) but understand the being on the road bit is often the easy bit, it's the admin, the marketing/social media, the complaints (you WILL get them, everyone does!) etc which you won't see when shadowing.

Having a thick skin is the first requirement, and then there is a massive skill set to add to that - customer service, journey planning, marketing, accounts, information management (including GDPR) are just some.

I would research the fitters in your area, SMS and non-qualifieds too, though contacting the SMS or going through their website will help you with SMS qualified fitters as they list all the fully paid up ones. Non paid up ones might take you out with them but won't be able to officially mentor you under the SMS afaik. Specialist and non qualifieds it's worth asking online geographically. Bear in mind the tough bits of the job aren't really what you'll see on a day's shadowing, or even several days - you'll see it's hard work but you won't see most of the stress points.

Career prospects - you're running your own business in 90% of cases. A few people are employed but then there won't be any career advancement, or very little. If you're self employed like most of us then again, there's no career as such, just what you want to do with your business - CPD, specialisations, add ons (brands, unrelated skills like also doing equine bodywork, PT for riders etc), taking on admin staff, taking on fitting staff. That's about it. It's not going to make you rich, it can make you a living, for sure, and some seem to do very well out of it, but the amount of time I like to spend to do the job properly, it's hard to charge enough to earn a really decent living. In some cases I think people are doing it for pocket money with their partner the main breadwinner, so you'll always be undercut by someone, we just look away, value ourselves and keep doing our own thing!

 

[cremedemonthe]

Everything Sbloom has said and then some!
I've been a saddler (old school) for 37 years or thereabouts. We learnt saddle fitting in cordwainers college along with flocking, saddle making, bridle making, lorinery, harness making and more back in 1987. Then, it was all under the term "Saddler", we did everything from making all the above to making and repairing rugs, brushing boots, rollers you name it we learnt to make, repair and fit it.
Now, there are saddle fitters, bridle fitters, bit specialists, rug makers and so on. There are good trades people in every trade and there are bad ones and you will get the blame for the bad stuff even if it is nothing to do with you, believe me it will happen!
Think long and hard before you take the plunge and go out with a fitter or saddler to see what's involved, it's a hard and often stressful life.
I'm still and always will be a Saddler but I do it as a hobby now as it's almost impossible to live on the earnings so I work full time in a dog food factory, cleaning, a far cry from what I am trained to do but that's the reality of self employed saddlers and fitters unless you are with a very big company .
Oz (Austin)

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Fitting a saddle is a difficult thing to do, specially if you find you have the right saddle but the stuffing needs doing. You need proper saddlery training & without that I'm sorry but I wouldn't use you. I doubt if others would either.

 

[Sealine]

Fitting a saddle is a difficult thing to do, specially if you find you have the right saddle but the stuffing needs doing. You need proper saddlery training & without that I'm sorry but I wouldn't use you. I doubt if others would either.

To be fair to the OP they weren't saying they were going to fit saddles without proper training.

The OP has got some great advice from two experienced fitters. I have a friend who works for a local tack store as a fitter. She started work in the shop and progressed to trainee saddle fitter and has been qualified for a many years. She is still employed by the tack shop. She chooses her hours and plans her own diary to work around her family. From what she tells me the difficult part of the job is dealing with people and managing their expectations. I've heard all sorts of stories about the miracles she is expected to perform to makes saddles fit or solve a horse's issues.

 

[sbloom]

Magyck saddlez is wot people want.