Backyard Saddlery

The Backyard Saddlery is the custom saddle-making workshop of Fritz Riedl, specialising in high-end Western saddles and handcrafted leather goods for horses and riders. Its work is guided by the principle of benefiting the horse: each saddle is made individually to suit the horse’s anatomy, the rider’s needs and intended use, while respecting traditional craftsmanship. The workshop favours the Wade-style saddle tree, a design with a development history spanning approximately 80 years and associated with Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Dale Harwood.

The process begins with a consultation and a measurement appointment for the horse. Those measurements inform the saddle tree, which is made by Ben Swanke in Billings; production takes seven to ten months. Riedl then builds the seat, arranges a test sitting for the rider, and discusses the saddle’s appearance and features. In selected cases, the workshop also buys back saddles made by Riedl, refurbishes them and matches them to a suitable horse-and-rider pair using the original measurements.