World Equestrian Brands

Review: I ordered a custom Amerigo from this company through the Complete Equestrian in Bedford, MA owned by Nancy Kean in September 2012 for $5,300.00. Mrs. Kean came out to the farm that my horse was staying at at the time and she measured my horses back and took my measurements as well which is all part of the custom saddle fitting process. Upon receiving my saddle in late November, I was very excited and was riding my horse only in that saddle. In December, my horses chiropractor came out to perform routine adjustments to my horse and reported some thickening of the muscle along his spine and asked to watch me ride in the saddle. She noticed some issues with my position in the saddle that were not present before riding in this saddle and that the saddle was sliding back on my horse while I was riding in it causing some of the weight of the saddle and myself to be carried by my horses lumbar area which can cause a lot of pain. After learning all these issues, I immediately stopped riding in the saddle to avoid causing my horse any more pain. In January, my horse was going to be leaving for Ocala, FL for a couple of months and I knew that the head Amerigo Representative, [redacted], would be going to Ocala for business so I decided to wait to have her come look at the saddle because she is supposed to have the most experience with fitting these saddles out of anyone in the country. Before she came out to look at the saddle, the vet we use down in Florida, the [redacted] Olympic Team Vet, came out to look at my horses back in mic March to see if the saddles he had been ridden in since I stopped in the Amerigo were causing him any pain. When she reported that his back was doing well, she asked to look at the saddle he was ridden in so we showed her that saddle and then we showed her the Amerigo. After seeing the two saddles she told us that the Amerigo was nowhere near close to fitting him and I should only use the other saddle, I told her that the Amerigo was made for him. She was absolutely astonished to hear that the Amerigo was custom made for my horse because it was such a poor fit for him. A few days later, when [redacted] came out, she refused to admit that the saddle was not fitting my horse correctly. It took a great deal of convincing simply to get her to admit that some fitting changes needed to be made to the saddle. I did not request any specific changes because I know that I am not a saddle fitting expert, but [redacted] asked to see which saddle he had been ridden in. When I showed her the borrowed saddle I was using, even she had to admit that it was a better fit than the saddle that was made for him. When I got my saddle back in April, Mrs. Kean came out to the farm back in Massachusetts to look at the saddle and watch me ride in it again for the first time. I told her that when I was trotting, it felt like the saddle was bouncing on my horses back, which is not supposed to happen when a saddle fits correctly. She told me that I probably just needed to get used to it and to try just riding in it for a while and see how it feels. When I called her about a week later I voiced my concerns about the bouncing again and she responded by saying that since it is a jumping saddle I really won't be trotting as much as cantering and jumping so it's really not that big of a deal anyway. In my opinion, for $5,300.00 a custom saddle should fit perfectly no matter what gait the horse is in. When my chiropractor came out again she told me not to ride in the saddle because the fit really was not much better than it was before. When I told Mrs. Kean this, she requested that we have saddle consultations with my chiropractor, my trainer, and Mrs. Kean present. This first consultation was after about a month of not riding in the Amerigo and my horse's back was feeling better than ever according to my horse's chiropractor. After riding and jumping in the saddle however, his back was showing signs of soreness, even though horses backs are supposed to feel better AFTER they are ridden. This soreness is a clear indicator that the saddle was not fitting correctly, but Mrs. Kean was sure the saddle was fitting and his back was just sore because he had not jumped in a while so we agreed that I would only ride in the Amerigo saddle for two weeks and then meet up again for another saddle consultation which Mrs. Kean ended up not being able to attend because she was on vacation. During that first saddle consultation, Mrs. Kean also told me that the saddle was re-fitted to mimic the fit of the brand of saddle that he was being ridden in in Florida, which was shocking to me. In between the two consultations, I e-mailed Mrs. Kean to make sure that World Equestrian Brands would be paying for my chiropractor to come out for these consultations they Mrs. Kean requested. Through various e-mails of vague answers basically saying that it was my responsibility to pay for the consultations with my chiropractor which they requested, Mrs. Kean also informed me that the issues of the saddle fit were not really their fault because of all of the fit changes I apparently requested to have made to the saddle and that the saddle was not completely out of specification because I requested to have it fit more like another brand. For the record, I never asked to have any specific changes made to the saddle, I simply told [redacted] what was not working correctly with the saddle and she made her own decisions on how to change it. Also, I would NEVER ask one company to try to do something like another company because there is a slim chance it will actually be done correctly. Furthermore, at the second saddle consultation, my chiropractor reported that my horse's back was sore before riding in the saddle which could only be from riding in a saddle that did not fit him properly since that was the only saddle he was being ridden in. In addition, his back showed even more soreness after having ridden in the Amerigo saddle in the second consultation. After learning that the saddle was clearly an issue, Mrs. Kean requested yet another consultation with my horse's chiropractor in order to discuss changes that should be made to the saddle. At this point, I am not willing to put my horse through any more pain because they are refusing to admit that this saddle just isn't the right saddle for my horse.Desired Settlement: I would like to be refunded $5,300.00 for the saddle which is HIGHLY unsatisfactory and to be reimbursed for the $165.00 bill I received from my chiropractor for the saddle consultations (which I did send to Mrs. Kean).

Business

Response:

Thank you for sending this. I am not sure why Ms. [redacted] filed against World Equestrian Brands, as we are a wholesaler and actually sold this saddle to the Complete Equestrian in Bedford, MA.However, as we are eager to protect our brand we have already settled with Ms. [redacted] at the amount of $5200, which is the SRP of the saddle, not $5300. A check has been sent to Ms. [redacted]s supervisor to [redacted], and she will receive the check once she has handed the saddle over to her supervisor.Thank you very much, do you need anything further from me? Sincerely,[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I just wanted to clarify that I did file this complaint before a resolution was made. I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.Regards,[redacted]