walsall
Bart recently paid a working visit to Albion saddlemakers in England. Albion is based in Walsall, a town just a stone's throw from Birmingham. Traditionally, Walsall has been an area where much of the production of the British saddlery and leather goods trade is located. The Albion saddlery was founded in 1985 by Paul and Sherry Belton and the company has since been transferred so that the production of this innovative and high-quality brand is guaranteed.
100% British in-house production
The journey started in the early morning to arrive at Albion saddlemakers around noon and after a warm welcome to continue to a riding school to fit and test all different models and saddle trees in practice on different types of horses. After going through all this and being informed about all the new models and their specific features, we went back to the factory.
At Albion, the entire production takes place in-house. This is quite special because it does not happen with all saddle brands that the complete tree is made from wood to gullet itself. The tour therefore started with the production of wooden and plastic trees and then the kopijzers in order to finally arrive at the correct size of all the different saddle trees.
Then on to the different departments for the covering of the trees, flaps, saddle cushions and bungs and all other options that are possible.
In the meantime we have been able to perform some skills ourselves, which is of course always very educational.
Development and quality
Albion's designers all have a great deal of equestrian knowledge and experience and are constantly researching developments in sport and breeding in order to arrive at innovative and high-quality saddle models for all equestrian disciplines and to meet the needs of horse and rider. . All these models are again tested by a team of world-class sponsored riders.
During production, a detailed quality control also takes place of both the saddle construction and the exclusive hand-selected leathers that come exclusively from Europe's leading tanneries. Each saddle is finished by hand by experienced and well-trained Albion saddle makers.
Educational visit
After a pleasant dinner and an exchange of experiences and consultations about developments in the market, we were able to return home the next day with a look back at a valuable and instructive visit to Albion in beautiful England.
If you want to know more about the Albion saddles or test them, you can call us on 040-2952275 or send an email to info@ruytersvoorruiters.nl
Shop all Albion products on our webshop here https://www.ruytersvoorruiters.nl/Albion
