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About

With each handcrafted product, we find a balance in Fit, Form and Function to benefit both horse and rider.

The building of the South Staffordshire Railway through Walsall in 1847 gave a boost to trade and by 1851 there were 75 firms making bridles, saddles and harness for riders. We are proud to have carried that quality of trade into the 21st Century for modern day riders to trust and enjoy.

Welcome to Bliss of London

 

Our own in house production allows us to create custom made equipment for riders around the world, through every sphere of discipline.  All of our saddle models are available on a multitude of traditional wooden spring tree profiles or the new adjustable polymer tree with complimenting pure wool flocked panel options.  Having our own control of production means we can offer an efficient manufacturing time scale and you can expect to have your custom saddle made within 4-6 weeks.

We work closely with a team of highly experienced saddle fitting professionals around the world whom will guide and advise you through every stage of the Bliss ordering process until that most unforgettable of moments: the handing over of their own unique Bliss of London saddle. We are on hand throughout and for aftercare and warranty in the future.

Our signature Triquetra Logo represents the unity of 3 for us this embodies  Horse, Rider and Saddle.

Your saddle is your connection between you and your horse our design and construction is based upon:

FIT: Each and every saddle that we create is made to measure to not only fit the differing profiles of your horse but also the differing physical requirements of each rider.

FORM: All of our saddles are made on the correct saddle tree to distribute your weight evenly over the bearing surface and length of the saddle.

FUNCTION: By sourcing some of the most luxurious leather from around the world we offer the true equestrian saddles of distinction from the hand of the master saddle makers.

Each saddle combines performance and bespoke luxury with individually tailored customer care and exclusive types of leather. This unique combination of exquisite materials forms the basis for the individual design of every Bliss Saddle.

It is our obsession with our quest for perfection in all that we do that is the best possible guarantee that each piece from ‘Bliss of London’ is one of a kind and the embodiment of “perfection” that greatly reflects the style and taste of its owner.

We are a registered business with The Society of Master Saddlers and the British Equestrian Trade Association.

History

To discover the origins of Walsall’s leather industry we need to look back to the Middle Ages. Amongst the town’s recorded early crafts and occupations there are few references to leather workers but, in contrast, numerous ones to saddlers’ ironmongers or loriners. Loriners produced a variety of horse-related items, including stirrups, bits, buckles, spurs, saddle trees and harness mounts and decorations.

The lorinery trade continued to grow throughout the 17th and 18th centuries but it was not until the early 19th century that leather working became an important local trade. The pioneers of the town’s leather goods trade seem to have mostly been ‘bridlecutters’. By settling in Walsall these men and women could call upon the highly developed skills of local loriners for their bits and buckles. The development of the town’s leather working industry gained pace in the period after 1840. The building of the South Staffordshire Railway through Walsall in 1847 gave a boost to the trade and by 1851 there were 75 firms making bridles, saddles and harness.

Horses were an essential part of Victorian economic and social life, and provided a huge market for Walsall’s manufacturers. The working horse was still the chief means of power on most farms and in most cities, and in total there were around 3.3 million horses in late Victorian Britain. In the last decades of the 19th century the Walsall leather trades entered upon a ‘Golden Age’ of unprecedented prosperity.

In 1900 the first Equestrian Olympic Games were held in Paris, which gave equestrianism a ‘sport’ status. This lead to the rise in specific models being designed and made for disciplines which we now recognise as Dressage, Jumping and Eventing.

It is thanks to this prestigious saddle making heritage when blended with the eye of the designer that Bliss saddles truly come to life.

Saddle Making

At the heart of every saddle is the wooden laminated saddle tree. 100 % designed by the Bliss of London design team. Historically the wooden laminated saddle tree has been a sign of prestige the world over and reserved only for the most discerning of riders. Wood and leather when bought together form an alliance that is kept for the most special of products and gives a truly natural end product. Every tree undergoes an exacting production process using age old production methods allied with 21st century cutting and forming processes.

Our appointed saddle fitting professionals will take templates and tracing measurements of your horse for our saddlers to create the perfect of tree and panel combination. The individual saddle tree is selected by profile and strained to give the most effective rider seat position and twist. Layers of plastazotes and memory foams are then precision moulded and formed to give what is becoming known as ‘The Blissful’ seat. The hides and butts are hand cut to pattern and expertly prepared by a combination of splitting, skiving and arduous hand finishing along with the straps/billets that are stitched for extra finesse. Seeming is an art form of its own and a unique skill held by the saddle machinist in joining the skirt and seat together by means of a welting. The saddle machinists then assemble the panel which is designed incorporating front and back gusset pieces which will maximise the final bearing surface and overall fit when flocked. Our full panels eliminate the join of a sweat flap against the horse and allow a full serge panel if required.

A mix of new CNC technology and traditional methods allow us to produce anatomical designs of blocks and rolls to complement each model. The build of the knee pads and blocks is a combination of balance in softness and support, with the laborious process of cupped pads and contoured padding or recessed blocks for a smoother finish.

Our girthing systems provide a multitude of solutions for modern problems of forward girth grooves and relieving pressure behind the shoulder in order to help achieve the perfect balance and stability.

Finally each panel is flocked by hand with 100% pure new wool. The benefits of wool over latex foam panels are incomparable. Wool is proven to mould to the horses profile at the same time allowing for muscle regeneration and development which can then be adjusted when required. It is a natural material against your horse and has its own wicking and heat absorption properties as well as acting as an inbuilt shock absorber.

Many of the processes we use go above and beyond the norm and the attention to detail throughout is extraordinary. Our signature twin stitching and quilted gullets, features which are more common to the fashion and automotive industries, only highlight our expectations.

The skill and artistry of the saddle maker is evident in all of our designs, where masters have passed to masters the skill and know how to produce some of the world’s greatest saddles and where many years have been served in the pursuit of excellence. Only then is a saddle ready to wear the Bliss Triquetra.

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