Martin Wilknson has recently been received as a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers in recognition of his years of exemplary service in and to the saddlery trade.  This is a particular honour and huge accolade for which he is delighted and very grateful.  It carries with it the additional honour of becoming a Freeman of the City of London. Congratulations Martin!!

Congratulations to all Martin Wilkinson Saddlers customers who did so well at the recent British Dressage Championships.  There are too many to report individually although particular mention must go to junior rider Amy Scheissl, a customer from Jersey who with her lovely horse Mr Mercury achieved 5th place in the Martin Colllins Advanced Medium Restricted and Alison Berman (last months' Absolute Horse cover girl!) who was placed 4th in the Dodson and Horell Novice Open with Anna Ross-Davies' and Judy Firmston Williams' Don Decoy.

Well done everyone!! 

Martin was recently asked to give a saddle fitting lecture/demonstration to the vets and trainee vets at Rossdales Vetreinary Practice in Newmarket.  Rossdales is the foremost vet practice for the treatment of back and lameness problems in horses but admitted that their knowledge of saddle fitting and how this impacts on the cases they see was at best sketchy.  They wanted to be able to recognise when a saddle did or did not fit and then be able to see if this could have any bearing on the problems presented to them.  Martin demonstrated saddle fit, the problems which could be caused by badly fitting saddles and how a saddler would adjust a saddle to ensure exact fit.

Congratulations to Martin Wilkinson Saddlers clients who recently triumphed at the International show at Hickstead.  In the Special, Daniel Sherriff continued his form with the stallion Bayford Hall Dallaglio, winning ahead of Wilma Wernsen and Oaklarette from the Netherlands with a score of 66.00%. The Young Rider Indivdual Test was carried off by Rebecca Drane with Half Moon Bardolino.

Everyone at MartinWilkinson Saddlers would like to wish good luck and congratulations to our customers Aimee Witkin and Bethany-Rose Horobin who have been chosen to represent Great Britain at the Pony European Championships in Poland. The championships take place from 26th to 31st July. Aimee is riding Ferrari and Beth is riding Gigolo, the former ride of Claire Gallimore who finished best of the Brits in last years' European Championships.

Martin and Rosemary appeared for a full three minutes on a Horse and Country TV documentary made about the National Indoor Driving Trials Championships.  They had qualified thier pony Tycwym Sebastian in the Veteran Class (Veteran Driver - Rosemary not veteran pony!) and the documentary featured them driving two obstacles and a couple of interviews when a rather over excited and out of breath Rosemary declared it all to be 'Such fun!!'  It will be repeated so if you want to see what Martin gets up to in his spare time tune in!!

Congratulations to Angela Coakley and Wexford Noble Hero who has their saddle fitted by us. They are overall Champions of the British Riding Club Amtrust Dressage Championships 2011 at the Royal Windsor Horse Show!

We have finally made the plunge and joined Facebook, please come and join our page for our latest info and offers!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Martin-Wilkinson-Master-Saddlers/206489976042150

We are honoured and delighted to report that Martin Wilkinson Saddlers has recently been awarded the accolade of Kieffer UK Retailer of the Year 2010.  We would like to thank Kieffer for all their support and hope to continue to do business with them for many years to come.  Martin has recently visited the Kieffer factory in Munich to advise on saddle design and fitting and also to view first hand the manufacture of Kieffer saddlery.

We are sad to announce that wander lust has got the better of Sarah again and she has decided to leave to go on her travels in April. This time it will be for a year and she intends to go all round the world. We wish her well and hope that she has a wonderful time and stays safe - Martin will be on tenterhooks until she returns!

To replace Sarah, we are delighted to welcome Olivia Cairns (Diary Manager) and Amy Bennett (Administrative Assistant).  Olivia and Amy will be in charge of the diaries so when you call and hear a new voice it will be one of them. Short profiles of Olivia and Amy will appear in 'About Us' on the website.