General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Romney family’s dressage horse-related tax deductions last year exceeded median USA household income [View all]riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)there's no way they would do it for free since saddlers are pretty much just regular guys (well, as "regular" as a saddler can be - they're artisans akin to guitar makers or swordsman). They don't make a fortune and wouldn't be able to afford to give away (or even deeply discount) any of their handcrafted items since they can only make a finite number of them in any given year.
I presume Jan Ebeling (and the horse Rafalca) is sponsored for a lot of free gear by other corporations that manufacture factory items like saddle pads or liniment or breeches but the saddle is in its own special niche. Such a vast quantity of information is transmitted from the rider's seat to the horse's back that its critical for it to be an exact fit for maximum performance especially at that level.