Debra "Deb" K. Racheter, Owner and Founder of Crest Ridge Saddlery
Debra Racheter is the owner and founder of Crest Ridge Saddlery of Lowry City Missouri. Since 1998, Debra has been professionally fitting horses which led to designing and manufacturing saddles.
Debra’s impetus in founding Crest Ridge Saddlery was her 17 years as a trail guide at the horseman’s resort she built and operated in North Central Arkansas. She saw firsthand the problems caused by ill-fitting saddles and the difficulties her customers had in finding quality saddles the fit both horse and rider. Her experiences led her to become a master saddle fitter, specializing in gaited horses and mules. That led her to building saddles, with an emphasis on gaited horses and mules. She has been a presenter at numerous Equine trade shows, including Equine Affaire, Horse World Expo, Midwest Horse Fair and the Minnesota Horse Expo. Debra has also appeared on RFD-TV's "All Around Performance Horse" where she gave a demonstration on saddle fitting.
Debra brought and keeps saddle fitting at the forefront. She created one of the first online resources’ for measuring and fitting treed saddles. Through Crest Ridge Saddlery, she creatively merges a no-nonsense approach to excellence, attention to detail, and concern for the comfort of both the equine and rider. The resulting saddles are beautiful and practical works of art, built by Amish craftsmen from all over the country
This is my promise to you as a customer.
We strive to make every saddle a perfect fit. No two gaited horses, stock horses or mules are exactly alike. What is most important in fitting one is the bar angle, width, length, clearance, and the amount of rocker in the tree. The first question is which of our trees will fit your horse the closest. We have a regular tree for light boned horses and a wide tree for the bigger framed animals and even an extra wide that is required in some cases. Then we can do a lot with different types of pads and slight rigging changes to make each one fit perfectly.