About David Kaden
David Kaden started competing in the sport of endurance racing in 1999. His first season he finished in the top ten 100% of the time and had three endurance wins and three best condition awards on his two Arabian geldings, Dakota Bask and Asadds Desertwind. By 2002 David Kaden had won 2 National Championships in the sport of Endurance Racing, one from the American Endurance Ride Conference and the other from the Arabian Horse Association. David was competing on horses that were bred and raised on his family farm in East Texas. Today David is competing on his National Champion endurance stallion “Ari”. David’s dad, Dr. Van Kaden, is the breeder of Ari, the 2009 Jim Joes award Champion Stallion, whose name is Go Flight Leader. Dr. Kaden owned the sire and three generations back on the Dam’s side. After a long period of “retirement” from endurance, David returned to win his third National 55 mile MW Championship this past summer (2011) here in New Mexico. His wife Tracy won the lightweight national title. David has been a lifelong horseman and today competes in both Jumping and Endurance. In the past he has also competed in various western disciplines including roping and Cowboy Mounted Shooting. He considers himself a true all round Horseman.
David’s love for horses led to the development of an adjustable saddle, which he ultimately received a patent for. He now owns a top endurance saddle manufacturing company, Specialized Saddles, and the western saddle division, TW Saddlery. In 2008 David became interested in Jumping and trained two of Flight Leader Farms endurance horses, (half arabs) Pico Mumtaz Lisette ( Blitzen of Pico x Claire TB) and Xtremely Xpensive ( Xtreme x Rebs Irish Lace AQHA ) to jump. He started competing in Sport Horse events. In 2009 David was reserve Jumping champion in region 2, sport horse championship, and in 2010 David won the Region VIII AA/AO Open Jumping Championship on Lisette and the HA/AO Working Hunter Championship on XX. Of course he had to design and build a Jumping saddle and an all round English saddle using his western type tree, and fit system, which was an entirely new innovation in the world of saddles. No other saddles or saddlery had ever created an English style saddle with the broad form fitting bars of a western tree, which has over twice the surface and thus half the pressure of a traditional English saddle. David believes all horses perform better when their saddle fits and he has dedicated his life to relieving back pain for horses through the use of his patented adjustable fit Specialized Saddles.
About Amanda Lackey
Amanda Lackey is our office manager at Specialized Saddles. Before joining the specialized team Amanda worked along with Tracy and David at Flight Leader Farm. She spent many years there working with the horses. She is a top competitor in both Western and Endurance events with many first places in both disciplines to her credit. She is a graduate of the New Mexico State University with a degree in Ag Marketing.
