Team Members

Hazel Morley

CEO

Yasmin Willerton

Training Coordinator

Yasmine works exceptionally hard coordinating courses, venues and attendees, not to mention the Lecturers and Assessors!  Her profile will be uploaded very soon.

Karen Schlotter

President

Karen Schlotter

President

Karen is a Master Saddler and Qualified Saddle and Bridle Fitter who lectures and assesses on the Bridle Fitting courses.

Catherine Baker

Vice President

Catherine Baker

Vice President

Catherine is our bitting lecturer and current Vice President as well as an assessor and Course Leader for the bridle fitting qualification.

Her love of horses began in early childhood and she has dedicated her life to working with them in one capacity or another.  She spent much of her teenage years riding across Salisbury Plain and studied equine management at agricultural college in Lincolnshire before taking a ‘proper’ job with a national delivery firm.  Whilst working full time during the week she continued to work with horses part time at the weekends but after 9 years the pull of the outdoors was too much and in 2002 she began to retrain as a saddler.

Today she holds the Society titles of Master Saddler, Master Bridle Maker, Registered Qualified Saddle Fitter and Registered Qualified Bridle Fitter and is also a LANTRA Accredited Horse Bit Fit Advanced Consultant.  She is a mother of two teenagers, has built her own house and workshop with her partner and runs her own successful saddlery business from her home in Wiltshire where she specialises in hand-making bespoke bridles.

Catherine is focused on equine welfare and how she can help to raise the standards through educating the riding public, trainee fitters and other equine paraprofessionals of the importance of correct saddlery fit.  She has recently stepped into the role of Bridle Fitting Course leader alongside Frances Roche and is keen to continue developing the course with her so that our qualified bridle fitters have a good range and depth of knowledge and understanding.

She feels privileged to be working alongside such a fantastic team of experienced lecturers and very lucky to have the ability to improve the comfort and welfare of the many horses she meets.

Chris Taylor

Immediate Past President (Ex Officio)

Chris Taylor

Immediate Past President (Ex Officio)

Chris Taylor is a Master Saddler and runs Saddler’s Den in Southport. He specialises in basic leatherwork, through to Intermediate Leatherwork, Saddle Repair and Re-Flocking, Bespoke courses and Preparation for C&G assessment.

Bea Blakeman

Treasurer

Bea Blakeman

Treasurer

Bea has been in equestrian retailing all her working life, 34 years and counting!  She qualified as saddle fitter back in the 90’s and has been assessing for 15+ years. When Bea joined the Executive committee in 2017, she was keen to drive change. Making improvements to saddle fitting pathway was a key area of her focus and she has been an instigator and supporter of this ongoing process.

Bea runs the family business, which is now in its 53rd year, her day job is very much saddle fitting and she is very proud to have employed and trained numerous saddle fitters from trainee to qualified. She believes all horses should be comfortable in their ridden work, no matter their price tag. She gets a huge sense of satisfaction making a difference to the horse and rider partnership. Bea vehemently waves the flag for horse welfare and encourages best practice throughout her work and business values.

Having being SMS President and becoming a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers are two honours Bea is extremely proud of.