About us

This “About us” is really more of an “About me”.

Horses came into my life in 1993: as the only boy, I wanted to learn to ride at our local riding club. I spent so much time doing stable and yard work that I gained a great deal of experience in handling horses.

Since 2006 I have been working on saddle fitting and solving saddle problems, at first alongside my teacher training (music/technology and work studies). It was very much “learning by doing”, because even back then a lot of so-called wisdom was floating around internet forums that did not always turn out to be true. ;-)

In 2009 I founded “Essence”. The name can be mumbled out of my signature (S. Sens). But the actual meaning of the word also expresses my conviction to focus on the essentials of my products. Functionality is my absolute priority, and I make no compromises on it just to “prettify” the look.

By the way, the horse in the logo is my first own horse, Weltbube. I “traced” it from an overexposed photo. The photo was taken when he wanted to introduce himself to the other horses in his new home …

In 2014 I moved into my current, much larger workshop. There I have gradually equipped myself with ever more precise machines. Today they include a leather cutting system, 3D printers, lasers and CNC milling machines. This allows me to make most of the parts and tools I need for saddle making myself, quickly and flexibly.

These days I design and develop saddle trees, knee blocks, panels and all leather parts largely on the computer. But the actual building of the saddle is and remains handcraft, and the result is always an individual one-off piece.