Words Cassidy Nunn
Photos Nunn Other Photography
Katrina Chapman is a hardworking, Peninsula-based entrepreneur who wears many, many hats.
She’s a certified independent saddle fitter for horses; runs Highland Saddles, a saddle consignment service that works with 20+ saddle brands; has started her own saddle and tack brand, Lovas Equestrian; and most recently has launched her podcast, The Unbridled Equestrian Podcast.
It was Katrina’s deep love of horses and the desire to advocate and improve their well-being that led her to this type of work. While she grew up horseback riding on the east coast in
Nova Scotia, competing in the Hunter/Jumper circuit and riding on the Dalhousie Equestrian team while completing her degree in Psychology, it wasn’t until her move to Victoria 15 years ago that she became interested in saddles for horses. She’d always been fascinated in the biomechanics of how a horse moves and the physics of saddle fit and how that affects the horse’s movement and corresponding behaviours, and found that a career specializing just in saddle fit could be a good option for her.
For riding horses, saddles are an important piece of equipment. They’re often, though not always, made of leather and sit on the horse’s back, providing a more comfortable option for riding a horse. But properly fitting a saddle to a horse is an art form in and of itself – there are many types of saddles for all sorts of equestrian disciplines, and just like people, horses come in all shapes and sizes and one saddle simply can’t fit all types of horses. Careful fit of a saddle for the horse and rider is important for the horse’s well-being as well as the rider’s.
An improperly-fit saddle can lead to all sorts of symptoms and behaviours showing up in the horse. This is often when Katrina will be called, and she calls herself a “bit of a detective” when it comes to figuring out just what can be causing the horse’s seemingly negative behaviour.
“Saddle fit impacts every aspect of well-being for a horse – mental and physical health soundness.” she says. Katrina likens a poor-fitting saddle on a horse to that of an ill-fitting shoe on a person. It can cause pain, soreness, rubs, pressure points and just be all around uncomfortable.
“My approach is always to look through a lens of curiosity,” she says. “Horses are deeply empathic and we tend to look at them through a very narrow lens and tend to diminish what they’re communicating to us.” She always takes into consideration and educates her clients on how a horse’s body can fluctuate widely and can have drastic, rapid changes in body condition related to seasonal or environmental changes, feed changes, horses having new neighbours, whether a mare is in heat etc. “A horse can outgrow a saddle within two to three months,” she says. Katrina encourages horse owners to have their saddles checked by a saddle fitter often, especially if the horse has new behaviours showing up or has changed shape. “We’re not always taught to value what the horse is telling us,” she adds.
Katrina’s decision to launch her own saddle and tack brand was born from the desire to meet more of the horse’s needs and their changing body shapes by offering saddles that can easily be changed and can fit more types of horses at a price point that is more accessible.
Her passion to help more horses and owners beyond saddle fitting led Katrina to launch her podcast in the fall of 2025 “with an aim towards offering education and a safe place to explore the challenges we are having or our horses are having,” she says.
Katrina’s many businesses keep her incredibly busy with travel, whether it’s up-Island for saddle fitting appointments or to Argentina to meet factory reps for Lovas Equestrian. She now has a small team of employees helping her with some of the behind the scenes work but her days are still packed with fittings, administrative tasks, travel and organizing podcast guests. She enjoys giving back to the equestrian community as well, with Lovas Equestrian sponsoring several local riders.
To find out more about Lovas Equestrian visit www.lovasequestrian.com.
Listen to The Unbridled Equestrian Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify or watch it on YouTube.
