Ontario Born Ray Laviolette came by his interest in saddles as a natural outgrowth of his riding and association with horse people in Ontario & Quebec. Riding was his major hobby, and when saddles and tack was not readily available in his immediate area, he decided to open a tack shop.In 1972, Circle R Tack Shop was born. It was soon transformed in to a saddle shop as there were more repairs for local horse people than sales. From a repair shop it became a full saddle shop by 1976.In 1978, the great horseman "Monte Foreman" gave Ray the rights to build the "Balanced Ride" saddle and the business really took off. Since then, Ray, operating as "Circle R Saddlery", has built close to 800 in his small shop. Some for Canadian horsemen, some for export to the U.S.A., Germany, France, & Italy. Many of those for Champions in Reining, Pleasure, Barrels Racing, & Cutting. more... See more text