Becca4U

I have been trying to learn about this saddle, but haven't had much luck. It is NOT an M.L. Leddy saddle. (Yes, I have spoken to them already.) I spoke to Mrs. James Leddy a few years ago. She is quite a hoot. She said James never made any saddles but he did have a brother in Abilene that was a perfectionist and to her knowledge he had made 5 saddles for friends/family over the years. I came across this saddle in Prague Oklahoma and was told an older man had it made for him and he used it in parades only. He was deceased and the family sold the saddle. The saddle is in fantastic original shape and the tooling is near perfect. Made in apx 40's or 50's. The saddle utilized lacing instead of Blevins buckles. The cinch is a simple hand tied mohair cinch that matches the saddle color. The latigo's (both standard latigo like on the near side of the saddle) are colored to match the saddle, there is a marker indicating the latigos were $2.75 each. The saddle also has a matching rear cinch. The tree is exquisite and the ground seat sits perfectly. Genuine sheep skin lining. There is minimal wear to the stirrup treads. Has anyone ever heard of a Leddy Saddle from Abilene?

I have quite a few old tooled purse patterns I found at a garage sale. Some of them are old F O Baird ones. They came on huge sized paper and were in rough shape. I had copies made of the ones that had the most deterioration. The pattern and tooling is on it but not the assembly info. I would say that I have around 25 different style and patterns. If interested, I could make copies and send to you for costs. Be warned, the big ones cost quite a bit to make copies of. Think it was around $7.00 per sheet a few years ago. Rebecca

Congrats on her TRUE BIRTHDAY! What a beautiful baby! Now all the fun starts!

Awesome work! That is very nicely finished!

Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I am always trying to save a few bucks. I have attached a picture of a checkbook I made for myself a couple of years ago. I decided to try out the cheap acrylic paint available in the crafts area of my local walmart to see how it would hold up on leather. I have lugged this around for a few years and as far as I am concerned, the paint has help up rather well. I wasn't happy with the highlighting effects, but figured I'd be re-painting it before too long. Now I'm stuck. Anyway, just thought I'd share. Happy New Year to ALL! Becca Wallet.bmp Wallet.bmp

I would like to participate. Please sign me up!

Hey! That's my grandmas! Give it back fast or she'll clobber you! LOL

How sweet it is! I'd be proud to throw that on one of my horses! Awesome work!

First off, nice looking horse! Second, my ex bought one of these saddles, he just fell in love with it...on the stand. Will give my opinion. Rememember it is only from my personal experience. The ground seat in the one we had was awful. Especially at faster gaits, it would put you in the wrong position and we had problems with the horse. Had owned the horse for years and she started acting up. It was soaring her badly. Went back to a different saddle and the problems ceased. Remember, this is just my personal experience and may not not be true of all of them. The old Billy Cooks out of Greensville are awesome. The shop he runs now out of Sulpher is staffed by mexican workers. He was busted for having illegals at the shop a year or so back. Here is a link to a local story about it: http://www.pryordailytimes.com/agriculture...eyword=topstory Its a shame he isn't turning out the quality he used to.

I would also take a look at the gullet and fork of the saddle. Make sure it isn't sitting too far down on him. As the horses' conditioning changes and muscles develop, a saddle that used to fit, might not anymore. If it is sitting down on his wither the back will tip up and you'll have more problems than just lost hair on the rump. If it sits too far down on the wither, there can be serious and permenant damage done. Best of luck to you. The above post is right too. How the rear skirts are laced together can be a big problem. If you have a mind to, borrow an english saddle that won't cover up that part of his back to allow for healing. If the hair is wore of, the muscles might also be terribley sore; like a pair of ill-fitting shoes on your feet. Any, just my humble opinion. Happy Trails!

I live in the OKC area and have to concur. They are awesome!

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I really regret not taking more pictures of my work. I did do one piece that I wish I had taken pics of, but it was just to difficult to do. I would like to share the story though. My dad was a very, very gifted artist, however seldom kept his work. My mom did manage to save some of his stuff, but he would burn most of it. From sketches to oil paintings. I always tried to draw, but my work was never up to his standard and I quit. As an adult I got into leatherwork and finally got his approval for my work. He asked me to make him something and I couldn't figure out what to make. In 2006 he was diagnosed with colon cancer; his second battle with cancer. He put off treatment and he passed away on July 4th of 2007. I regretted not getting around to making him something. During the funeral arragements my mom was flustrated trying to find an urn (he wanted to be creamated). They told us we could have the ashes in the little box that comes from the crematory. The director also told us that ashes could be interred in anything we wanted. My mom then asked me if I would make a leather bag for the box. That dad would have liked that. Oh boy, I said yes, I would try. I had three days. Talk about a emotional mess. There is no way to convey how difficult this turned out to be. I ended up making the bag out of a warm brown oiled chap leather I had and used the celtic cross pattern from Tandy. I tooled the piece on 4/5 oz leather and colored the cross in gold acrylic and did a back ground in hunter green. I added his initials over the cross and stitched it to the bag. It came out nice. A lot of tears and memories went into that piece. I don't know if I can do another on such a time crunch, but other family memebers have asked me to make ones for them. My sis wants one now, and wants a strap added so she can use it as a purse. Not sure about that, sounds a bit creepy to me. Anyway, just wanted to share.

I like the way the color turned out. Nice job!