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A J W

Measuring And Fitting A Saddle Tree

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It was said if you ask 4 saddlemakers the same question you will get 6 answers, well here it goes

What measurements on the horse should be taken to order a tree from a tree manufacurer, ?

As well I Would like to here from Manufacturers as to the measurements they would like to receive to help the Accuracy of the order?

I am looking for your opinions, methods, systems,

A.J.

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What measurements on the horse should be taken to order a tree from a tree manufacurer, ?

I was hoping some experienced saddle makers would give their take on this as well, but our answer would be "Whatever ones that tree maker asks for." Not much help, but it is the "actual fact". I have put together a new deal to send to our customers who want to do back drawings for our trees. (It is basic back drawing instructions in line with where Dennis Lane has you put his cards. His method is much more consistent than what we were trying to do before.) But the instructions may not be helpful for another tree maker because where those drawing are taken can make a difference in interpreting them. If they are used to getting back drawings from the middle of the wither pocket, for example, having one from right behind the shoulder blade without knowing where it came from could make for a pretty big difference in how the tree fits.

We have found Dennis Lane's card system - www.dennislane.com.au - to be the easiest to communicate, easiest to compare between horses and most consistent method of explain the shape of a horse, especially long distance. But if the tree maker doesn't have or use the system, it won't work for you to give them the numbers. What we did (and other tree makers would need to do) was go out with a bunch of trees and the cards to a bunch of horses and figure out what tree specs fit that horse the best to our eyes, and then carded the horse and kept track. Over time we figured out that for such and such numbers we would use this and that specs in the way we built trees. We don't build the trees to be shaped like the reverse of the cards. We build the trees to fit the horse that those shapes represent. The cards are just a really easy way for a saddle maker to tell us the shape of the horse since they are just systematized back drawings. Bowden is the only production tree maker we know of that uses the Dennis Lane system.

We also build a lot of trees just by discussing with the maker what type of horses they are building for. Our trees have a fair amount of lee way built into them so they get along well with a range of body types, though they fit the center of the bell curve of that range best of course. If you are trying to fit a common body type (working ranch horse for us would be a very common body type) then the tree maker will probably have a good idea on what will fit that type in your area or from a basic description. But if you are looking to fit an uncommon body type for that maker, that is when it is ideal to get more information. We have been asked to build trees for a couple of Andalusians lately. Seems there are broader Andalusians and very narrow Andalusians. Since they are not a common type of horse for us to build for, it is nice to have more information to go on than "kinda narrow, but not too much".

A J W, what measurements do you take now?

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