Saddle Construction
Learn from experts about the art of building a good saddle.
663 topics in this forum
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- 2 followers
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Hello Folks, Been a year or two since I've been around here. I am looking for some assistance with balance. I have a bunch to learn yet about construction. There are more pieces on this saddle that I did a few times and still didn't get them right, but got them close enough to live with. So here is my questions. Making a saddle that is built well and fits the horse and rider seems fairly straight forward. How do you make one line up to the eye to be appealing. I know what I like but is there has to be some rules of thumb to live by when cutting in the exterior lines that will make the front, back, top and bottom tie together well? With the pictured saddle we …
Last reply by Kj86, -
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- 3 replies
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Still bring green to saddle making I have a question about flat plate rigging attachment. I am working on re-fleecing a saddle that has a sewn on flat plate and am wondering what is the up-side to the time it takes to do that. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thank you.
Last reply by EdOdgers, -
- 6 replies
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Hello all, I’m very happy I found this forum, so I’m a newbie here. With that said what DVDs or books does everyone recommend for saddle making that are comprehensive and full of detail? Better yet does anyone have anything like that currently for sale? I’ve looked up so many of them and do not know which ones are worth it or not. Any advice/knowledge is heavily appreciated! thank you!
Last reply by rgerbitz, -
Hello Folks, Been a year or two since I've been around here. I am looking for some assistance with balance. I have a bunch to learn yet about construction. There are more pieces on this saddle that I did a few times and still didn't get them right, but got them close enough to live with. So here is my questions. Making a saddle that is built well and fits the horse and rider seems fairly straight forward. How do you make one line up to the eye to be appealing. I know what I like but is there has to be some rules of thumb to live by when cutting in the exterior lines that will make the front, back, top and bottom tie together well? With the pictured saddle we …
Last reply by rgerbitz, -
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Saddleman Press announces the Seventh Printing of Dusty Johnson’s saddlemaking instruction course entitled “Saddlemaking Construction and Repair Techniques“. This instruction package is the complete material used by the students in the Pleasant Valley Saddle School in Colorado for over 25 years. Now Dusty is sharing his methods for creating a working Western Saddle as used on ranches and for pleasure riders. This is the largest selling saddlemaking publication ever printed. The Full Course consists of a well illustrated 136 page book, a 2+ hour DVD showing details from the book and a complete set of full size cutting and skiving patterns for making any type of…
Last reply by ScoobyNewbie, -
- 4 replies
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Pardon my ignorance, but is it possible to change the style of a Cheyanne roll on a saddle? I’m looking at a saddle that fits my needs in every way, but the Cheyanne roll has weird rope lacing on it. I prefer plain Cheyanne rolls without any fancy lacing, buckstitch or whatever else people do to dress it up. Is it possible to change that without damaging the rest of the saddle? The saddle itself is a hard seat roper with a roughout seat. I assume it’s possible, but I wanted to confirm first. Is the cost comparable to that of a new saddle? I don’t mind spending a couple hundred dollars on that, but would hate to get a bill for $1000 to repair what “appears” to be a re…
Last reply by CourtneyYEG, -
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Has anyone seen Steve Mecum's Saddlemaking DVD available on Keith Valley's page (http://www.cowboysaddlery.com/video.html)? Just curious if it's worth the price and if it only has a wade?
Last reply by CowboySaddlery, -
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What would be the maximum/practical distance from the bar to the inside bottom curve of the front rigging when putting in a "dropped front rigging"? This will go on a barrel racing saddle. Thanks!
Last reply by rdl123, -
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I'm about to make a saddle for a cowhorse trainer and I would like to get peoples opinion on fit. He usually has 25+ horses in training and I would like to fit as many as possible. He spends alot of time getting the horses collected, rounding up their backs, ect so these horses have well developed strong backs. So, in order to fit as many as posible, regarding the rock of the bars, I'm leaning towards fitting the straighter backed horses so the ones where the fit is off will have a gap in the middle or the bars rather than rocking up at the ends. My thinking is when these horses are being ridden and they collect themselves they will round into that space. So, I'd li…
Last reply by mikesh, -
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I build all-leather groundseats, and with every saddle I ask myself again, "Bar risers or not?" Without them, there is danger of scoring the rawhide when cutting stirrup slots, and the seat is closer to the horse's spine/saddle pad, but the rider is that much closer to the horse and it's easier to make use of the seat curvature built into the tree by a good treemaker. With them, it can be more difficult to make the seat shape I want, and the rider is just that much higher off the horse. Thoughts? Julia McCormack
Last reply by Big Sioux Saddlery,
