Billy H

Nice lines on your saddle! What kind of W C leather did you use, it has a good color to it. The last batch I got from them I was disappointed. Regards Billy

Very nice for your first saddle! You should take great pride in what you have accomplished. Regards Billy

Hi Randy, I guess I will add my 2 cents worth. Your edges are looking pretty good, but I think you rubbed with the leather just a little to wet. I will bet that when you where done rubbing, the edges felt really smooth and maybe even glass like and then after the leather dried they felt more like what your picture shows ( frustrating ). I have done the same and pulled my hair out trying to figure what was happening. My suggestion is take what you have done so far and barely wet the edges with water-- let sit until almost dry and rub bees wax over the edges then take your canvas and rub until your hand starts to burn like CW said, I think you will be surprised at the end result. The edge will burnish to a darker harder edge. Regards Billy

Thanks for the answer Keith! All of your saddles seem to fit so perfectly------stitching,folds,tooling the list goes on. I really appreciate your critiques, it helped on the saddle I did for myself a little while back. Thanks again PS So what amazing saddle is on your bench now? Hope you post it soon and congrats on your daughter! Billy

Very cool looking Rig!! For someone taking a 25 year break, I would say you still have the touch. The slim bowman is not common, but looks real nice on that pretty paint. Thanx for sharing. Billy

Look forward to it.

Like the look Bob, But where is the rest of the package?

Hey Bob, I was looking at your saddle again. You really put some hard work in this one! I will refrain from showing it to my wife as she is is a Bowman fan with a a small horn and cushy padded seat. I have only done one saddle with a padded seat and found it to be a pain in the b-- to get in. If she sees this one she will insist that I build her something similar. You have a certain look to your saddles, like from old western movies that I find really cool. Maybe because I like old western movies ( Red River ) comes to mind. I think you could market well with that look. Just a thought

Josh------ Thank you. Any new saddles on your bench? Hey Bob! Feel free, It is a little tricky figuring out how to make it work right ( at least for me ). When I started this project I was not sure that hide was going to be utilized well, but after build it came out about like a traditional plate rig saddle. So far I have had it on two horses and am pleased with the way it is working. If I do another build like this there would be a little tweaking on the pattern. My skirts ended up about a half inch shorter than I planned. I had a brain fart and forgot how much a skirt will shorten up after blocking ( ugggggg ). Have not weighed it yet but feels about like any other build when swinging it up on the horse. Thanks for looking and feel free to critique it always helps on the next one. Billy

Good looking saddle! I like a ruff out saddle they just keep looking better and better over time. I always enjoy seeing your saddles, thanks for showing. Billy

Hi CW, Hand stitching takes more time that is for sure. I think the saddle stitch over time will out last a machine stitch, but hard on my hands. Thanks for taking a look.

Oltoot, It is very obvious you have lots of experience and bring up some great points about saddles. Sure appreciate that----- Billy

Hi Rod and Denise! You two always have great stuff to read and think about--- Thank you. Regards Billy

Nice job Bob! Just saw it for the first time. Making saddles for kids---- just makes you feel good inside . Regards Billy

Thank you Joel. The tree was byJon W.----- it is one of his fiberglass and epoxy incased wades with 93 degree bars with 4 inch hand holds, 4 inch cantle and 16 inch seat . Saddle was just a little wide for this colt, but starting a colt in a new saddle was not the best choice. The fleece needed sometime to compress. Most of the four days where spent doing ground work with two short rides. Conchos are by a fellow named Gordy Alderson in Tucson. WC leather Tin seat this time, did it like Dale Harwood in his DVD accept without his skill The rigging/fork cover was challenging! Lots of leather if I messed it up ( got lucky ) went on straight true and even and pulled down tight. Not a real traditional look for a Wade but just had to get this idea on a build out of my system. Back Billets are temporary until I finish sewing the pair that I will put on final, the ones in the pictures are single ply just done quickly so I could get this horse started. Regards Billy

Finally made a saddle for myself My sewing machine went postal, so I did this saddle one stitch at a time by hand. Sewing skirts by hand is quite the project. When I took these pictures I had just finished 4 days of starting a colt. The Front Rigging, Back rigging and Fork cover are all out of 2 peices of leather laminated and sewed to make a Flat Plate rigging. Critique is always welcome, Thanx Billy .

Keith I found myself looking at your saddle again and again and........ You get the picture. One big question--- How did you sew the skirts/rigging? ( All by hand ) Your Uni Saddle is so cool !!! Regards Billy

Hey CW, I Like the saddle! Seeing more " Seat Rigs " these days. Good job. Regards Billy Hey JW !

Thank you Keith! I am so glad that you responded before starting ( My New Saddle ). First thing I am going to change is putting the Rigging in before the Ground seat. I think this will help me a lot! Your reasoning is so true. Thanx Now I understand what you meant about the Rear Jockey. The Side Jockey looked so right when I was cutting it out, but when I finished the saddle I new it was to long, just could not get the courage to try and trim at that point. Thank you for the link, I will get a Block Shave very soon. My wife has a little extra bounce in her step. She made enough to cover all her fees and even pay for desiel to and from and buy me lunch! Have a safe trip to Elko and I sure appreciate your help. Billy

Hi Keith, First let me say thank you for taking the time to look at my Mule saddle! Boy you do not miss a thing. Actually I think you where pretty kind in your evaluation. I totally agree with you on all your suggestions. So much to learn when trying to make a good saddle. If you don't mind---- I have a couple of questions. - What is a Block Shave? One thing for sure is I need to be more particular on my edges. - How much length do you figure on the back of the Skirt? - Should I have dropped the back rigging to give more curve to the Back Jockey or just gone over the Back Billet? - Fender shape to me is always challenging. The fellow I built this saddle for had a 27 inch inseam and he was 5' 7 inches tall. Absolutely no thigh bone---- every shape I tried looked like a little kids saddle. How do you determine shape for a particular saddle? Again thank you for your time, and I appreciate you pasting my saddle on your thread, people get to see a Masters saddle a novice saddle maker and see where to start from and where you might end up at. I was a little slow to respond back to you, I have been helping my better half at the Stock Show with her events. Regards. Billy

Hey Adam, That is a beautiful Tree! Work of art that would look great hanging on my wall .

Oltoot, I started this horse at 5 yrs old. He changed considerably from 5 to present day. Maybe he is just a late bloomer, kinda like me . Regards Billy

I think there will always be different opinions on saddle fit and saddle tree fit and how to go about it. For me----- I enjoy these disscusions, gives me things to think about on my next saddle. Here is something to ponder. How old should the Mule or Horse be before you have a Custom Tree and or Saddle built? My little story----- I started a 5 year old gelding in the summer of 2012. I am not a great horseman yet ( working hard on that ). He has been a real challenge for me to get him coming along. The saddle I started with fit very well on his back. This summer I had great opportunities to ride on a fairly large ranch and work some cows. I figured that he had done most of his growing. Boy was I wrong, not only did he grow taller but his confirmation changed a lot. Bigger shoulders and his back also change some. Long story short the saddle we started with does not fit well any more. New saddle being started this month.

Wishing everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

Hi Keith, Sorry --- should have been more specific, it is titled Mule Saddle , about 15 posts down on the page.