barra

As well as being the Cowboy capital of the world, Oakdale ca must also be the weird food festival capital of the world.

I'm having what my California buddies call a barn Margarita. Sauza tequilla and they use squirt. I'm using an Australian soda called solo. very refreshing. Barra

Just testing time settings

When I have in the past had similar arrangements with local saddleries I would never accept them charging me at all. What I was doing was providing THEM, the saddlery a service by in effect bringing in extra people into their store. People would go to their store because they knew they could get their saddlery repaired there. Invariably while the customer is in store either dropping off or picking up they would browse and often buy something even if it was a cake of saddle soap or a curry comb that would not have been sold if not for the fact the customer went there for the repair. As for an hourly rate, I think a lot depends on where on the globe you live but personally I would not get out of bed for 12.50 an hour. Just my 2 bobs worth. Barra

http://www.militaryhorse.org/studies/mcclellan/ This shows the evolution through the years. Barra.

Tonyc1. Good question. I will investigate further. One reason I can think of is you have to withdraw the rifle from the bucket to dismount. While this was an official part of the mount/dismount drill, I can see how on operations and in practice this would be a pain. The Aussie soldier being well Aussie might have gone, stuff this for a joke.Also If thrown with the rifle still in the bucket your up s hitter's ditch. So I guess some blokes just found it easier to sling it. If you go to the australianscreen link and click on the why we fight caption you will see the segment from 40 000 horsemen of the column in the desert. Bear in mind the guys used for those scenes were real inter wars Lighthorsemen. 6th LH Regiment I think. Most of them have the rifle slung. Barra

Twinoaks. Funny you mention that. All I got after the sitting was a polaroid photo of the finished work and it was in colour and had other horses charging in the back ground. The mystery yet to be solved is why has this version appeared. Luke Hately. Barra, good bit of information, thanks for sharing..... one of my favorite movies is "THE LIGHTHORSEMEN" THEM WAS SOME KINDA BLOKS ! A couple of little bits of trivia stem from your post. The Army Officer who asked me to contact Ms Edkins was our Company 2IC, Capt. Hately. The Lighthorsemen was originally going to be made around 1983 ish. I was contacted by Mr. Simon Wincer who was the producer off the top of my head and asked If I wanted to be the movies official Saddler. I was in a Cavalry Regiment at that time and had developed a decent knowledge of Lighthorse equipment. Simon Wincer went on to do a lot of horse related movies like Lonesome Dove, Crossfire trail, Comanche moon, Quigley down under and Phar Lap. I think money issues stopped Lighthorsemen in 83 and when they finally got to make it they no longer wanted an official Saddler. There lieth my only chance to get my name on the big screen gone. My mate got his name in the credits as he was the technical advisor. I was however in the movie as an extra. The Lighthorsemen was the 2nd telling of the Lighthorse story that focused on the Beersheba charge. The original was 40 000 Horsemen, released in 1940. I have attached a clip from that movie that is the charge scene. I still think it is well filmed considering it's age. http://australianscreen.com.au/titles/fort...horsemen/clip3/ I might fire up my Lighthorsemen DVD for old times sake. Barra

I'd be inclined to seek advise from someone at a museum who specialised in leather restoration. Simply slopping on saddle soap and leather dressing could do more harm than good. IMO you should be aiming to stem further deterioration so that it looks the age it really is and not ruin it with a modern re build. This will destroy it's true value. Does It look something like this? http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=1183

I have been looking for a copy of this painting for 22 years and finally found a link last night. It is called the lighthorseman and is by an Australian artist called Cathleen Elizabeth Edkins. She studied under one of Australia's official war artists from WW1, H Septimus Power and both artists specialised in horses. The reason I am excited about finding a copy of the Lighthorseman is because I was the model for the portrait. I had to sit on a UP (Military/Trooper) saddle lashed to a 44 Gal drum with my arm outstretched for hours. http://www.artnet.com/Artists/LotDetailPag...57C43958FC48716 Some of H Septimus Power's work http://images.google.com/images?q=h%20sept...sa=N&tab=wi Barra

Any good to you??? Barra http://www.archive.org/stream/decorationofleat00rcrich

This was brought up in the Sept challenge post. I thought it might be good for grins and giggles to have a seperate post. Up there on my list is the artificial leg for a pet chook (chicken). I'm sure it only prolonged the time it took to get it into the soup pot. Closely followed by the doggy diaper for an old incontinent dog. Barra

You could also try Eucalyptus oil. Barra.

Kate. Your pretty well on the mark. I am impressed. http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-help/faq.htm Barra.

I'll chuck this one out there. Someone ridiculed the singer for supporting the troops so in true Aussie fashion she stuck it up em. P.S. A digger is an Australian soldier. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer..._type=&aq=f Always good for a look Barra

Siegals of California used to have them but I notice they are currently not stocking them. They do have pricking irons though? abbey in the UK has them http://www.abbeysaddlery.co.uk/product_detail.cfm?id=FA021 Barra

You might also try the plastic sheets you run thru an office laminator. Available from any office supply or the office supply section of Walmart etc. Barra

Wolvie. Are you fishing for the term VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). Barra

We use a fair amount of contact cement on Aircraft panels. To dissolve the old contact cement and to thin it we use toluene. It can be found in the paint section of most hardware stores with other solvents. Refer to the MSDS. Barra

Tonc1. I'd be sceptical on the sizes as this book is the 1907 edition. Good starting point tho. The sizes could be checked on a modern day horse and adapted accordingly. Barra.

I used have a copy of this book but it went west along with other stuff in a deceased estate auction (long story). Kanga's Harness question sent me on a search. I found it a handy little resource years ago and I'm happy to have found this link. An interesting little read is the section that has some quaint old fashioned recipes used by harness makers years ago. If I could go back in time for 5 min, I'd buy that Pearson # 6 for 30 pounds. On second thought, I'd buy 10. http://www.archive.org/stream/harnessmakersgui00offi Barra P.S. After I posted I then went to the main site. There are lots more items to browse thru. I just did a earch under saddlery and another under harness

Kanga. Work out where on the shaft they are going and also the length each leather needs to be. Measure the circumference of the shaft where the leather is going to start. Take more measurements of the circumference at various points along the way. You could then transfer your measurements to something like a cardboard weet bix box to make a crude template. The thickness of the shaft will vary so you wont have a rectangle leather but it will be a tapered shape. As for getting them tight. They are cut a poofteenth smaller than your template so that when stitched on wet the tightening of the stitches will draw the edges together and thus tighten them. MOST times they are stitched on wet so that when they dry they shrink nice and tight. How much smaller to cut the leather will depend on the leather you use. I would get a little scrap of the intended leather, say about 2 " wide X the circumference of the shaft. Cutt say about 1 1/8th smaller and herring bone on. If it closes up easily you have probably nailed your measurement. Have a look at the actual cart/jinker/sulky/gig and see how the old ones were attached. A more informed decision on attaching them can then be made. Barra

Kanga. I hope this helps. If you look at the pic of the sulky you can see the brown leather along the shafts. The most common method of attchment I have seen in Australia using the types of leather Awharness mentions is to stitch them on with a herringbone stitch on the under side of the shaft. The ends are folded under so you don't have raw edges. If you look directly under the dash board (rounded blue board with the metal work around the edge) you will see what is known by many varients. Commonly in Australian circles it is known as a swingle tree. This has hooks on the ends for attaching the traces. Traces are the long straps that attach to the horses pulling device, that being either a collar and hames or breast collar. They then run along the shafts and have slots punched at the sulky end for attachment to the hooks on the swingle tree. The shafts are held up on the horse via shaft tugs (the leather ring you refer to). See pic 1. Barra

Bruce. How much space do you have available? I don't like to fold any of my chap weight leather thus avoiding crease marks. I have mine rolled up on broom sticks and they sit on end in a plastic garbage bin. What I would like, space permitting is a rack like I have at work to store our rolls of canvas, vinyls etc. Ours has the rolls again standing up on end and each roll sits up against the wall. The top of the wall has a wooden bar with rods coming out to compartmentalise the rolls and to hold them in place. Let me see if I can find a similar picture. Barra

I find Off cut vinyl flooring like lino useful for making patterns/templates. You can pick up off cuts from flooring stores very cheaply if not free. It is stiffer than thin and flimsy stretch vinyl sold in most fabric stores. Barra

Try Gum/spirit of/oil of Turpentine A sticky oleoresin which exudes from Pinus spp. trees. t. oil — commercial extract from turpentine used as a solvent for waxes and varnishes. Please be aware that this is not the usual 'mineral' turpentine commonly used to clean paint brushes but gum turpentine is still common in most hardware stores. Barra