Alan Bell

Susan, I've had a Wade saddle on my horses for years with no problems. Been raising and training them for about the same amount of time and have ridden some of similar breeding to what you've had. We also did an experiment and had Roeliff mount a horse using different saddles without cinching them on and he could easily mount on a Wade saddle built on a Warren Wright tree. The saddle sat in place and just "fit". Right now both Roeliff and Quinn are riding the saddles I built for them on a Warren Wright trees and they love them and I did not special order the trees to fit Spanish Mustangs and as a matter of fact Quinn trains TB race horses and on occasion puts the saddle I built on them too. Last I talked to them they were starting 20 colts both using the saddles I made for them along with a couple of Steve Mecum saddles. No sore backs, no white spots, no slipping, no overtight cinching. and as the occasion arises we rope with our Wades and still no problems. I have had problems with factory saddles fitting my horses but i suspect those saddles would not fit ANY horse well regardless of breed just because it is made with inferior material from the tree up! Before I built the saddles I put the bare tree on several of my horses and it fit them all fairly well. I'd imagine that just getting a tree from a custom builder would eliminate 90% of the problems you've had in the past with saddle fit. I'm sure if you get a tree from Rod and Denise things will go a lot better. I hope to be getting trees from the soon, too. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Vampire

Good Job, it looks great! Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Work

I'm sure that made sense to someone? Anyways, the twisted cores inside of tubes used to be what they shipped paper on too here in the States and that is what Duff Severe used to use for his bosal cores way back when. I believe there was a paper mill in Pendleton that they got the cores from. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Exodus

Howdy Troy, Beautiful Saddle, and now I know why your buddy Jay Gore told me I should look you up! I live in Greenville and Jay has made me some tools and is being very generous in helping me with my tooling. He has spoken very highly of you and told me you are one of the folks I should try and visit with. Now you've made the mistake of going public and made it easier for this leather stalker to find you!! I hope to get to visit with you about saddle making soon. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell - Bob Marley - No More Trouble

Holy Schmoly! All that's missing is a little arena dust and manure! Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Simmer Down

Barra, While you can use just about anything you want to make a bosal core you have to use rawhide to make a GOOD bosal core. It is the life in the rawhide that gives the bosal its life. There was a time in the 60's and 70's maybe even into the 80's when cable cores were popular in the States but they were being used by folks that didn't truly understand the subtlety of training with a good bosal with a rawhide core either twisted or braided. Not just my opinion. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Stop That Train

Hey Kevin, Looks great! As usual!! Are you using a braided core or a twisted one? And if it is braided are you doing layers or using chap leather for the size? Have you heard about the Bosal seminars the TCAA is doing? I've got to get the time to make some more string and braid up some Bosals so I'll have pics to post soon. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Work

Hey Mike, looks pretty good but it looks like your "gaucho" interweave is a little off. The pattern should still be an over two under two but there are some missed passes. Incidentally, the Argentines don't call that the " Gaucho" pattern and in fact don't really have a different name for the different interweaves. Bruce Grant applied those names to the knots he learned from his travels in Argentina. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Redemption Song

I had to go in my garage and dig out my copy of Grants book to answer that question and the answer is..... yes and no! This is the same as the start of what Bruce Grant is showing but after figure 2 ( of Cowboy knot in 'How to make Cowboy horse gear') you simply braid an over one/under one pattern the desired length. Grant is showing the spiral method and shows it to make a long button and for a noseband. I'm going to try and start using the spiral method just to add it to the things I can do but up till now I've used the braiding method for long knots. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Bend Down Low

CW, Before you start to braid you have one third the length on the right and two thirds on the left. You start the braid by taking the top strand and weave it through the other strands in an over one under one pattern then do that for all the strands until you must wrap the last strand around your core. From there you braid over one under one for the desired length. You turn back with the longer strands that were on the left and this makes the pairs, you should have the left side strands sticking out the left side and once you've made the pairs you will have those ends sticking out the other end. Do a turn back and split pairs from both ends working towards the middle and bury the ends as you go around the core. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry

That is the method I use. Yes it can be used for any long button. The other methods of tying long buttons are to either spiral the strings up and split the pairs down or to use one long string. With the braiding method your use 1/3 vs 2/3 on the 1st braid pass the you turn back the longer strands and follow a strand. Which strand you follow will be a factor in the type of finished braid (pineapple or gaucho). After this pass you have about equals lengths of string sticking out either end, so you turn those strands back toward the middle splitting pairs as you go. Which pairs you split is the other factor determining the braid type. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Stir it up!

Hey Mike, I think every braider should have a little box or something that they keep all those messed up knots and braids in. I was looking at mine and some of the stuff in there it is pretty obvious why I cut it off but there are some that are actually "not quite". There's a Cowboy poem about someone learning from their Dad the difference between a job well done and "not quite". I have a jar full of "not quite". Louis Ortega always said he took on very few students because he could hardly find anyone willing to cut up their work and start over if it was "not quite". Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Bad Card

Hey Rob, It is always better to cut your own lace. That way you can have complete quality control. Remember that it bevels on the flesh side. You can get your roo from Hidecrafters, TLF, or Tandy. I think there are resources in Australia but there are importing issues some of the whip platters can comment. Whip patters cut it in straight length mostly and braiders cut in spirals. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - I shot the Sheriff

Hey Mike, Rob was right you needed to finish the knot. You can get the knot tighter on the mandrel and there should not be any gaps between strands. You are developing a pattern and should try and correct it now. When tying knots and braiding there are so many knots and patterns and variations that it gets to be partially muscle memory so learning habits should start now. Even with the paracord your "v"s should be tighter and each leg of the v should be the same length. Look back at some of the other braiding in this post. You can go back and finish the knot on the mandrel if you can figure out where you left off before completing the knot, if you look just even with the top of the 3 on your mandrel there are two strands that are parallel running down from right to left that should have strand running up from right to left starting out between them. That is what I see in the picture. When you add the missing lace in your knot will be tighter but not too tight. You can go back and tighten a knot up by pulling the strand backwards and tightening as you go. It is great that you are trying different knots and using different materials to learn just make sure to not leave out he basics. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Trouble

Just got back home and snapped some pics of the tools I've covered. I haven't done any in quite a while so maybe I'll do some more soon. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Cap Fit

You can cut it to what ever width you want. make sure when you stretch it you get it stretched pretty tight. It needs to dry fairly slowly so preferably it is in a place where it receives a fair amount of shading. You will have to re wet it in order to make lace so you can re stretch it then to try and remove some of the curl. A lot of times it is the difference in the way the flesh side dries compared to how the grain side dries that causes it to curl (grain side dries faster and curls grain side in) Flesh the hide very well before cutting strips. Some braiders feel that in all the pulling through the splitter in order to even the thickness and remove all the flesh that enough stretching is done so they forgo stretching between fence post. Personal preference. Do it both ways and see what you think. Some also cut 2' - 3' diameter circles out of the hide instead of going around the whole hide that way they are not dealing with the differences between the thickness of the neck vs the flank vs the hip. Another factor is crossing the spine. Now a days a lot of cattle goes under the fly rubs and they now have a fly jell type that gets squirted onto the cows back along the spine. This gets absorbed by the skin and affects the hide along the spine. I think it ruins the hide along there and the string you get is terrible. If you were to cut strips out of the whole hide you will have places that are very weak and stretchy in your string so I cut large circles out of parts of the hide and I try and avoid the spine unless I know how the cattle was managed. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Caution

Hey Mike, Nice job. It's good to see you strike out and try braiding with smaller strings. I like the style of bracelet. Do you use a fid or a lacing needle?Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Pass it on.Hey Mike, Nice job. It's good to see you strike out and try braiding with smaller strings. I like the style of bracelet. Do you use a fid or a lacing needle?Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Pass it on.

"I see!" said the blind man! So moving the rigging position back pulls more evenly on the whole tree - this part I get. Won't moving the rigging back cause some people to cinch up where they are use to and in affect move the whole thing too far forward onto the withers? I guess I am thinking about a "not so well" made saddle tree where the relief built into the shape of the bar tips is little or almost not existent. And, it makes sense that the saddle will want to settle into the sweet spot with the shape of the bars and the horses back like cupping spoons and if the tree fits the cinch will not cause it to move out of position but can't the same "some people" cinch the saddle up in such a way that has the cinch working against the saddle finding it's sweet spot and a different rigging position would make that less likely to happen? Could this be part of the reason for some of the white spots on some horses? And does a cinch setting at an angle, though it may not pull the saddle out of the sweet spot, apply more pressure laterally and thus contribute to the white spot or at least a bit of discomfort for the horse kinda like me walking around with a belt that sat crooked around my waist? (I know... My belly won't allow this to happen but I'm speaking figuratively) Or wouldn't a person that rides more on the swells like a roper, riding on a full double cause more discomfort to the horse than if he was on a 3/4? because the full will already be putting more pressure on the withers and then the riders position compounds this. (My little pea brain get running on that stupid hamster wheel and it seems to never end). I was reading Martin Black's Western Horseman article and thinking about this post and wondering how any of the different rigging positions affect a persons ability to stay balanced i.e. what is the rigging position for a jockey that basically rides with all his weight leaned forward over the horses withers compared to what is most affective for say a cutter? compared to what is most affective for a roper or even a barrel racer. Are there rigging positions that work better for different disciplines? Correct me if I am wrong but David, don't you make a different seat for women? Would there be a different rigging position that would work better for women? (Must get off this hamster wheel!!!) Oh yeah, aren't the different rigging positions meant to move the saddle forward or backward on the horses back and if not then why the different positions? I know about the different roping style associated with center fire but then why full vs 7/8 vs 3/4 etc.? Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Bend Down

Some rigging considerations: First off you have to know the reason behind the different positions. Full puts the saddle as far back as it can go. Center Fire puts it as far forward as it can go. That being said you have to consider the tree bars. If full is considered to be positioned so that the center of the pull or cinch ring is in line with the widest part of the bar (which is usually in line with the center of the horn, but not always) then on any placement besides full you have to consider how much bar there is in front of the full position as this will eventually interfere with the horses shoulder movement. Also the shape of the rock and twist of your bars become a factor. There was a discussion when i first joined this forum about the "sweet spot" in relation to a center fire saddle. There are two sweet spots on the horse to factor in. 1) is the pocket on the withers 2) is the place where the girth settles. As Rod and Denise Nikkels point out "every tree maker does things differently" it is wise to get a tree and put it on the type of horse you think you or your customer will be riding the most if possible. Some saddle trees may work fine in the 5/8 position but because of the bar shape they will interfere with shoulder movement since they have more sticking out past the center of the widest part of the bar (or center of the horn). This is all irregardless of the type of rigging you use. As to types: Flat plate is widely considered to be the strongest but also adds the most weight to the saddle. A properly done in skirt is also considered to very strong but it has to be done properly so that the pull of the cinch is transfered up to the tree and not just on to the leather. All this being said for an all around ranch saddle to be used on many different horses some for ranch work I would consider looking at whether the tree I am considering will work in the 3/4 position. I would try and get it as far forward as i could because this will place the rider in a forward position keeping him or her better balance over the horses center of gravity. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bob Marley - Ride Natty Ride

I think this is where things get a little interesting. The Dorrances did all their measurements in 32'nds. In an earlier post someone mentioned how when you lace is running at 45 deg. angles it actually takes a little more than 8 x 1/8" strings to cover 1" in circumference. So the Dorrances would make their 1/8" strings actually be 5 or 6/32". The other thing is to adjust for stretch during the braiding. When you braid tight you can actually stretch a 6/32" strand so much that it becomes a 1/8' strand! Sharon Paulin has a string maker set up with a micrometer type dial to set the width for strings and for beveling edges. Once you bevel one edge and try to reverse the lace and bevel the other edge it is hard to keep the rawhide in the right spot to take off an equal amount beause the prior beveled edge is now the brace that sets the width but it has been weakened a little so she can dial it in a 32 of an inch to compensate. However you do it you will have to find a way to keep your strings consistent, your knots consistent and tight and to over compensate. Also try and find a way to make each strand slightly wider than the "standard" or use more strings or a smaller core! Vaya con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Jammin'

Ahh haa. This is where you get into the mathematics of braiding and where all the different patterns possible start to shape in the mind. the circumference of an 8mm rope is c = pi X r or c = 3.14159 x 8mm or c = 25.13272mm. I don't understand all of it but the knots are algorithms and if someone so desired they could create a computer program that would "invent" different knots! Oh, I guess GOD already did that! Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Natural Mystic

TwoCrow, Very good job on your interweave! You built a nice base or casa and then added the first interweave in and the second without distorting the first! If you keep doing that quality work you've got it made! I'm not at home so I don't have an pics of the tools I've done but I do have a pic of a noseband i did with different interweaves. Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell B0b Marley - Pass it on!

You have to braid kinda "over tight" when going over a core that will be bent or curved later on. Here's why; if you braid a length say 7 inches long and were to mark a line along the length on one side and then on the opposite side and place marks on it every inch. Then you come in to the 2 in and the 6 in mark so your dealing with an inch inside of each end or 5 inches point to point. Then you bend it say 30 deg. the inside length of 5 inches will in effect be shorter and the outside length of 5 inches will become longer to account for the curve point to point. This is also why we can bevel rawhide on the grain side because rawhide is inherently stronger than leather but the strength of both is in the grain side. Beveling reduces the amount of surface but with rawhide being a bit stronger this makes up for the reduced strength. You bevel leather on the flesh side. You are in effect stretching the outside of the curve and contracting the inside of the curve. On a bosal the inside contracting makes a flat spot that some (myself included) like to try and flatten a bit more. Reason being; it places more surface (of the bosal noseband) in contact with the bridge of the horses nose, thus making it a little more comfortable for the horse. While you want to braid everything you braid just about as evenly tight as you can get it on some items like a quirt braided over a core this is not a factor. Braiding tightly and evenly is however a sign of good work and also increases the life of the end product so it is a practical thing to do. Although I have never braided a whip in my mind the whip braiding will tighten itself with usage and braiding it super tight in the beginning may make it less flexible to begin with. Whip braiders, is this correct? Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Burnin' and Lootin'

Almost all of your braiding will turn out square if not braided around a core. 8 plait = 2 strands X 4 = 4 sides or square. 12 plait = 3 strands X 4 etc. rolling your braiding between two boards, pounding with a hammer, or pulling through a rounder are ways to take the corners of your square braiding and roll them over to make things round. All of these will "stretch" your braid with pounding doing it the least. If you roll it between boards it is better to have some pull on the length as you roll but this may put a spiral in. The Dorrances pounded their braiding to round it. Takes a while with a 60' - 70' ft. reata! Duff Severe always pulled his through a rein rounder. I've tried them all and pull most of my stuff through a rounder but you really have to make sure your rawhide is cased properly or you will distort the strands and ruin the project. Also your braiding has to be very tight over a core or it will slide and stretch and leave gaps! But, if it was easy everybody would be doing it because it makes you COOL! Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Lively Up

Nice job, Rob! Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell Bob Marley - Small Axe