RichardCollmorgen

Just thought that I would ask. My brother is looking for a good used ranch/roping saddle for his daughter. About a 13" seat, high cantle, on a tree with some swell to the fork. Maybe a Modified Association. She rides a 15+ Appendix type Quarter Horse. Thanks, Richard

Beautiful.

I've covered a couple of rope cans and three goat string cans for nieces and nephews. I just work out a pattern that fits the diameter of the lid. After it is carved and finished I scuff the lid with sandpaper and use barges to glue the leather to the lid. I also replace the factory nylon strap with a leather one carved with a matching pattern. The are fun projects. Good luck.

Looks great. Who was the treemaker?

Great work Bruce. I've done a couple of rope cans and some goat string cans for the nephew and nieces but no where near the level of your work. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the pic's Bruce. Is the doming of the head just for appearance or is there some mechanical reason behind it?

Thanks for the info. I think I'll look into the Bob Douglas set.

What technique do you use to dome and polish the head of the rivet?

Fabulous.

I planned on going but the wife's clutch went out last week. I'm jealous of what I missed.

I plan on going up on Friday and staying the night.

I just finished reading this months Western Horseman magazine and was happy to see a profile of forum member Alan Bell. Congrats Alan and thanks again for all of your input and advice.

I got a disc of steel about 1 inch thick and 12 inches in diameter from a local steel fabrication shop. They had several that were cut offs. They only charged a couple of dollars, although steel prices have really jumped up recently. I sanded the top very smooth and eased the edges and coated it with some neatsfoot oil. Works great. Like somebody else said, the low height makes it easy to hold work pieces in place.

I enjoy reading all of y'alls thoughts and comments. I've attached some photo's of my saddle made by Jay Nordley and my dad's old saddle that he calf roped on in the late '50's. It was made by Shirley Brown. The swell on my saddle is bigger than on the Shirley Brown and the cantle is a good bit higher. I really don't know what style of tree is in either of the saddles. The tree in the Shirley Brown is the second one in it. The saddle originally had a BIG duck bill horn in it. About 25 years ago my brother was starting to rope and my dad had Comal Saddlery replace the horn (kind of hard to dally around the duck bill). They found the tree cracked and wound up replacing the tree. My dad remembered a horse flipping in the trailer with the saddle. That's probably where it got cracked. Comal did a very good job. You really can't tell looking at the saddle that the work was ever done. I asked him about it and he said they charged him $340 to replace the tree, refleece it, restring it and clean it. If any of you can make any guesses what style trees these saddles have let me know.

Hi, I'm from East Texas and I'm trying to learn all that I can about saddle and tack making. I'd like to build some saddles someday for myself. I have been "lurking" in this forum for a while and I've learned a great deal from you all. I want to pose a question to you guys. My brothers and I team rope and train team roping horses and my nephew is becoming a pretty good junior calf roper. What would y'all look for in a roping saddle, team or calf roping. What kind of tree, rigging, any special features, etc.. I know that most of you ride and many of you probably rope so give me your opinions. I ride a 22 year old saddle by Jay Nordley with a double dee rigging. I'm not sure of the tree design.