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Ben

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Everything posted by Ben

  1. Tom, This is a good opportunity for you to add some leather to the ground seat and see/feel the difference. If you don't like it take it out and start over. I think you should use your imagination, and just jump in here. If you have a saddle that you like see if you can duplicate the seat. Building a ground seat from a metal stainer or an all leather ground seat is completely different but here you can get some experience with leather placement, skiving, and feel. Ben
  2. Cowboy B,ill I use a tubing cutter to cut the 3" spacer down to 2 5/8" . Once the bolt is tightened down cut off with a hacksaw and peen with hammer. Ben
  3. bjr Here is a link on this forum discussing setting the rigging so that is is correct once the completed saddle sits on the horse. http://leatherworker...h=1 You have to scroll up to get to the beginning of discussion. Ben
  4. jdwintx I made a jig to shape the gussets for a saddle bag I made. The gusset is 4/5 oz lining leather. I wet the gusset , formed it around the jig, put plywood backers on front and back and clamped the edges till dry. I took the plywood backers off and glued the panels one at a time. Pulled out the jig and hand sewed but seems a machine would work at this point. Hope this gives you more ideas. Ben
  5. When I built my 3rd saddle I lined it with 1" bark tanned shearling from Bowden. I completed it and started riding it in the middle of March. The shearling was packed down the middle of June. I put on 300-400 miles of trail riding and I think that would correspond to around 100 hours of riding. Ben
  6. Lonnie, Great looking saddle. Lots of really paying attention to detail. Ben
  7. Lonnie, I think that if you block your skirt in the rear such that the rear jock lays down on it the entire assembly will follow the rock of the bars which will in turn follow the back of the horse. Here are a few pictures that might help in the discussion. Ben
  8. Lonnie, I have only made a few saddles but here goes. You want to block the rear of your skirt such that when you install your rear jockeys they cover the rear bars, tugs, and lay down nicely on the skirt. If you do not have enough rise you will have a space between your skirt and rear jockey. This space is not pleasing to the eye and also leaves an avenue where stuff can get up under the jockey. Ben
  9. Clay, A couple of thoughts. I think the wool liner's primary purpose is ensure the saddle stays in place on the horses back once the saddle lays in the natural place it is destined to be per the horse's conformation. Secondary function is to provide a little padding. If you friend is not adjusting the saddle every run and the horse tells him the latigo liner works, then either this horse is an exception or maybe we are learning something new here. Like many things this is probably only new to us at this particular time. Ben
  10. Seveneves, Here is a picture of how I did it. I skived the rigging extension coming around under the gullet down to zero, glued, and sewed. The inside stitch is the rigging to the skirt. The outside stitch is the sheep skin and the rigging sewn to the skirt. Ben
  11. Horsegirl, Making adjustments to the bottom of a tree is not a good idea, it is like sticking your finger into a balloon, it affects the rest of the aspects of the tree. I am thinking you will be better off to try some different padding. Has you horse lost weight and the withers are more narrow? Some pictures would be helpful. Ben I
  12. Ben

    Angled Stirrups

    mwcondit, Try this website: http://www.saddletre...roduct_list&c=1 Ben
  13. Alan, Looks clean and sharp. Great work. Ben
  14. Mike, Your picture is how I made the inskirt rig for a trail saddle I built. It worked very well. Jon Watsabaugh was my inspiration. He has posted on inskirt rigging here on the forum. Here are some links. http://leatherworker...?showtopic=1235 http://leatherworker...showtopic=18136 Ben
  15. Billy, After I field tested my first saddle I had to go back and reshape the ground seat. If you check some of the previous posts most rookies do not carve enough out of the ground seat. Mine was to high in the front and not leveled off enough in the rear. I had ridden it a year before I bit the bullet and redid it. I soaked the seat with water as much as possible, even though I had oiled with neats foot oil, to soften up the leather. This helped to keep from getting that cracked look all over as you pry it off. My contact cement job turned out more than adequite. I used thin nails to line up my cantle stitch holes as I put it back together and was able to sew everything through the same holes. I plugged the the fork screw holes in the tree with carved pine sticks and glue, used the same hole through the seat. I used the same latigo string holes. If the adjustment is only needed in the front you maybe able to just roll the seat back tie it up and carve out what you need. Might as well figure it's a used repaired saddle after you get done. My rides much nicer now and was well worth doing over. Ben
  16. Darcy, That saddle is absolutely beautiful!!! Thanks for posting pictures and always sharing with us great pointers. Ben
  17. JW Looks like your saddles just get better and better!! Ben
  18. Thanks CJF and Alan for the feed back. I didn't have any plugs in when I rubbed the seat down. I will keep that in mind next time. Thanks again, Ben
  19. Mike Thanks for the feedback. I will have to work on that transition from the top of the seat down towards the skirt and stirrup leather. Ben
  20. This is my second saddle. Jon Watsabaugh inspired the in-skirt rig. I would like to thank everyone who makes this site a possibility and all those who contribute to it. Any suggestions as I go the third would be appreciated. Thanks, Ben Knickerbocker
  21. I jump in here as a rider and a builder of one saddle for myself but looking to learn all I can. Greg mentioned drawings by Will James. I have a few Will James books my uncle gave me years ago when I became interested in horses. My two Spanish Mustangs, from the Brislawns, http://www.spanishmustang.org look very similar to the horses Will James illustrates in his books. When I lope my striped back grulla over rolling prairie he wants me as far forward toward his withers as I can get. My feet just touching the stirrups and my butt never in contact with the cantle. He is happy to go for miles like this. However, if we are going north and need to slide to a stop and pivot to go east I have to lift rein, slide back to the cantle, let him stop, raise his front, pivot, and head out again. I move back up toward his withers and he is happy. If we are going down gullies then weight back to the rear. My other horse, covering the same country, very similar in build, doesn't like me up there and prefers my weight more toward the cantle. Riding the horse is always a dynamic enterprise, I would think any conclusions with respect to tree, saddle fit, and horsemanship must be drawn from rider and horse in motion. Appears to me there are many many variables in a human navigating the country or arena from the back of a horse. Luckily for all the different tasks that we want to perform from the back of a horse there are plenty of varied makers to build the equipment needed. Ben Knickerbocker
  22. Jon, Thanks for posting the pictures. I have been thinking of doing and in skirt rigging on my next saddle and your help here is very appreciated. Thanks again, Ben
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