Denise

Looks good Justin! How many saddles have you built now, if you don't mind my asking?

Chris, Here are some instructions to help post pictures. If I can do it, so can you! And I'd like to see more of your work! http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=15122 Denise.

Thanks Keith. I know good saddle makers go to a lot of trouble to get the rigging in straight. It can be hard for a saddle buyer to know for sure but it is good for people to have some idea how to check it out.

Keith, Can you explain how you would check to see if rigging is symmetrical?

Bruce, Very nice! I'm glad it has gone to someone like you who will not only appreciate it for it's history, but use it as it was intended. The best of both worlds!

Seveneves, I fixed the link to Rawhider's tutorial. I don't know if your question is answered in there or not, but at least now you can find it!

Could you post a picture of the RCMP stamp on the front of the cantle? It would be fun to see and then some of the people who know about these things might be able to tell if it is authentic or not.

It will be great to meet you too Joe. And no, all that are coming with us will be finished. A holiday from pounding trees!! (primarily for Rod)

The end with a rasp could be used as a float, a rasp to file down the sharp points on a horse's teeth. No idea what the other end is so it may or may not be an old dental instrument for horses.

Sound like a fun project! If you google images or look on You tube you can find people riding camels, ostriches, elephants and I am sure other creatures. I am attaching a picture of a group of camel riders from the middle east. The camel third from the back you can see their version of a saddle the best. At least it helps in understanding why they aren't sliding off the back end! The basics of fitting any animal are 1.) Where can you physically put a rider that will let them sit? Riding a winged horse may be interesting. Do you sit in front of the wings or behind them? Riding ostriches has the same question and people answer it different ways, from the pictures at least. 2.) Where can you physically put a rider that the animal can support? There are pictures and carvings from throughout history of people riding horses all the way from sitting on the rump to sitting on the withers. I have seen elephants ridden with a "saddle" in the middle of their back but when ridden bareback, the rider is right behind the head often. 3.) Whatever you design as a "saddle" doesn't have to look like what we think of as saddles. Even horse saddles have a huge variation over the years and in different cultures. The only "rule" you have to worry about is that you can't interfere with the movement of the animal. So strapping something around legs isn't a good idea. 4.) If your plot involves people (or whatever) riding for long periods of time, you probably want to make the saddle have more surface area on the animal and not be tiny. Too small ends up with higher pressure and that will harm the animal if it is there for a long time. Have fun! To answer your specific question, saddles are made by many specifications, some applying to the horse and some to the rider. But they are also sold in generic "sizes". Nothing is standard. To get some specifics on what saddle and tree makers talk about, check out the "Getting the Right Saddle for the Horse" section. Here's one thread that talks about a lot of it. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=12763&st=0#entry4452

CD, Sounds like you are about as computer literate as I am, but you enjoy it more...

Johanna, no more updates that I can find. I did update it a couple times over the last 3 years or so. I do have IE 8 already. Do those updates come with the windows ones or do you have to go somewhere else to find them? Thanks Ben. I don't think I need this since I don't search on my computer much and things are pretty slow. How do I turn it off? Regarding the computer being slow: On start up, this thing has always, from day one, taken a while to start up (I guess they all do) and the last thing before it is up to full speed is the computer screen goes black for 2 -3 seconds. This would be about 1 -2 minutes after I turned it on. Then it works fine. This is actuallly a replacement computer because the first one of this type that we bought did the same thing. Everyone wondered what was happening but since this one is the same, we (and the store) figured it had something to do with the type of computer and the video card or something like that. Anyway, these last few days it hasn't done the black out thing till it has been on for 5+ minutes. It is taking that long to boot up now. And the programs are taking longer to come up when I start them up too. I have AVG 9.0.791, Adaware 8.2.1 and Malwarebytes 1.44 and they all say everything is OK. Any ideas? Thanks for the serious answers. More helpful, but not as much fun as CD's.

Hmmm. That gives me some ideas. Maybe it is indexing the number of snowflakes yet to melt before the first mosquito comes out... Or the number of trees in our backyard. Or maybe the number of leatherworkers on LW.net. And cataloguing them into the categories of what they make, crosslinking them between categories then figuring out if geographical location affects leather working output... The possibilities are endless! So why is it MY computer that wants to do these things???

We recently got high(er) speed intenet so I was able to update my computer. So... now it runs much slower than it used to. Anyway, one of the changes is that a little magnifying glass has appeared at the bottom right of the screen. This morning it was flashing so I right clicked and it said it was Windows Indexing. WHAT in the world is indexing and why is it doing it???? Thanks from the "I hate computers, I just want them to work" Denise

Richard, if they allow Canadians that far south, I'll bet they allow Cajuns that far north! It will be good to meet up with you again.

Who is your audience? Are they people who give out embossed cards with raised print? Then that is what they expect a "quality" business to do. Are you headed for a more "artisitic" audience? The the cards should have a more "artistic" flair. Are they more "practical"? "Why waste your money on fancy cards? I just need to know you phone number!" Then you should have plainer cards with the information in a plain font. Matching the card to the customer's expectations would be the most important. Finding that out is the trick.

Knut, maybe it is a guy thing. I personally prefer our car, though I probably put more miles on the truck than Rod does. I'm the one who gets to drive to the nearest larger center (3 hour round trip) and pick up fresh (as in "it was holding the bull together this morning") hides. You can't do that with a car which is the main reason we need a truck. But first I do the big grocery shopping, the "pick up all the things I can't get in our small town" shopping, and all the other errands I have to do when I'm in the city. And for those things, the truck is a pain! There is no where near as much room to put the groceries. The corners of the truck are too far away from me so it is that much harder to see where they are, and it is tough to park in a parking lot, even out here where they are used to a lot of trucks. I can't imagine how hard it would be driving a full sized pick up in places that weren't built for them! I like the ability to zip in and out of places with the car much easier. But then, like I said, it's probably a guy thing...

Insurance is definitely mandatory. You get in MAJOR problems if you get caught driving without it. But as a farm vehicle, our truck costs less than half what our car does. And no, we don't register or insure our "pasture truck" that only gets driven in the summer around our place. It is not legal on the road at all.

I just wanted to clarify here. 1.) The gallery and the directory are two different things. The directory lists your contact information and what you make in categories that make it easy for potential customers to find. It links to your website, etc. so they can click directly to see your own site. The gallery is a place to put up pictures to show others what you can do. If you don't have a website or it is difficult to change, it is a great place to refer potential customers to see your work. 2.) There are no fees for members of LW.net who are selling finished leather goods via the directory with a regular ad. After all, one of the main ideas behind LW is "to keep leatheworkers from needing day jobs" and to help us with our businesses. The free directory listings for leatherworkers is another service LW.net gives to members. If you want more exposure for your work, you can upgrade, for a fee, to get your ad featured with a banner or on the side bar. 3.) There is a charge to suppliers for advertising in the directory. They are selling TO leatherworkers, and it is an advantage to them to list here where their target audience is. It is fees from these ads that keep LW.net afloat and keep Google ads from appearing on its pages. 4.) Citizen Kate's blog http://leatherworker...n=blog&blogid=5& gives easy to follow instructions to make your directory listing. Start at the first entry, which is on the bottom of the page. And if you stil can't figure it out, PM Kate. She gives good help. If I can do it, anyone can! Is this information all correct, Johanna and Kate?

Thanks for the help. I got the e-mail sent fine, and now I know why I don't have a Junk box too. Learn something every day, and sometimes I even remember it the next day!

I realize this is probably very simple, but I don't have a teenager or a 10 year old around to ask, so I will try here. Question #1 - How do I send an e-mail to multiple people without them all seeing each other's addresses? I know there is a way. I just don't know what it is. Question #2 - Some people have told me that our new e-mail address has gone into their OE Junk box. I'm working out that with the server, but I don't have a Junk box in my OE and I want one. What setting do I need to change so I can see what OE is removing from my Inbox if I want to? Please type slowly and in simple, non-computerese so I can understand this. Thank you in advance for your answers. PS. I know there are probably much better programs to get my e-mail from than OE, but I know this one, I can use it, and change is hard...

Your best bet would be pictures. If people see it they are more likely to recognize it. Directions for posting pictures can be found here: http://leatherworker...showtopic=15122

Apparently free doesn't always mean free, as someone else using the "freeware" from the site you posted found out. Maybe best to read all the small print first. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=22200&st=0&p=142253&fromsearch=1entry142253

Joe, here is a thread on how to post pictures here. It would be great if you could get pictures up. I think it would really help a lot of people understand more of what you are saying. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=15122

Neat saddle Ken. Thanks for the pictures! Glad you got them posted here OK.