AdamTill

Great job on the saddle! Looks like it was ton of work, but nicely executed. oltoot - though I get where you're coming from, for a "western dressage" saddle you'd want to allow some rearward stirrup movement, because they often have to drop their legs back to cue their horses. Most dressage riders are fussy enough about stirrup movement being restricted in general moving from english saddles. As for being impressed about riding WD in a bosal, I wouldn't get too excited. I don't know the person in question, but if it's anything like these...people...they're just dressage riders playing dressup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLslhXR1uwY Everything about this video is an english rider having no idea how to use a bosal. Ride like this never letting the heel knot drop and you're asking to get a colt running through the bosal. You'd never make a colt like this, so these are just dressage horses where the tack has been swapped. Likewise riding curb bits two handed on contact. The rules actually REQUIRE contact at all times however, which is a fundamental flaw in the whole concept. They're bringing eductation to all us unwashed western masses though lol The whole "sport" is a bit of a mixed up mess right now IMHO.

It's price of getting there from Canada that's the kicker

If only the economy wasn't in the pits around here...those look great!

Thanks to you too Ron, and for the critiques too - always want to learn how to do things a little better! >First, the placement of the saddle on the horse appears that it is sitting back a little. Your latigo does not appear to be >aligned straight up and down. Here's a better photo showing the tree: http://www.easphotography.com/Carly/NewSaddle/8.png I'm not a firm believer that the latigo has to be vertical, since that's not always the shortest distance between the cinch ring and the saddle rigging. The latigo should be perpendicular to the underline of the horse, but if the underline doesn't parallel the ground, that can put the latigo at an angle. I honestly can't remember if we moved the saddle after the photos, but I'll check where it ends up next time we go out to ride. Also see: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=295408770503673&id=100001036569365&set=a.171624229548795.36485.100001036569365&__tn__=C >Re: Second, I don't understand the rear girth idea. I've only seen two girths used on pack saddles, then they were attached >together and not at the normal girth/flank cinch offset. If you're going to be roping, you have to secure your rear >off-billet so it doesn't get caught in your loop. Yours is just hanging there. It's quite an old style of doing things, but here's an example if you look at the 1892 saddle: https://books.google.ca/books?id=IaN-YaOMhX4C&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=1892+stock+saddle&source=bl&ots=Jy8_qebUm9&sig=CpGKNKnAcTflU9plmGhXu48Rzac&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lAmIVePPB8fxoASl94-QBQ&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=1892%20stock%20saddle&f=false My wife hadn't finished her cinches yet, but the the final cinches will have keepers so the tails will be taken care of. I've also used a little 3/8" buckle and tail in the past to hook the free ends together. The advantage of this over a leather rear billet and girth is that you can run the rear snugged up all the time without restricting the horse, since the mohair gives a little bit. I'll be happy if she ever decides to rope anything, but it's a more sensible arrangement until that day comes about. On the world's bounciest Arab, it pays to keep the tail end of the saddle as much under control as possible. >your horn could be trimmed straighter up and down, and edged rounder, then burnished. This was a goof on my part. I ended up trimming the horn cap too close to my stitch line, so there wasn't a lot of leather available to round. I may end up redoing the cap later on as a result, but I was running out of time right now. >nd, your border needed the camo (or border stamp) stamped on the bottom like you did on your fork pattern. I added it to the fork beacause it seemed a bit empty without, but I can see what you mean. The skirts have the stitch line there, but I could have run the border stamp on the seat since that's not lined. Thanks also for the note on the placement of the fork screw. I mimicked another saddle I had on hand, but I'll keep your thoughts in mind for next time. Thanks again! Adam

Hi Bob, thanks tons! I got a good feel for that with the binding even though I ended up hiding it, and the horn stitch line came out well. I'll be doing an exposed stitch line on mine since I think I'll end up with a really narrow cheyenne roll, so we'll see how it goes. This project, while fun, was under a little bit of a time crunch because it was needed for a riding competition, so I didn't want to risk messing up a large area like the seat. Thanks for the tips though, I'll keep them in mind for the next go.

Thanks Ron! The theory is that a flatter seat restricts your seating position less, though I've ridden some seats with a decent rise that still allowed a balanced position. Interestingly enough I'm now going to have to build a set of bucking rolls because the dressage saddle my wife normally rides is more restrictive than this one and she finds it a bit unnerving lol

Hi Randy, Sorry, forgot to get a closeup, but there's not much to see. It's a Horseshoe Brand rigging D sandwiched into the skirt with a fairing plug, and held on by a couple of copper rivets. Is there something in particular you wanted to see? Basically done like this: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16313#entry179809 The saddle is entirely hand stitched, I don't own a sewing machine yet.

Thanks folks, but man I'm going to break some hearts from the sound of it when I say I sold that Icelandic to a friend. He really wanted to be a trail horse more than a rope horse, and they're happily tolting the trails of northern Alberta together. Billy, I cheated a little on the cantle binding with the eustachian pins. I didn't want to try an exposed stitch line the first time out, so this was a nice way to cover that up. The binding was getting a little thick too, so it saved a layer of leather to go through. I also really wouldn't want a 15hh Icelandic, honestly. They're wide horses on average, and I couldn't sit on that guy at 14 hh bareback for any length of time without my hips hurting. Even in a saddle (which need a lot of build up leather to get a narrow enough seat) it was tough to ride with relaxed legs due to the width of the horse. Now if my current 14hh horse was 15hh I'd be thrilled, but he's a lot narrower and a HECK of a lot easier to fit a tree to. I like the little ones though - turn on a dime if they're set up for it correctly. Stressed out over hobble training (photo credit to Lee McLean):

Hi Ron. You're right in that I have another one started, but this is the first one is the first I've finished. The other is on hold because I ended up selling the horse it was intended for. I have a third Rod Nikkel tree that I'm going to build off before I go back and finish the first one to sell off (neither of the horses we own fit it anymore, the tree is very wide). Yes to in-skirt rigging. Going to be running two mohair cinches, so no leather flank cinch. My wife is weaving her cinches right now, so these in the photos are very temporary. Seat is based off a 10 3/8" thigh length, and the tree was made for this horse. It's seeming to sit a little nose down right now because the shearling needs packing down a lot. The tree bars have some accommodations for the short saddle fitting zone on Arabs, and seems to work pretty well so far.

Hi folks, Due in large part to the info on this site, I finally finished (99% or so of the way) my first saddle this week. Still needs stirrup twist wraps and hobbles and a little cleaning and conditioning. I would have preferred a mule hide horn wrap, but since this was for my wife, it had to match the seat leather (she won't really be roping out of it). The line of the fork shows though the seat a little in an attempt to keep the rise as low as possible, but the shape seems to ride really nicely. Rod Nikkel tree, Steve Mason silver. Any tips or honest criticisms greatly appreciated. Thanks! Adam

Would love to see the rest eventually! I'm just finishing up my first western saddle, but I know my wife would love it if I could do her up a new dressage saddle as well. Much tougher for Joe Average to get the trees required though, plus then there's the black art of stuffing panels Thanks for posting!

No problem, nows the time for lots of cheap sketches rather than expensive leather Here's another option that I noticed with a quick search. Same general look, but the rear rigging is separate from the front. https://dennisranch.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/100_2291.jpg

I'm no expert by any stretch, but I don't think you're going to be able to have your rear rigging ring on top of the edge of the tree bar like that,. The leather will be wanting to follow the curved top line of the bar, and if you're not willing to pound the rigging ring into the same curve, it will tend to stick out a bit. As an aesthetic thing too, the straight rear rigging lines don't compliment the curved skirt line. Nothing functional at issue, but it's just a suggestion. Good luck!

I've seen this brought up before, and the only thing suggested as being chemically safe to put in their mouths has been rawhide (even then, not sure I'd do it). People have reacted to the tanning chemicals handling leather, never mind chewing on it.

Rod and Denise made me a nice Bowman tree with a large wood post horn. There were a few changes required to balance to look of the fork (stock and gullet thickness), but I don't foree and problems building on it. I had the same thought as you - like the slick forks, but wanted something to ride jumpy horses in the mountains on.