Traveller

And yet you look so young!!! (Oh yeah, we all look young on the computer...). Congrats, Steve. That's quite an accomplishment. Joanne

I'm not a saddle maker and never will be but I do have 20 years of television experience and would love to produce a video on building saddles. I do highly professional work that would suit a highly professional saddle maker looking to share his techniques. You can check out my website at www.pebblebeachproductions.com. Darc, I'll get in touch with Chuck directly. Joanne

Absolutely beautiful!

Exquisite!

When I first built my site, I had to live with it a while to figure out what I wanted and didn't want. And now that I've rebuilt it, I'll live with it for another while before deciding the next direction it should go. It's a lot more organic a process than I'd first imagined. I don't know that I could have gone from zero to precisely right without getting that first one up there. Your site looks great, Darc. Congrats!

Very classy, Darc! But of course. You're a good photographer, and that helps. (Oh yeah - you're a great saddle maker, too!) The site clearly shows the high quality work you produce. If you are, in fact, looking for suggestions, I like many of those made so far. In particular, I'd like to second Bob's point about adding prices, or at least your base price. It could save you a lot of needless inquiries. My only other suggestion (should you choose to follow my unsolicited advice) is that, on the Embellishments page, it could be a tad more clear on what you would be getting. For example, this is full-basket, quarter basket, quarter flower, this border, that border, etc. But that might be something you choose to get into with clients on an individual basis. I don't see any examples of barbed wire borders? ;-) Excellent site, Darc. Let me know if you want video for it! I've got some recent videos up on my blog at www.pebblebeachproductions.com. (They're for a dentist, so not a real close fit for you....) Thanks for posting! Joanne

I enquired a couple of years ago about replacing sheepskin and was quoted $300. And I'm sure that if they'd tripped across any of the issues Bruce is describing, they would have charged extra for the increased work load (totally fair).

Don't feel bad about not knowing that the gullet's not the only measure - I think most people believe that, including those who work, and even own, tack stores. I've heard stories of sales clerks telling customers that semi-quarter horse bars are for horses that only have a little bit of quarter horse in them! I've learned most of what I know about western saddle fit here on this site. And still, I don't know much! Good luck figuring out what to do.

Thanks, JD. I should probably send my photo to Martin Saddlery to see what they have to say. I'll report back! Joanne

It turns out that there's a leather stamp on the back of the cantle, too. Anyone know if the stamps changed when Martin sold?

Did anyone ever get back to you about this, Bruce? I've got a Dale Martin saddle for sale and I believe it's 5 or 6 years old, built before he sold his saddlery. There's only one stamp on my saddle, and this is what it looks like: I'm not sure whether that helps, but maybe restarting this thread will jog some memories! They're good saddles, I believe.

and because it's pretty

How would you do that, Andy? I see what you mean about the buckle being high enough to cause some bulk, but I'm not sure what you mean by rotating the leathers to fix it. Would you pull them through so that the buckle would sit lower? I guess it's the rotating part that's got me a bit confused. Thanks!

I once bought an older saddle that had lumps under where the strings were attached and my local saddle repair guy smoothed them off for me. Fortunately, he discovered them before I put the saddle on the horse, or the horse might have told me about them himself! I don't know if that's the source of your problems but I do know that the underside of the saddle should be totally smooth. After that, these guys know WAY more than I do! Good luck, Joanne

I also like the way mohair has a little "give" so it's not 100% restrictive. It's soft and not itchy, which regular wool can be. And it's good for all the reasons JW mentions - and he knows a lot more about it than I do! Cotton is the worst. It breaks down and it chaffs. Plus it has absolutely no give at all. I'm not sure why tack stores sell them.

So long as she only rides in black pants and never washes them with anything other than the black pants she wore the last time she rode in that saddle, she might be alright. At least until she wears the black down to the brown. Her pants will still look black but the saddle will be a little too colourful.

Congratulations, Andy and Ryan! Beautiful work, Andy, as always!

Another mere consumer chiming in here... I believe you good saddle makers are charging a fair price for an excellent product. I have no trouble with people buying saddles that fit their budgets but hope there will always be enough consumers out there to keep you folks in business.

I got thinking about how saddles don't get broken in for the horse, but what about for the rider? Do you like your saddle better after you've ridden it for a while? And if so, how does it change? The only thing I've noticed is that the latigo gets easier to run up but then my butt hasn't clocked anywhere near the number of hours some of the other butts on this forum have, so it's likely not as sensitive to subtle changes. Whaddya think? Joanne

Thanks for this, Andy and Denise. I trust your opinions over that of a local trainer. I'll let my friend know. Thanks!

Hi everyone, A woman at my barn just bought a new Crates saddle and isn't sure it fits her horse but has heard you have to break saddles in for a while before they fit as well as they're going to. Is that true? I'm thinking that the bars stay more or less where they have been made from the get-go, but I could be wrong. Will your saddle (we're talking western saddles here) fit your horse better after a while? I'm assuming the leather will soften up and it'll be more comfortable for the rider, but I'm not sure about the horse. What do you folks think? Thanks! Joanne

Thanks, Steve, that'd be great

I always enjoy your saddles, Steve. The clean lines and the way they're balanced are always such a pleasure to see. Could you post a photo of Kreger buckles? I haven't heard of them before. Thanks for the pic, Steve! Joanne

Thanks for posting those pictures, Steve! Very interesting. I wonder if someone who uses tin seat strainers wouldn't mind posting photos of that process, not as a way for any of us to decide which method we prefer (it would be impossible to decide that anyway through photos) but because I, for one, am very interested in what it all looks like underneath the finished product. Thanks again! Joanne