IanCantwell

Does anyone know when Sam Stag rigging first appeared on saddles and what other features/styles these saddles would have been? i.e. square skirt/horn style etc. Thanks, Ian.

Hi CW, Think you might find that Superior Saddle Tree Co of Benton CA stock a whole range of blevins and other hardware. The part I think you're talking about is called the 'Improved Blevin'. Their number is 760 933 2404. I can't access their web site at the moment as it looks like they haven't renewed their hosting subscription. Hope this helps. Ian

Hi Pip, Great to hear from you, I'm not too far away in Stockport. Nice mask, how unusual, amazing what leatherworkers think of making, I never knew it was such a diverse hobby. Heard about the new Identity store (Northampton) opening days 28/29 June? I'll try to get there and hope I'll meet up with a few of the forum's UK members. Keep on carving, Ian.

Hi Tazzman and all you new braiders, Yes I too have tried to learn from the Bruce Grant book and I also have his Making Cowboy Horse Gear book. I don't think there is any real trick to this apart from practise, can't remember how many times I had to start again even with the simplest beginner project but you can fly once it sinks in (and my brain isn't good at that, they say it's age related). One thing I did find important when braiding over a core was getting the ratio of lace width to core diameter correct, otherwise you get lots of gaps or a messy overlap of lace. My first couple of projects were a Quirt and Hobbles. I used the Tandy vinyl lace (cheap if I messed up) and off-cuts of thin cowhide. Had fun making buttons, not! Rolled some card templates with wax candles down the centre so that my pins stayed put. Anyone tried Japanese braiding 'Kumihimo', great for using up your mum's old bits of knitting yarn and making key fobs, shoo-flys etc. Keep those nibble fingers working. Ian.

Howdy, I've recently joined the forum and I think it's great. So much useful info and everyone seems to be so helpful. I started leatherwork when I took a saddlemaking course in Canada in Feb 2003. Built the saddle you see in the pics in 120 hours. Since then I've made another saddle and a few bits of tack but don't get much time to enjoy my hobby. Hope to build another saddle soon, probably something like a Hope from the early 1800's but first need to buy/build a tree to fit my horse. I'd like to touch base with all the UK members, send me a PM. Will take more pics and post soon. Ian.

Hi Alisa, Welcome to you from England. I'm also new to the forum and I'm finding it a great source of information. If you have difficulty getting materials, tools and patterns maybe you can try this new store in England. http://www.theidentitystore.co.uk/contact.htm They will have an web site opening in a few months time so you will be able to shop online and see their range of products. Regards, Ian.

Have you tried County Saddlery of Lisbon MD. I believe they may have made the Symmetry and the Stabilizer English jumping saddle. Ian.

Being fairly new to saddlemaking and wanting a tree built for my awkward shaped horse (Appy with Arab/mutton back) I did some research into available methods of measuring my horse. Maybe the experienced tree makers can comment and help me decide on which method they find most useful to them. 1) Probably the one I found most people writing about is the coat hanger or artist's flexi-curve. Seems a lot of messing about to me. 2) Came across the Equimeasure which I thought would be ideal except for 3 points. a) Being in the UK this has to be shipped across the Atlantic three times (last time with my tree). Some owners in the UK keep their horses 10 miles from the home kitchen. c) Our ovens aren't big enough! 3) Found an alternative made in the UK. The Equiform by WOW Saddles. I asked them if it was big enough for a western saddle and they said yes but I have serious doubts looking at their site so I did some investigation on low-temperature thermo-plastics. It seems the mesh they might be using is used to stabilise cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Q-Fix and Orfit in Belgium and the USA manufacture this material. Then by chance I found this site. http://www.algeos.com/html/products/casting/casting.htm I'm going to give their multicast product a go. It's available online and in sizes larger than advertised so I can be assured it'll fit the whole of my horse's back. 4) Finally I'm quite impressed with the Lane system. I can see the merrits of not having to post a template and if all the tree makers can standardise on a single system it would be great advantage to saddle makers. In the meantime maybe someone can comment. Thanks, Ian.

Thanks Denise, Gosh, so much info on the WWW it's mind blowing. Don't think I'll be in a position to make my own, seems like a smelly, messy job. Living in the middle of a housing estate my not be the ideal situation!! Sent a PM to Troy in Scotland, hope he can help me. Will let you know how things go and I'll keep on with the research. Have some thoughts on measuring horses so will start a new topic when I'm next in work. Thanks again, Ian.

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum (and saddle making) and have spent all morning reading the posts and figure there's going to lots I can learn from you all. Might have a problem with the time zone over here in the UK and the computer being at work but will try to keep up. I built my first saddle (old timer on Ultrahide slick fork tree) in 3 weeks with the instruction (and very little hands on help) of Bob Land @ Okanagan Saddlery B.C. Learnt lots about what NOT to do so figure this was a good course. To remind myself of what I'd learnt I built another saddle when I got home to England, that was a couple of years back. My horse has outgrown them and so I'm now thinking about my next project. To the question of trees and lack of availability. Well over here I can name maximum 3 western saddlemakers and that's it, and nobody makes trees. Not to say there isn't an interest in western riding but when you way up the cost of importing a tree @ say $350 + shipping+import duty+tax you're into $650. Then you start with the leather (8oz is about the thickest you get here) and all the other bits and you're soon beyond what anyone is prepared to pay even for a custom/bespoke saddle. One guy does a 15lb trail saddle on Ralide tree for $3500! There's a great market for NEW $400 saddles on ebay.co.uk!!! I'd love to get into making a tree for my next saddle, an early Hope style with Sam Stag rigging or something of that type. Don't want to go to Tandy for a Ralide tree and rather not wait the 90 days++ (Sonny F.) plus time in shipping and customs for an import although I appreciate the superb quality you guys produce. Need a wood tree with rawhide as the tree will be exposed. Trawled all your web sites, downloaded the pics and diagrams, found UK suppliers of the correct timber but my biggest problem apart from not being trained in tree making (I'm a mechanical engineer & my father a joiner so we're pretty handy) is going to be getting the correct rawhide. Anyway, hope someone will reply with advice and I'll post some pics of my saddles soon. Ian.