Saddlebag

I have this same dream machine which I got from Jack Leighton in Alberta. Check his web site. Jack is a machinist and specializes in reburbishing machines. If he hasn't got it he can probably make it.

I don't know why I get the feeling the leathers have been jerry-rigged. The Monte Foreman was based on the Slim Fallis balanced ride saddle. Some of the leathers do not appear to be original. Just my take on this.

The style of the saddle appears to be mid 70's when the stainless laced cantle made it's appearance. The seat was not well done and may keep the value of the saddle low.

I have pretty good luck with glycerin soap, golden for med. to dark leathers and a colorless for light leathers. I'll wet my hand and rub on the bar until it's quite tacky, then apply to the leather. When this is dry I use an old flannel rag and buff to a pretty good shine. I one time, and believe me it will be only once, did a spit and polish on the seat of an english saddle. With directions off the internet I started until my spit was depleted. Drank lots of water to replenish the spit. The entire time I'd dab a cloth to my tongue, then to the polish and apply in a circular motion. Three hours later the finish was still hazy. I think I'd drunk a gallon of water by this time. About the beginning of the 4th hour the haze began to disappear. Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel. Sweat running I soldiered on. Then it began to shine all over with a depth to the shine like I'd never seen. Four years later and plenty of use, the shine remains.

It is my understanding a tree is coated with fiberglass to prevent drying out plus what periods of heat, humidity and cooler temperatures do to the tree. Usually bare wood after 15 years is somewhat dried out and has lost a lot of its elasticity.

That saddle with the yellow seat just might be a Leddy.

Thanks Bruce, I don't like the new finishes but we don't have any say in the matter. I redid the edge of a cantle on an english saddle with that paint type finish. Those finishes sit on top of the leather. It took a bag of tricks but I was finally able to conceal the glaring scrape. I' ve had people ask me to recondition their show saddles and I won't touch them.

I need to update my info. It was last summer that the 3 yr old Arab couldn't wear full bars. She's grown a little and now she's getting a pretty decent fit with a Big Horn leather/cordura saddle with the full bars. It even works with her wide sprung rib cage. Again was a case of trying on saddles with various trees.

While we're on the topic, a customer bro't a circle Y show saddle in a light color. The finish had worn in numerous areas which resulted in a patchy darkening of the leather. The saddle looked grubby. Short of stripping the finish and redying the saddle to a darker color can anything else be done to restore the light finish?

I'm thinking you might need either a crupper or breeching to hold this saddle away from the edge of the shoulderblade. I don't care for the way this tree sits the horse but I certainly wouldn't have it sitting up on the shoulder blades. The trapezius muscles that the saddle would be sitting on are responsible for lifting the leg and injury to these muscles can result in a lame horse. This can then take up to a year to recover. What's interesting is people will call the vet or farrier and look at the hoof or lower leg thinking that is the source of the lameness.

The few cracked Ralide trees I've encountered were the result of someone putting the cantle screws a little too close to the stirrup slot. When I look at the pic Big Horn comes to mind as they often used that pattern along the edges.

I ain't sayin' it's a Simco but my trusty old Simco is identical except mine's almost all roughout. The low cantle was the result of a belief that a calf roper could get out of the saddle faster, The forward swept forks helped those cowboys who needed more belly room. I'd say early '60's.

If you are being given fresh deer hide they must be rolled lengthwise, and stored in the freezer until you can get them to a tannery. Unless you want to use the brains and tan it yourself. You can buy tanning kits but the deer supplies enough brain matter to tan it's own hide. Tanned deer hide doesn't have real strong abrasion resistance but getting wet doesn't make it stiff after it's dry. I'd love to offer you 6 or 7 hides but you'd have to come shoot them first.

Same thing happens when sewing a zipper-gotta start at the same end on both sides.

Good old Dubbin. If urine is an issue clean the boots with some baking soda in the water to help neutralize. When barely damp rub Dubbin in. I slather it on and allow to set for 24 hours. I'll then vigorously rub it in with my hands creating a little heat. Water should just bead right off.

I have a knee breaker with heavy fenders and stirrup leathers. I tried everything to get those suckers to turn to ease the knee pressure. I then reversed the slider, soaked the leather and put a 3" wide collar on them and laced them tight. When dry I removed the collars and low and behold I finally got a nice turn that seems to be permanent. That was 5 years ago.

When I reexamined the pics I think this saddle was made to fit a broad-backed pony. The stirrup leathers appear to be 1,1/2" wide which would have been suitable for a child. This may have been made in the late 40's, early 50's. What is the tree made of?

No one wants to reveal their age. Lol If memory serves me correctly synthetic fleece is a product of the mid to late 60's when synthetic fabrics began to really make an appearance. Your saddle was done with sheep wool. Research tells me that during WW1 and 2 there was even a shortage of wool felt and hair on deer skin was sometimes used altho it didn't last as long but it did stop the saddle blankets from skooting out backwards. Your saddle was probably a department store saddle or mail order house. Usually there were no identifying marks.

Let me reassure you that if you undo a few screws your saddle will not self destruct.

I used glycerin soap, Feibing's golden paste, Murphy's oil soap.

I just googled marlin spike and I see it's not a spike, per se, as something to drive into wood. Those are the ones that can explode. OK, any idea as to where I can get a marlin spike? I'm game to try one. I just shortened the seat belt material on a bareback pad and rather than cut the webbing and burn in more holes I put a couple of folds and stitched it down flat with multiple rows of stitching. Worked great. If the owner uses it on a much larger horse she can simply cut the stitches and let it out. Whew, I got out of doing holes and ends on this one! Lol

I wind up with jobs to add a few holes to bridles, halters, nylon cinch straps, etc. I've cursed my way thro with a leather punch then used a match or lots of them to burn the edges of the holes or the ends. I was advised that some nails or spikes can explode when heated so I didn't try that. I'm not sure I want to spend about $200 Cdn on about a 6 pce. kit which is much cheaper than buying individually pieces and which covers pretty much every application. If you google Proleptic Inc you will be able to look up the Thermal tools.

While we are on the subject of miserable stirrup leathers, how do you folks string your strings thro the tree when replacing them?

Has anyone tried the thermal tools for burning holes or finishing the ends in nylon horse tack?

Sorry I don't have any pics. The saddle I was working on had skirts so tight I tho't perhaps the maker had used a fence stretcher to tighten them. There was no way, no how I could feed the stirrup leathers back thro short of removing the skirts. As the expression goes. I was "blown away" by how easy the plastic strips made the job.