Saddlebag

I can't tell you who made the saddle but a few of the large companies of the day made saddles for the department stores who also handled mail orders. One never knew who actually made the saddle. I rode in an almost identical saddles which I later learned was made by Bona Allan. Very comfortable.

I may be sticking my neck out but I doubt the tree is aluminum. The seller may be going by the rings. This style was popular in the 60's, early 70's and usually had rawhide wrapped trees. I have an old Simco that's almost identical in style.

Oiling a saddle is a deceptive practice because one can't see what's going on. Oil takes time to seep into the fibers. I'd give it a week then give it another cleaning. The cleaning will add more moisture but remove only the surface oil. Here's a technique the calvary used. The steel foot lockers also stored the soldier's saddle from rodents. If a saddle was to be stored for any length of time it was slathered with dubbin. When put back into use, it first received a good cleaning. I tried this on a good roper altho the leatehr was in good shape but facing months of storage. As did the soldier, I cleaned the saddle well before use. We got caught in one gawd-awful downpour and the water beaded off my saddle but sure didn't bead off me. My riding partner's saddle was soaked thro. When I sold my saddle 25 years later the leather was "just right".

David, having worked for a museum, art gallery, I'm wondering if the two illustrations and rider placement were the result of artistic license? We see this with the Currier & Ives renditions of horses and riders.

You best bet is to just try on saddles with various trees, arab, qh, semi, full. My boarder's arab drowns in full bars yet that worked on another arab. Some are fine with semi. The angle of the bars should match the horse's build which you can see by standing near the horse's shoulder. I recommend a pad of no more than 1" thick as too thick a pad can cause it's own set of problems.

Going back in time when cowboys lived on their horses saddles were custom made for the cowboy's comfort with a tree that basically fit the horse, no custom fitting for the horse. The reason for this is the horse's shape is constantly changing both with work, idle periods, age. If we get paranoid about saddle fit then we have to be prepared to have one made every few months depending on the horse's activity, which is completely unrealistic. To answer the question regarding fees, since many of my requests are 30 mi. or more distant I find out what a taxi would charge and charge about half. I charge $35 for the session which lasts about 20 min. That's about on par with the what the farrier charges for a trim. Sometimes we just change the saddle pads as there is an inclination that thicker is better.

I do western saddle fitting in the broad sense of the term. The people I deal with are fairly new to horses and unfortunately look at the cosmetics of the saddle, buy it, use it and then wind up with a sour horse. All too often the saddle is just a really bad fit. I take several western trees with me as it makes it easier for the person to understand what I'm talking about. It's not easy telling a customer it might be best to sell her saddle and look for a saddle with a particular tree as oftentimes the first saddle has some special significance. I have about 45 years of riding under my belt, and a good saddlemaking course so I have a pretty good understanding of how the horse moves and what it needs. My rates are comparable to what the other services charge for a farm call and that's mainly to cover my gas and wear and tear on my vehicle. I haven't figured out if I've made any money doing this - maybe the price of a coffee.

Horses seem to have a rapport with children that adults have a difficult time achieving. I've had horses that were mindful and very gentle with children but we didn't push our luck in fly season.

Beautiful! When a teen I saw a fellow with a much shorter pair that were lined with sheepwool for our cold winters. I've only seen the longs taps with pointed ends. Is this your own variation or are these popular in certain parts of the country?

I've never had good luck with Tandy leather. It's imported from who knows where. It's like some cheaps in the tanning processes.

I've replaced many strings over the years and I can tell you I appreciate those which are run through the tree and the fleece. Otherwise it becomes a very expensive string job. If you go with with running them all the way thro, pull them real tight on the top side and at the same time pound them flat on the backside. I trim the sheepwool under the knot to get them tighter. Strings done this way I can replace each on in about 10 min.

I've made a few for hunters so dark leather is the order of the day plus no metal. If packing a larger knife they prefer it low on the hip with a thong to secure around the upper lag. This prevents it from getting half caught up in the jacket. No rivets. The back half of the sheath extends to the top of the hilt and a 1/4" wide leather collar is stitched just above the guard. I cut a slit on one side and feed the other side thro to prevent the knife from accidently falling out, like half a bleed knot. Deer can spot the tiniest bit of metal reflecting in the sun and vanish. I've also made a soft neck sheath with fringe to be worn around the neck. This is for a skinning knife which has only a 4" blade and small hilt.

What about Dubbin rather than mink oil? Baby powder is talcum powder with a scent added. It comes from soapstone. The problem with cornstarch being a food item, ot may attract wee creatures looking for a snack. With Dubbin I've literally buttered the leather with my bare hands. I leave it for 3 days, then wipe off any excess. In another few days I buff with a soft cloth. Rain will bead off this. I suspect the noise is where the rifle rubs the leather as the fellow is walking.

When I worked for a prominent museum in the library division, we used Lexol conditioner on the old leather bindings. That was all we were allowed to use. In our case we had to make sure that nothing increased the acidity which causes breakdown. In some cases the bindings were several hundred years old and were in surprisingly good condition while others didn't fare so well.

Basically it was the slave trade for picking cotton and the invention of the big spinning mills in the north east that bo't cotton into favor. Hemp was pushed into the background because it lasted so long and that's not what creates faster profits. That's what I was told.

I'm seeing more and more obese riders, not just a little chunky, but obese. This is a whole different ball game when it comes to weight distribution. I'd appreciate the musings of others on this topic.

Horsehairbraider - being a history buff on almost any topic, I'd read that the sails and a lot of clothing back then, especially trousers were made of hemp which lasts much longer than cotton.

I'm with Dusty in that we can only try for a fairly good fit. In reading about the Huns during the time of Ghengis Khan his warriors each had 3 saddles for their horses-those for when the horses were in soft condition from winter, those for mid summer as the horses hardened and those for fall when extremely toughened. We need to keep in mind that these people almost lived on their horses. From what I've seen some of our biggest saddle problems arise from a rider allowing one hip to collapse and the corresponding shoulder drop. If this occurs on the right side there is additional pressure on the left. This produces a twist and can drive the front of the bars into the shoulder blade. Another common problem is riding with one hip ahead of the other which again causes the saddle to not sit squarely on the horse. So even if one could custom a tree to a horse's back it would come back with complaints about soring the horse if the rider has the aforementioned riding faults.

Is it just me or do those bars appear to be all of the same angle, just different style?

Am I going to get my head bit off? I bot a big mutton-withered gelding that got a pretty good fit in a quality roping saddle with what are often called qh bars. When he was 10 this wasn't such a good fit so I went with wide bars. The year he was 18 nothing sat on him right. At 19 semi bars were a pretty good fit and that's what he used until he was retired at 27. All the saddles were of pretty good quality altho the semi was hand crafted.

Many of the older trees don't fit the wider horses of today so you are probably better off with something more modern. It seems that 16 and 17" seats are the most in demand.

The owner may not be picking up the saddle in person as she's 90km distant. Any suggestions for getting an Unfit declaration signed? As per her wishes I've cleaned the saddle and cosmetically it's beautiful, but "don't fix anything" - I can't figure that one except maybe it will become a bar stool.

Thanks Bob, I'm glad I made the right choice.

What would you do? In another post I mentioned the leather in the stirrup leathers had deteriorated and one had broken. This is an economy saddle and the stirrup leathers are only 1/8" thick. What is our legal or moral obligation in a case like this? I'm going with my gut that says not to repair.

Besides running a small fan which might be cheaper to operate than a light bulb, it sometimes helps to hang the saddles shoulder height as well with a few feet between each one.