Saddlebag

The reason I tho't Simco was that I tho't I was seeing the little flower in the center of the horn cap. A pic would be helpful. Simco told me they sometimes stamped the particulars up high on the skirt under the fender. My Simco of this style was only identifiable by the numbers and name on the keeper and the horn flower.

Finishing the horn edge with rawhide appeared around 1960, maybe sooner. Trends seem to last 10 or more years. This is a pleasure/trail saddle as opposed to a roper. It is well made

What you have is, I believe, a Simco from the late 50's into e 60's. The pelican horn was popular at that time. I have a roughout from that era. These saddles were very well made, a lot better than much of what we see today

I was thinking trail saddle as the cutters usually have a flatter seat near the hand hold.

The extreme forks were fairly short lived. The high cantle supports the hips and the rider is almost over his legs. Much easier on the rider for all day riding. Are you planning on restoring this saddle?

One doesn't see an elephant ear cantle very often which confirms it's age.

I do believe the 56 means it was made in 56, May of 56. Whether or not that's it's age, if there are no holes in the skirts to indicate silver then there was none. When buckstitching became the trend, initially there was no added silver. There is a tool to help with this job if you redo the buckstitching. I got a kick out of the clerk telling you the saddle isn't worth anything then offers to buy it.

Western saddles were undergoing changes, to help sales of course. They went from the slick A fork to the extreme fork. Forks like on this saddle were not good if roping as the rope could wind up under the fork. On the other hand if a horse was pretty fresh in the morning they helped the cowboy stay in the saddle. Those same forks were also an asset in rough country. My Simco roper, made in 1958. has the same cantle. It seems as the forks got wider the cantles got lower. It was tho't at the time that a low cantle would make for a faster dismount.

I'm thinking the stirrups on both saddles are not originals. Considering the excellent quality of both saddles they'd have had leather bound stirrups. The laced rawhide are a style that came later. The metal bound were seen on economy saddles, usually mail order saddles, of that era.

Bruce, Thanks for the tip about the stitch groover. Speaking of overkill, I had to loosen a skirt to ease the tension on the stirrup leather for removal.The stirrup leather in that area was so thick it created a bulge and would not budge. The staples from an area the size of my hand almost filled it.

I have a couple of aluminum D's. I'll need to dig thro a few big storage crates. That is what you are looking for right - aluminum? We'll just hope the meas. is what you need.

Wrapping the edge of the horn was seen on good roping saddles around 1960+. I believe the other predated that one, maybe of the 40's and 50's.

I was told the numbers would have read 5th mo. 4th day 1985. 1985 is around the time the horns became more upright and taller. There had been a long spell of short squat horns.

I have done enough that the very worst cleaning job is done in an hour. When I first started cleaning my own western saddle it took at least 3 hours. In order to keep the price attractive I rethought how I did it and was able to shave off a lot of time.

The tag could be the name of the retailer.

I'm going to take a shot and date this saddle back to the 50's. The Pelican horn was popular back then and the elephant ear cantle showed up about the time, perhaps later 50's. It's interesting that it is almost identical to an older Big Horn I used to own altho the cantle was the regular Cheyenne roll. The seat stitching is identical, as are the slight back sweep of the forks. The lacing on the forks denotes a quality saddle.

I have just learned that Riley was also part of Great West Saddlery who made saddles for the RCMP in the 1800's. You might wish to look up the history of Great West Saddlery. Their origins were in Wpg and later expanded to Calgary and Edmonton. Looking at the style of your saddle I'm wondering if Great West made it. The saddle is a good mountain saddle but many cowboys didn't care for so much fork on a saddle as it made it tough to bail out. Many of those earlier horses were broncy on a frosty morning

Femder placement. Sheild with a W. The middle part of the W appears to have two small diamonds as the W is old English style. Within the W is a western saddle which appears to be a more modern version, 50's and later.

My Association has a leather ground seat. Because I live in forest country we frequently experience high humidity, the wet kind. It would take a sledgehammer to soften the ground seat. Mildew should be a primary concern, not the ground seat might soften.

I microwave my Febings paste soap until it melts and add water, about 50:50 and put it in a plastic dish with a cover. I get double the mileage or better. Murphys, about 1oz to 10 oz water is mixed in a spray bottle which is used liberally to dampen and set up the leather. This helps bring the dirt to the surface and less saddle soap is needed. It also greatly cuts down on time spent cleaning. Add new screws and washer and it changes the appearance in a positive way. A soft flannelette cloth will buff up a beautiful shine on the forks and cantle. No wax is needed. I rub like the shoe shine boys do. My overall cost might be $3 per saddle for western.

I should add that the horn wrap is not original. Sometimes when a repair was done, like this one, the skin from bull testicles was used. The original had two pieces of leather for the horn cap with a nail in the center.

Saddle trees date way back to the time of Genghis Khan. His soldiers carried three trees to accommodate the shape of their ponies from spring fat to late fall when they were lean and hard. Carbon fiber is used in higher end fishing rods which have to have flex and strength. I can't see that a carbon fiber tree would be worse than a Ralide the the pro would be it's light weight and strength. As we get older saddles seem to get heavier, especially for women, and there's a huge market for 50+ riders.

Great. Glad you are pleased with it.

The numbering code was typical of Tex Tan in those days.

PcCowboy, I had that saddle for many years. Gave it a good annual cleaning and a light application of Dubbin. Just before I sold it I applied a recipe I have that helps remove dirt and surface oil, a glycerin soaping and the saddle looked like it came out of the show room. Apparently when the calvary had to store their saddles for some time they would clean and Dubbin them, wrap them in oil cloth and store in the metal footlocker. That is why I gave it a try. This was from when I worked in the historical library.