David Genadek

My most recent addiction to a movie is Deadman with Johnny Depp and just about everyone else. It is a brilliant artistic master piece. Babetts feast is favorite too mostly because I like food. I also have a love of the old dumb Kung Fu movies. I also like the Tolkien movies but had trouble reading him I found his work most a boring to read where as I loved reading Lewis and enjoy the Narnia movie too so in my mind Lewis won the contest. I have the soundtrack to Jeremiah Johnson and enjoy working to it. It is a great movie. David Genadek

I agree but it seems everyone new thinks that if they can make those trophy saddles they will get a bunch of business. In reality they use you then move on. I know I was one of those people. David Genadek

Thanks I have several sources for that I just thought for sure some one would have a bear paw pre made. Whats wrong with them, they don't have exactly what I want? David Genadek

Wow Might make trophy saddles worth doing! David Genadek

Thank you for your time I had done the same thing. The deal is this I have a friend that helped me do some electrical around here,30,000 feet of wire worth. In exchange she wanted to do her own saddle. Last night she told me she wanted to put bear paw on it so I thought surely they would have a bear paw stamp, it would make a neat border. Oh well I have done stamps before here are two examples. But but how can their not be a Bear Paw stamp surely for the Scouting market. Sigh David Genadek

Bruce, Here is where I differ, it took me a while to figure it out, I guess I couldn't beleave what I was hearing. So I have been doing a poll on several horse forums where I post these pictures and ask Where do you want to sit? A is where I always thought everyone was trying to get people to sit. B is where the industry is saying they are getting you to sit. C is where you will actually end up if you follow the current line of thinking of the industry. You just have to do the math. Here is a link to a quick study we did here. So in this case we have a down hill horse which does put more wieght on the front legs and biomechanically puts the horse at a disadvantage to get collected. Here is a small film to show how the wieght distribution actually happens. If the horse is down hill it accentuates it even more. You can feel this by sitting in the positions above. You can actually see how this horse has changed it's posture to compensate for the different positions. In all the polling I did not a single person chose C as the position they wanted to sit in yet when they went out and paid attention to where they were they were in the C position. So if Jennifer wants a saddle to fit this horse she needs to understand that the further forward she sits the more she will be helping this conformation. If she does the set the saddle behind the shoulders thing she will be working against her goals as a rider. In short order the horse will have pockets behind it's shoulders in additon to other back and neck pathologies that are now considered normal in the market place. The paintings above are a wonderful illustration of both where to sit and how to sit. Both the riders are sitting in the same position but how they are sitting is different and you can see the effects on horses. You can see how stessed out the Brida horse is just because the rider is braced. So all this is directly related to Jennifers question becasue until she is aware of where and how she wants to sit she can not make a judgement about the information that she gets bombarded with. Weather a given concept is correct for her depends on how she answers those two fundamental questions. For the saddle maker these two questions define their saddlemaking practice. If you remember the Dusty Johnsons post on saddle fitting being a myth, he was correct for how he has defined his market. He was being honest and although my perspective differs from his I do respect his honesty. These differences help us define our own personal preferences. David Genadek

I'm not sure just looking at a tree you can tell much but here is a tree I think would be close. This shape is pulled directly from the profiles of a real back. David Genadek

Does anyone know if there is bear paw stamp available? David Genadek

I would suggest you go to a lawyer with your balance sheet and ask him just what your exposure is in your situation. If you have a million dollars worthe of assets to protect then the insurance is worthe it. If not then your wasting your money. Insurance guys like you to do that. Here is a link to a few good books on the subject. In the past I've been on the lecture circut with the auther and I can tell you her favorite saying is "It Depends". Thats why you need to see a lawyer with your balance sheet before you talk to the insurance guy. David Genadek

I'm saying there are different ideas about how to ride a horse and those ideas produce different conclusions in regard to saddle fitting and all equipment design. Therefore it is contingent on the horse owner to be clear on what they want when they talk to a maker. As a saddle maker the two biggest questions I will try to decipher from a client are where they want to sit and how they want to sit. If their answers are outside of what I do then I will send them down the road. It is a matter of perspective. From my perspective I would never consider using T14 as the basis for the center of the saddle, the rear limit of the seat yes. The problem this presents is that it makes the tree shape more critical and complex and thus selling becomes more of an ordeal . Historically saddles have been further forward than what is happening today. I've attached a picture of two paintings that show riders being in a forward position interestingly one rider is Jineta and the other is Brida but both are in a forward position on the horse. David Genadek

Jennifer. I found the point of hip and base of neck and connected them. I have put in a black line on your drawing to show you where the yellow line came from. To find the base of neck on your horse find the where the neck gets wider go down to where it narrows again and that will be the base of the neck. I have also put in some colored areas on the drawing that represent the areas of streangth on the back. The blue area is where the spine has the most elements supporting it. The purple area has fewer and the red area has only one muscle to help stabalize the spine so it is the weakest part of the back. If you follow the currently popular line of thought in regard to saddle fit you will be sitting on the purple and red zone. David Genadek

Attached is a plaque that was given to me by Kathleen Bond when I was learning saddle making. David Genadek

Awesome design!!! Tradtional with a twist that fits into a broader market. Waay coool! David Genadek

My perspective of what would need to happen with the tree differs greatly from Rods due to one factor and that is where I would be trying to place you the rider. Here is a link to another forum where this point is being discussed. You should understand that where you want to sit should be one of the first questions you should ask in regards to fitting a saddle as it changes everything form the tree building perspective. I would view this horse as being to the extreme side of the down hill spectrum. Perhaps it will level some but looking at where the neck ties in I wouldn't count on much. The yellow line on the attached picture is approximately where the spine is on this horse. As a rider you will need to learn to support this conformation. David Genadek

I don't care what you do a leather saddle is going to end up around 32 pounds if you use quality materials. The oil is really the trick. Most manufacturers don't put much oil on and they don't count things like stirrups and cinches in the wieght. I did a line for a while called Black Rhino barrel saddles and we were constantly critisized for being heavy because we gave an honest wieght. Funny thing is I started wieghing other factories saddles and they were just as heavy once they were oiled and had sturrups. They stop worrying about wieght when they can trim a second or two off their time though. David Genadek

Ed, You may find the work of Eliyahu M. Goldratt useful. He has something called the theory of constraints which is of great use to a small company because it teaches you to focus on through put. His take on inventory is a bit different and I have found it very helpful. Some times it makes more sense to buy less at a more expensive cost but use it quicker although it won't show that you have as large an asset base you will actually be generating more profit. His book The Goal is a good read that delivers some powerful concepts in way a non accountant can understand. David Genadek

Ed, That is a personal choice. If you want to go on a strickly cash basis, sure might be the way to go and it sounds like that is what the accountant is advising. To me it would depend on how much you were tying up in leather. If you only have a few thoushand dollars worth of hides in at a time then I would just go on a cash basis and make your life simple. David Genadek

Ed, You can do it however you want but if you start out with your supplies as inventory then they will need to stay as inventory. If you decide to change you will have to let the IRS know you did. I would not waste time counting rivets dye and glue. I have in the past now I see it as a waste it didn't help anything. The thing you have to keep in mind is everyones situation is different and if someone isn't looking at your whole situation thier advice doesn't mean diddle. It would be wrong of anyone to judge your accountant as not knowing with out knowing the whole situation. It may be your situation doesn't warrant a schedule C. You have to look at which type of business you are setting up as too. You can always go talk to a few other accountants ad get more opinions. The one who is trying to keep it simple is the one I would listen to. It sounds like he wants to keep you on a strickly cash basis and there is nothing wrong with that. You can change it as the business grows. Quicken is for a home based business and is for cash accounting I don't beleave it has any inventory capabilities. I use quicken home and busness for my personal stuff ,Quickbooks Mfg eddition for my saddle and tree company and Quickbooks for another business. $150.00 a quarter is very reasonable. David Genadek

(I now use this because neat lac is pretty harmful) Amen David Genadek

Dyo leather balm which you should be avaliable through any shoe repair. SAS products were also made by Dyo so if they have a leather balm it would also be the same product. I would guess the the plain Dyo leather balm would be the most economical. I paid $60.00 for 5 gals last time I ordered but I'm sure that has changed after they blew up and LCI took over the line. David Genadek

Just so everyone knows the reptile conditioner is just the leather balm with a different label but it will cost you more. David Genadek

I will often go to the fabric store and buy some felt. It has some thickness and you can actually do a mock up with it that is fairly accurate. You can practice your construction method on the cheap. David Genadek

I count dyes as a supply I don't inventory them. There is a point where it is ridiculouse. An once of dye covers about a square foot so it costs more to track them than it is worthe. It won't help your ordering becasue your just going to look at the bottle and say oh I better order some more dye anyway. The dollars you have tied up are pretty small in relation to the other materials and frankly it would be hard to sell them so they really are not much of an assett anyway. The program is great for doing estimates and doing billing and things and does make communications pretty easy but unless your doing some real simple assemblies for COGS it falls short. I use the inventory portion but we still do all that seperate on speadsheets and then just make adjustments. If I were you I would look for different accountant. You want someone that thinks along the lines of Lady J Keep it simple so you have time to make money and not just spend your time doing books. David Genadek

Using it is easy setting it up is the hard part. The notion of perpetual inventory is real nice but the program doesn't handle the world of leather real well so still count on doing physical inventory and making adjustments. Although They do say the recent edition will handle conversions. Such as I buy skirting by the pound but I cost it out by the side. Paying the money to a CPA to set it up for you would be money well spent. I have stretched the program beyond what it is designed to do but we can make it work with lots of adjusting on the part of my accountant. I do mass customization and that is pretty complicated stuff so I doubt you will go through the hell I did but I would strongly urge you to get professional help on the set up. They can help you put into perspective what is worth the worry and what is not. If your a one man shop you can pretty much just go eye ball things and know where your at. David Genadek