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I recovered this old saddle from my great-aunt's shed. She told me that her father (my great-grandfather) used to ride this saddle whenever he went out for a date! I figured it must have been very nice in its day, so I wanted to fix it (any tips on fixing bent/cracked leather, please share! I'm currently using Leather New and probably some saddle oil, but advice about other chemicals/techniques that would be better would be most welcome). It was kept on a shelf in a shed that was poorly-protected against the Mississippi elements (well, it survived a tornado that took down a bunch of massive pines, so it must be sturdier than it looks), and there were plenty of spiders living in the resulting folds of the leather. The leather has a lot of those webbing cracks in it, especially where it's been unnaturally folded from sitting on a flat surface. It's not so dry that it cracks at the touch, and for having sat on that shelf for God-knows-how-long, I'm surprised it's in such relatively excellent shape. There is a defined cut in the cantle, and the seat looks to have been scraped away a bit in one area. The stirrup buckles are very rusty, and the strap that connects the girth to the saddle (it's not like any saddle I've seen; it's kind of Y shaped, with the girth attachment at the cross-section of the Y and making the tail) has broken off in transport, although I still have what remains of it. I'm not sure if it will ever be like new again, but I'd like to get it as close as I can. Furthermore, I have no idea what type of saddle it is. I can't find a maker's mark anywhere, but I haven't looked too thoroughly for fear of cracking the dry leather any further. Online, I've found some types of saddles that are similar, but I'm not certain they're a perfect match. I'm not sure about the year, but I figured it must have been made around late 1800s or early 1900s (and if my great-grandfather got it from HIS father, even older? His father, my great-great-grandfather, owned a slave plantation, to give a bit of perspective, although I've no idea if that's where the saddle came from). If anyone knows what kind of saddle this is, or where I can go to find out, please let me know. (P.S. I've never posted to a forum before, so I honestly don't know how to attach the picture files. The file uploader keeps telling me the picture is too big, and I had 6 pictures total to get every angle; I can add the pictures later when I figure out how. Until then, I apologize. Please share information on leather restoration, at the very least!!)