few of the saddles listed on ebay today that I found interesting

[steve mason]

howdy;

I quite often have a look at the saddles for sale on ebay, usually just a bunch of junk on there, but some times there are some good looking rigs, and sometimes some very interesting rigs on there also. I always like to see photos of other makers saddles, there is always something that I can learn from the photos and it is just kind a fun to see all types of well made saddles.

Here are a few of the saddles listed on ebay today that I found interesting, including one that I made. (I have no interest or connection in selling any of these saddles)

It seems like not all the links are working, so I put the ebay item # up also. Not sure why the links don't work, but this is not the first time I've been outsmarted by this damn computer.

ray hunt saddle item # 180194453083

This is one of the saddles that I made while working for Harwood. We were under contact to build these saddles in our shop which Ray hunt took to his clinics and sold them there. These saddles were made to Dales specifications, using his methods and patterns. Building these saddles was an opportunity of a lifetime. I will be forever grateful for the learning experience.

big bend/Scott brown item # 250197160776

here is a very interesting mother hubbard style saddle by Scott brown

scott brown basket stamped item # 250197153279

A nice clean basket stamped rig from Scott brown.

nevada saddle co. item # 110204945658

A neat rig from Matt Plumlee, I would like to try the flat plate ring riggin sometime, I always use 777's on my plate riggins, but I like the look of the ring, I do wonder a little about side soring a horse with the big rings a little though.

mother hubbard item # 250196434996

another mother hubbard saddle made by E.J. Strummer. I have not seem many mother hubbard saddles with a swell fork before. this maker is from alberta, I don't recall hearing his name before, anyone else hear of him?

Edited December 16, 2007 by steve mason

[robert]

Neat post, thanks. I am not a saddle maker, but i like to study the stamping - particularly the old styles. The mother hubbard from alberta has an interesting flower that I've never seen before - anybody know if that is that a flower that was used in that region? The Brown saddles both use a meander or "carlos" border, which Big Bend seems to use often. I've studied pictures of Harwood saddles before and tried to mimic the stamping style, with varying degrees of sucess.

I couldn't several of the links to work, but if anybody else has that problem, just copy the item number into the ebay search box and they come right up.

[Blake]

Hi Scott

Thanks for the links. I had to go to E-Bay and then paste the item numbers but well worth the extra effort.

I've been using the ring rigging ( Plumlee) for several years on my own saddles along with most customer saddles unless something else is requested. I haven't had any issues with soring the sides but I have been careful about placement in relation to my skirts. I just allow the bottom of the ring to overhang the skirt a bit and I also have a relief cut in the skirt behind the ring.

I have heard of a few cases where problems occured but I don't really know the circumstances or how it was hung/posistioned.

I like the Hunt saddle. The seat in the Strummer saddle looks a little ouchy!

Blake

[gtwister09]

Steve,

Like you I go and admire the well-built saddles as well. Yes most of the time it is junk. The two areas that I go to almost every day on eBay are the following...

Sporting Goods > Equestrian > Riding-Western > Saddles and

Crafts > Leathercraft > Leather Tools & Treatments > Other Leather Tools

Interesting tidbit of information concerning the contract Hunt saddle!

I have kept up with your blog [up until September :biggrin: ]. It would be great to see some of your shared photos and such as well.

Regards,

Ben

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Hi Steve,

great idea for a topic.... I have been following saddles on Ebay for about six years now and have been saving the photos of every decent rig i've seen on there to my computer. I now have about 500 photos of saddles ranging from the most obscure old makers to some of the best modern makers; They make for great reference material.

Here's an item number for a nice looking Meanea saddle: 360004046450

Capriola saddle: 140190748724

I've posted a photo of an interesting saddle that was on Ebay last year. It's an old Frazier saddle that the seller claimed had been bought new and sat in the attic it's whole life, never been on a horse.

Darc

[Blake]

Hi Darc

Do you have your pictures organized by item number?

I have the item number for a hand made saddle that sold about a year ago but I was unable to locate it when I searched Ebay.

Blake

[ArtS]

Thanks Steve. I do the same thing. I have a ton of pictures on my PC of saddles that I liked or thought were interesting that I've seen on ebay and other places.

I was looking at the pictures on your blog and you might be able to help me with something that I can't seem to figure out. I noticed on your saddle that you used this lace method. I can't figure out how to lace it to look like that. Can you help me? Also is it correct to have the 2 holes on top or on the bottom. I've seen it done both ways.

Thanks,

Art

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Hi Blake,

I'm sorry but I don't have item numbers with the photos I've saved from Ebay. If you can give me a description of the saddle you are thinking of and possibly the maker, I could check and see if I have the photos.

Darc

[Blake]

Thanks Darc

It is one that I made. Should be a fully tooled Wade with an inlaid seat.

A client of mine had it stolen and I was told that it sold on Ebay. I was given the item number but it was not available (expired?) when I tried to view it. It has been at least a year or so and it probably isn't the one anyway but I would just like to see out of curiosity.

Makers name should be "Blake Kral"

Kind Regards

Blake

[gtwister09]

One of the things that I have started doing is to capture the eBay auction with Adobe Acrobat Professional. All the pertinent information is included in the PDF file. You can also use a shareware package like Bullzip or PDFCreator to print to a file. The only difference is that with Acrobat Professional that you can delete and add pages which is quite handy when there are several additional pictures of the saddles. I generally save the additional pictures and then combine them into the original PDF. A handy method of capturing eBay auctions or web pages that you are interested in.

Regards,

Ben

[gtwister09]

Here's an example of one of the eBay saddles that Steve mentioned.

Regards,

Ben

Dale_Harwood_Ray_Hunt_Wade____eBay_.pdf

Dale_Harwood_Ray_Hunt_Wade____eBay_.pdf

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Hi Blake,

I hope you don't mind but I posted all the photos I have of the only one of your saddles that I've seen on Ebay. Nice clean work that I thought others might want to see. Is this the saddle you were thinking of?

Darc

[Blake]

Hi Darc

Many thanks for posting the pictures. This is not the one that was stolen.

It makes me feel a little more secure with the EBay network.

Kind Regards

Blake