Leather lead with stallion chain

[Mulesaw]

I was once again inspired by @TomE, but at the moment I can't find the post with his beautiful work. 

For Christmas I made a leather lead with a stallion chain connected to it for Gustavs girlfriend. She is an incredibly skilled dressage rider, and like all the dressage riders I know, she prefers her tack to be black, so that kind of dictated the colour of the lead rope :-)

I have to admit that I have forgotten some of the details since it has been a couple of months since I made it. But the strap is 1" wide, I think the total length is close to 8' including the chain. The lead rope is doubled part of the way and ends up being a single layer of leather near the end.

[DieselTech]

Nice work. It looks great! Yeah TomE has got me aspired to try some new things. 

[Mulesaw]

@DieselTech Thanks, I don't know how he does it, but his stuff just looks SO good!

[TomE]

That lead looks really nice, Jonas.  I'll bet she enjoys using it.  I bought a used patcher and am learning to replace zippers in riding boots.  I appreciate your tips on different styles of zippers.  Today I received an inquiry about patching a silver dollar-sized hole on the inside leg of a riding boot.  Normally I would pass on that sort of repair but since a patcher is for patching, why not try it?  Have you done any leather patches on boots or saddles? 

[Mulesaw]

7 hours ago, TomE said:

That lead looks really nice, Jonas.  I'll bet she enjoys using it.  I bought a used patcher and am learning to replace zippers in riding boots.  I appreciate your tips on different styles of zippers.  Today I received an inquiry about patching a silver dollar-sized hole on the inside leg of a riding boot.  Normally I would pass on that sort of repair but since a patcher is for patching, why not try it?  Have you done any leather patches on boots or saddles? 

Hi Tom

Patching a hole like that is something I do every once in a while. Here's my method:

I take some thin leather of the correct colour - around 1 mm thick (2 oz), Make a paper pattern for the patch. The worn area tends to be kind of elliptical on the boots I have made. 
Trace the pattern on the boot and on the leather.
Skive down the sides of your small patch over a width of 3/8" to very thin at the sides, to make a fairly seamless repair. 
Sand or rough inside the marking on the boot so the glue will stick. Maybe even wipe the area down with some thinner (some people drench their boots in oil).
Apply contact glue to the patch and to the area on the boot. Press/hammer it in place when the glue is dry. 
Sew around the patch, I try to aim for 1/16" from the edge for the first round. Next make another stitching about 1/8" from your first stitch line. 
 

I just checked my phone, but for some reason I have never taken any pictures of those repair jobs. 

I can try to make an instruction with pictures in how I change a zipper. There are a few tricks that I have picked up along the way that have helped me.

Brgds

Jonas

 

 

[TomE]

2 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

Hi Tom

Patching a hole like that is something I do every once in a while. Here's my method:

I take some thin leather of the correct colour - around 1 mm thick (2 oz), Make a paper pattern for the patch. The worn area tends to be kind of elliptical on the boots I have made. 
Trace the pattern on the boot and on the leather.
Skive down the sides of your small patch over a width of 3/8" to very thin at the sides, to make a fairly seamless repair. 
Sand or rough inside the marking on the boot so the glue will stick. Maybe even wipe the area down with some thinner (some people drench their boots in oil).
Apply contact glue to the patch and to the area on the boot. Press/hammer it in place when the glue is dry. 
Sew around the patch, I try to aim for 1/16" from the edge for the first round. Next make another stitching about 1/8" from your first stitch line. 
 

I just checked my phone, but for some reason I have never taken any pictures of those repair jobs. 

I can try to make an instruction with pictures in how I change a zipper. There are a few tricks that I have picked up along the way that have helped me.

Brgds

Jonas

 

 

Thanks,Jonas. I look forward to the updates. Have you patched an English saddle seat along the seam next to the skirt?  It’s a common issue where the leather has worn and failed at the seam. I’ve declined these repairs thinking a glue on patch won’t hold. 

[Mulesaw]

3 hours ago, TomE said:

Thanks,Jonas. I look forward to the updates. Have you patched an English saddle seat along the seam next to the skirt?  It’s a common issue where the leather has worn and failed at the seam. I’ve declined these repairs thinking a glue on patch won’t hold. 

Hi Tom,

I have repaired the lower part of the saddle flap, I think it might be the same repair job you are thinking of. (the lowest part of the saddle where the inside of the riders leg touches the saddle flap.)
I'll try to see if I have some pictures of it. If I do have those picrures, I'll just make a new thread about it.

Brgds Jonas

[TomE]

5 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

Hi Tom,

I have repaired the lower part of the saddle flap, I think it might be the same repair job you are thinking of. (the lowest part of the saddle where the inside of the riders leg touches the saddle flap.)
I'll try to see if I have some pictures of it. If I do have those picrures, I'll just make a new thread about it.

Brgds Jonas

It is a tear along the edge of the seat where it is sewn to the skirt.  Replacing the seat costs $800-$900 (above my pay grade) and folks are looking for an inexpensive fix.  I've been told by clients that some saddlers patch these, but I don't think a glue on patch would hold.

[Mulesaw]

17 minutes ago, TomE said:

It is a tear along the edge of the seat where it is sewn to the skirt.  Replacing the seat costs $800-$900 (above my pay grade) and folks are looking for an inexpensive fix.  I've been told by clients that some saddlers patch these, but I don't think a glue on patch would hold.

Ouch..

No, those tears are for some weird reason not that common on the saddles that I have been tasked to repair.
I would also not rely on glue to hold a patch there. And I would be afraid that If I attached a patch, it would sort of gnaw in your inner thigh, and probably cause a blister really quick, at least if the edge eventually fold over a bit. 

I think I might have repaired a similar tear once, but I don't think I ever took any pictures of it. It was a breaking in saddle, so it got a lot of beating, and they weren't that concerned about the looks. That one I repaired by making a baseball stitch. I didn't get any complaints about it, and it ended up looking fine. 
That would still be my suggestion for this saddle. It will blend in far better than a patch on the outside, especially if you find some light brown thread. Plus it is an inexpensive and fairly fast repair. You could use either curved needles or regular saddlers needles for the job, and a small awl to make the holes. 

Another alternative would be to cover the entire seat with a new piece.
It would probably benefit from a bit of wet forming first. Next cut it out so it follows the original sewing line. 
This is then stitched to the stitching line. The new stitches should be stitched to the existing stitches, not through the leather (In an effort to make it as fast as possible)
This would still be faster than replacing the seat, but I think it will be difficult to make it look really nice, and also getting a curved needle through every 2nd old stitch might not be a walk in the park.

It is always a dilemma if the saddle can justifiably be repaired taken into account he price of a similar saddle with less wear. 
I picked up 2 tiny pony jumping saddles a couple of years ago with the intention of completely refurbishing them. Mostly to learn from the process such as methods and how long time this and that would take, and how difficult each operation would be. But I haven't found the time to get much further in that project.
Over here, very few (if any) old English style saddles could bear a repair job that would be so costly. There are loads of old well used saddles to be had for a reasonable price. 
And most of the new and really expensive saddles just don't have those wear related damages.

Good luck with the repair job.

Brgds Jonas

 

[Goldshot Ron]

Jonas, very nice work on the lead.  Tom, I have looked at your seat project and it seems like there is no cheap-decent looking repair that one could do.  But, could you cut the stitching along the bottom of the tear, insert a patch under the seat, stitch along the upper part of the tear, and finish by restitching the original seam?  With that said, it doesn't seem like an inexpensive repair either.  You still have to remove the bottom of the saddle to get to the top section, don't you?  I'd like to know what you decided.

Ron

[jcuk]

22 hours ago, TomE said:

It is a tear along the edge of the seat where it is sewn to the skirt.  Replacing the seat costs $800-$900 (above my pay grade) and folks are looking for an inexpensive fix.  I've been told by clients that some saddlers patch these, but I don't think a glue on patch would hold.

Hi are you able to remove the seat from the tree if so patch it from the under side of the seat much neater fix, looking at seat the i would put a larger patch than just for the tear because looking at the area around the tear, looks fragile as well that would help strengthen that area too(saves another repair in near future) glue it onto the seat the stitch onto the skirt trim excess with skirt shave/french edger,  just make sure you have allowed enough so that you can stretch it back onto the tree hopefully you will not have to stitch anymore stretching back onto the tree should hold it in place as Ron has said not a quick or cheap option but quicker and cheaper than replacing the hole seat and a much better fix than a patch on top also a good learning curve for you. The leather i would use would be pigskin or kangaroo both strong and light weight.

Hope this helps 

JCUK

On 2/19/2025 at 6:03 PM, Mulesaw said:

I was once again inspired by @TomE, but at the moment I can't find the post with his beautiful work. 

For Christmas I made a leather lead with a stallion chain connected to it for Gustavs girlfriend. She is an incredibly skilled dressage rider, and like all the dressage riders I know, she prefers her tack to be black, so that kind of dictated the colour of the lead rope :-)

I have to admit that I have forgotten some of the details since it has been a couple of months since I made it. But the strap is 1" wide, I think the total length is close to 8' including the chain. The lead rope is doubled part of the way and ends up being a single layer of leather near the end.

Hi nice work, its been a long time since i made one i believe the chain fitting is a 1/18'' or 1/14'' pretty sure 1/18''

Hope this helps

JCUK