Leather lead with stallion chain

[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

[Mulesaw]

@Goldshot Ron Thanks Ron, I find that the problem with some of those saddle repairs is that my fingers itch to make a job, but the reality of the economics often prevents a correct proper job. I'd have do be completely sure that the customer would be OK with a hefty price, before starting on something really big. But the challenge of doing it is luring me like the song of the Sirens :-)

@jcuk Thanks, this chain was the only one they had available at the local tack store. I got home from the ship on the 19th of December, so I had to make something fast for it to be ready for Christmas :-)

Brgds Jonas

[TomE]

On 2/21/2025 at 12:42 PM, Goldshot Ron said:

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

Thanks, Ron.  I chose not to repair the rip in the seat.  It's a well worn saddle that needs to be reflocked, in my opinion.  I'd need to remove the seat to sew the seam that joins the seat to the skirt.  I'll need to take apart a junk saddle or two before I feel comfortable removing the seat from a client's saddle.

 

On 2/21/2025 at 1:21 PM, jcuk said:

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

H

I don't have good instructions for removing a seat and will have to do some exploratory surgery on a throw away saddle.  I was given an old pony saddle that will serve as a training example for tearing down a saddle.