Apx age of old saddle and what to do with tree after I tore it down?

[wyldflower]

Howdy again~

I picked up an old saddle at the auction - I really liked the border design, and it seemed pretty intact. Worst case scenario it would be my tear down project. So, I started cleaning it up, but sadly, the leather was in pretty sorry shape on a lot of it with dry rot setting in. No maker's mark or such anywhere. So, I got some great practice at tearing down. It took me about a day total, took a ton of photos and actually had a lot of fun learning about how it was put together.

I'm curious as to the approximate age if any one has an idea. And since I'm developing a taste for these old rigs, if someone could recommend a book or two that would help me with identifying age, style, maker, etc. that would be wonderful.

The tree looked pretty good to my totally-untrained eye (pics attached, showing overall and the two iffy spots ), so I took it out to the barn and set it on some horses. This was the first time I've set a bare tree on a horse, so I really didn't know what I was doing, but I was guessing that the bar should "flow" with the shape of the horse, without the edges digging anywhere based on what I've learned (mostly here at LW btw!). This old tree seemed to be made for a "rafter" shaped horse - narrow, whose body sloped down from the spine. I tried it on a friend's thoroughbred, and the angle seemed better than on my paint horses, but it bridged on the outside edges on the front and back bar tips. My first thought is the bar angles are telling me this is a pretty old tree and will not fit most modern horses - am I on the right track?

So... now that I've got it torn down to the tree, and if the tree won't fit many horses, what do I do with the tree? And, how does one judge the condition of the tree, in general and for it's age?

Thanks so much

Dixie

Edited August 27, 2009 by wyldflower

[steveh]

Howdy again~

I picked up an old saddle at the auction - I really liked the border design, and it seemed pretty intact. Worst case scenario it would be my tear down project. So, I started cleaning it up, but sadly, the leather was in pretty sorry shape on a lot of it with dry rot setting in. No maker's mark or such anywhere. So, I got some great practice at tearing down. It took me about a day total, took a ton of photos and actually had a lot of fun learning about how it was put together.

I'm curious as to the approximate age if any one has an idea. And since I'm developing a taste for these old rigs, if someone could recommend a book or two that would help me with identifying age, style, maker, etc. that would be wonderful.

The tree looked pretty good to my totally-untrained eye (pics attached, showing overall and the two iffy spots ), so I took it out to the barn and set it on some horses. This was the first time I've set a bare tree on a horse, so I really didn't know what I was doing, but I was guessing that the bar should "flow" with the shape of the horse, without the edges digging anywhere based on what I've learned (mostly here at LW btw!). This old tree seemed to be made for a "rafter" shaped horse - narrow, whose body sloped down from the spine. I tried it on a friend's thoroughbred, and the angle seemed better than on my paint horses, but it bridged on the outside edges on the front and back bar tips. My first thought is the bar angles are telling me this is a pretty old tree and will not fit most modern horses - am I on the right track?

So... now that I've got it torn down to the tree, and if the tree won't fit many horses, what do I do with the tree? And, how does one judge the condition of the tree, in general and for it's age?

Thanks so much

Dixie

[steveh]

Very nice saddle, lot of history there. Lot can be learned by tacking them apart on how they where constructed.I would save the tree it is a great example of the trees made in that era. some note worthy contruction that would give clues to its era; swell fork, straight up high cantel with very little dish.eight button seat. round skirts(california influence), stirrup leather ouside fender. I would guess this saddle to be some where between 1910-to 1925. A great book on saddles is They saddled the west by Rice. The old time trees may not fit todays horses, horses conformation has changed alot from that era.

steve

[wyldflower]

Thank you, Steve, for the information about the approximate age of the saddle - very helpful and appreciated. I will look around for a copy of the book.

I tried to be as gentle as I could in taking it apart, as I wanted to preserve the original pieces as much as possible. Fortunately the only part that didn't survive were a few of the llittle scallops where the leather wrapped the fork into the gullet - they just crumbled and the nails were a bugger to get out. I couldn't believe how many nails were in that saddle! I saved all of the nails too, except the one that rolled underneath the washer. I will use the original pieces to copy the tooling and perhaps rebuild a replica or very similar saddle to this one.

You suggestion of hanging onto the tree as an example of old time workmanship, besides being great advice, just resonated with my packrat tendencies. I love when those tendencies get some justification!

thanks much

Dixie

Very nice saddle, lot of history there. Lot can be learned by tacking them apart on how they where constructed.I would save the tree it is a great example of the trees made in that era. some note worthy contruction that would give clues to its era; swell fork, straight up high cantel with very little dish.eight button seat. round skirts(california influence), stirrup leather ouside fender. I would guess this saddle to be some where between 1910-to 1925. A great book on saddles is They saddled the west by Rice. The old time trees may not fit todays horses, horses conformation has changed alot from that era.

steve

[steveh]

Thank you, Steve, for the information about the approximate age of the saddle - very helpful and appreciated. I will look around for a copy of the book.

I tried to be as gentle as I could in taking it apart, as I wanted to preserve the original pieces as much as possible. Fortunately the only part that didn't survive were a few of the llittle scallops where the leather wrapped the fork into the gullet - they just crumbled and the nails were a bugger to get out. I couldn't believe how many nails were in that saddle! I saved all of the nails too, except the one that rolled underneath the washer. I will use the original pieces to copy the tooling and perhaps rebuild a replica or very similar saddle to this one.

You suggestion of hanging onto the tree as an example of old time workmanship, besides being great advice, just resonated with my packrat tendencies. I love when those tendencies get some justification!

thanks much

Dixie

Dixie,

You might want gently clean the pieces you removed with a fiebings glyceren bar and some warm water, just to draw out the soiled dirt.Then condition them, neats foot does'nt do much for older dry brittle leather , paste conditioners like holes saddle butter, or picards seem to revitalize the leather a little better.Another thing you might want to do is to get some pencil rubbings of the stamps. You could probly have a good tool maker, make the stamp for you. In many cases some parts of the saddle are still in good shape , but the stirrup leather fenders and horn need replacement, I have used wickett and craig brown dyed skirting, as replacement parts when you get it oiled it matches up with the old leather rather well.I Have a saddle made by the otto Earnst saddlery with very similar to yours and it was made 1914 to 1918 this according to the book , history of saddle making unversity of wyoming.

steve