"Ray Hunt" Wade

[Franca]

I am not a saddle maker, but love your forum. Thanks for letting me browse around and post a question every now and then. There are a few familiar names in here.

In Rod and Denise Nikkel's excellent post about what makes a Wade, a Wade, it says that the "Ray Hunt" Wade has a 4 ½" stock rather than the traditional 5" stock. I am curious if there are any other differences that distinguish a "Ray Hunt" Wade from the traditional? I have recently acquired an older Dale Harwood Wade and a friend asked me if it was one of his "Ray Hunt" Wades. I didn't know the answer. I could certainly find out, but the question has piqued my curiosity as to what, exactly, were the modifications Ray wanted done in order to make the Wade tree more to his liking, and why. Does anyone here know?

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Franca,

you might have to clarify what your friend was asking. It's my understanding that Dale partnered up with Ray to produce a line of saddles to meet the needs of Ray's students. Dale contracted the saddles out to several fine saddlemakers and I believe held a training session with them so that they all understood how the saddles needed to be built. The line of saddles are often referred to in the way your friend did. I can't comment on exactly what the tree specs were but presumably they had the 4 1/2" stock on the fork. I doubt any other modifications were made to the original Wade stlye of fork. Steve Mason, who sometimes visits this site was one of the saddlemakers involved in making that line of saddles, perhaps he can shed some more light on the subject.

If your friend was simply referring to the difference between a Ray Hunt style Wade tree versus a regular Wade tree, the answer is the only difference is the fork stock thicknes.

Darcy

[steve mason]

Howdy;

Myself and John Visser made the hunt saddles for a couple of years, we made two different saddles. the " ray hunt" saddles were made on a wade (5" stock) with a flat plate riggin, the "Carolyn hunt" saddles were made on a "Ray Hunt tree" (4 1/2" stock) with an inskirt riggin. On all the Hunt saddles the maker stamp read " Trails end saddle shop, makers, on all saddles that Dale makes himself the maker stamp reads maker not makers

On the Hunt saddles that John and I made we put a serial # on the skirt under the right seat jockey, all the saddle John made the # starts with JV and all of mine start with SM.

Steve

here is a photo of John and I with a stack of Hunt Saddles.

[Franca]

Thank you both for the info! That's interesting about the "Carolyn Hunt" saddle. I'm not a fan of inskirt rigging myself but I know it reduces the weight of the saddle.

I'm guessing my Harwood is not a "Ray Hunt" saddle since Dale made it for a guy who probably didn't specifically request "Ray Hunt" specs. I sure don't care as long as it fits my mare and is comfortable for me. I'm no collector; this saddle will not be sitting on display -- it's going to be used!

Wow, that's a stack of saddles, all right, Steve! You and John were very, very busy.

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Hi Franca,

I was curious why you aren't a fan of inskirt rigged saddles? I know they gained a bad reputation, usually by word of mouth, which is solely based on the poor workmanship and materials of some cheaply made factory saddles. I've noticed a trend of people starting to want them more in the last few years. If made properly, they can last a long time, they are very strong, hold the saddle well, and have less bulk under leg.

Darcy

[Newfman]

Howdy;

Myself and John Visser made the hunt saddles for a couple of years, we made two different saddles. the " ray hunt" saddles were made on a wade (5" stock) with a flat plate riggin, the "Carolyn hunt" saddles were made on a "Ray Hunt tree" (4 1/2" stock) with an inskirt riggin. On all the Hunt saddles the maker stamp read " Trails end saddle shop, makers, on all saddles that Dale makes himself the maker stamp reads maker not makers

On the Hunt saddles that John and I made we put a serial # on the skirt under the right seat jockey, all the saddle John made the # starts with JV and all of mine start with SM.

Steve

here is a photo of John and I with a stack of Hunt Saddles.

Shakin my head and grinning. Thinking How cool is that!

Love this forum.