The right saddle for calf and team roping

[Rod and Denise Nikkel]

Keith,

The minimum neck size we make on a wood post horn is 2 1/8" in the wood. (We make it larger for horns with larger cap sizes to balance the look.) This is just what we are happy with for strength (using laminated hardwood for the entire horn). A 3 1/4" horn cap is only 3" in the wood, so 7/8" difference in total. We tried to make a few at 3" (2 3/4" in the wood) and that left very little room for shaping. As well, the smaller the horn cap, the less distance there is for the horn to slope down from the front to the back, making the back of the horn taller relative to the front than on larger horn caps. The result ends up looking a whole lot like a pop can stuck on the top of a fork, especially once you get the horn wrapped. Some people like that look - and even order the horn with no dome to accentuate it - but most people like a bit more shape to it. So that is where the 3 1/4" measurement comes from.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Rod and Denise Nikkel

[bruce johnson]

There is a little section in one of the old saddle books - "They Saddled the West" I think, or possibly Beattie's book just titled "Saddles" about the evolution of the metal horn. Originally they were all wood horns and solid forks. Pictures of those old relics looks like the necks were fairly thin, about like the metal horns now. The horns snapped off and sometime in the 1880s (?) the metal repair horns came in. I think Meana had one with a hollow base to fit over the broken stump. I have an old Visalia in right now, and the horn cap is loose from the neck. I am sort of curious if it is a wooden horn.

As famous as a broken rope was for Dean Oliver, I am sure that nobody today wants to be remembered for missing out an a world championship because their horn broke off.

Yep cowboys are wearing pink. I will be the guy wearing the bright pink shirt at King's reception in 3 getting-shorter weeks. It is the brainchild of a local rodeo wife/mother for breast cancer research, now known as "Tough Enough to Wear Pink". Originally it was a donation of something like $100 from a winery for every contestant that wore pink at a single performance of the NFR. It has mushroomed into a huge deal, and Wrangler came on board. The pink night at the NFR is cool - pink ropes, splint boots, chaps, the bucking chutes and roping chutes painted pink. Some local rodeos now have a "pink performance" and fans and contestants are encouraged to wear pink, with a percentage of gate fees going to the program. Sales percentages of TETWP clothing and merchandise goes to the fund.

[HorsehairBraider]

I don't know anything about roping, but Bruce - if you tell the guys it's "salmon", not "pink", they're more likely to go for it... "Salmon" sounds very manly...

[raftert]

Jim,

The smallest we make a wood post horn cap is 3 1/4". Not huge but not tiny either. As to tradition - there are a lot of cowboys wearing pink at the moment and, even more surprising, saddle makers are actually starting to TALK to each other, so never say never... All it would take is one top roper to use one and it would be the new fad...

To me it when steer roping that big of a horn would be slower to dally,and being that I am portly I would hit my belly.

Tim

[TwinOaks]

Raftert brings up a good point- the diameter of the horn is really going to matter when dallying. The height is also gonna play a major role because it determines how many wraps you get before doubling over on top of the rope.