New Saddle

[TroyWest]

These pictures have been in my camera for months. Just put them on the computer. It's an O.Y. roper with a flat plate. I made the tree and the conchos too. Tree is made of poplar and covered with rawhide. Conchos are solid sterling. Thanks for looking.

Edited August 17, 2010 by TroyWest

[kseidel]

I sure understand about having pics for months and not getting them posted! Who has time for this shameless self promotion..... Exceptionally nice work Troy! Overall balance is very attractive to me. Thanks for posting this inspiration.

Keith

[GrampaJoel]

Very Nice!!

Looks like a lot of time went into the saddle.

The best part.

You did it all!

[D.A. Kabatoff]

Troy,

that saddle is beautiful; it's a pleasure to look at a saddle and see all the little details finished so smoothly. I'm guessing that cantle binding wasn't too much fun to sew being flipped down some and the leading edge so far forward... looks like seven or eight stitches per inch?

Nice work!

Darcy

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Without question, that is the type of work we all aspire to. Please continue to post pics of all of your work, it gives us inspiration. Very very nice!

Bondo Bob

[Steve Brewer]

Very nice saddle Troy,Its great to see a piece of art work

Steve

[TroyWest]

Keith, I read your post to my wife and we both got a kick out of it. Wish you would do a little more shameless self promotion on here. We love to see your work. Thanks for

the kind word.

GrandpaJoel and Bob, Thank you both very much.

Darcy, I do like my cantles turned down and my binders close to the edge. It is only 6 stitches per inch though. Thank you for the kind words also.

Hey Steve, Thank you too.

Edited August 17, 2010 by TroyWest

[gtwister09]

Troy,

As always... A great job! Everyone else has already commented on balance, beauty and style so there's not a lot more to add except to join in the concert of accolades. I have always liked the uniqueness of the open diamond patterns that many of your saddle carry.

Regards,

Ben

[jwwright]

Certainly is work to aspire to. Thanks, JW

[aermotor]

Troy, thanks for posting such high quality work for the rest of us to see. It sure sets a high goal for me. I always like to see the pretty bar-grounding with the Sheridan style. Regards, Aermotor.

[hidepounder]

Wow Troy, that's beautiful! I'm not sure I could rope out of it, though. I'd put it on a saddle rack next to my television where I could stare at it while pretending to watch TV! The tooling is beautiful as yours always is and I'm inspired to improve my own tooling after looking at yours. Thanks for sharing!

BTW.....why don't we see more plate rigged roping saddles? Cost?

Bobby

[TroyWest]

Ben, I'm shallow enough that I haven't grown weary of hearing those accolades so thank you very much. It may surprise you but this is only the 2nd saddle that I tooled an

open diamond pattern on. The other was a wade.

JW Thanks

Aermotor Thank you, always wondered how you got that handle.

Bobby You see great tooling every day when you look at your own stuff !! LOL. I appreciate it very much. I think there are a few more flat plates in the arena than there used

to be but the double D is still very strong in the roping world. Thanks again.

[BOB BRENNER]

Troy,

Simply elegant.

Bob

[TroyWest]

Hey Bob, Thanks. Really appreciate it.

Troy

[AndyKnight]

Troy ,

Beautiful.. all of it. awesome job on the roll

Andy

[Billy H]

Troy, What a fine looking saddle!

I'm with Hidepounder, if I put it on one of my horses first thing they would do is find a fence or trailer to rub against and I would never forgive myself or I'd have to shoot them to feel better.

I look at your work, and become a little discouraged, I passed the half century mark and I know there are not enough years left to get to your skill level.

Thanks for posting your work, love to look with a cup of coffee in the morning. Billy

[kseidel]

I look at your work, and become a little discouraged, I passed the half century mark and I know there are not enough years left to get to your skill level.

Billy

Billy,

You make me laugh! That is sooo true. Many years ago I was at a saddle show and saw this kind of work and thought I would not live long enough to get that good. It turned out to be great inspiration! Since then I have felt that it was just a matter of time and I could achieve anything I set my mind to.... recently I was in a clients home and realized that there was not enough time left in my life to make enough money to live like that. Humbling and somewhat discouraging at the same time.

Keith

[Billy H]

Hey Keith,

You are in that same caliber of makers that I refer too.

I can not remember if I have seen your work on this forum, but I have looked at your Web site on more than one occasion and find myself saying wow. Billy

[TroyWest]

Troy ,

Beautiful.. all of it. awesome job on the roll

Andy

Hey Andy,

Thanks for looking. Really appreciate your thoughts.

Troy

[TroyWest]

Troy, What a fine looking saddle!

I'm with Hidepounder, if I put it on one of my horses first thing they would do is find a fence or trailer to rub against and I would never forgive myself or I'd have to shoot them to feel better.

I look at your work, and become a little discouraged, I passed the half century mark and I know there are not enough years left to get to your skill level.

Thanks for posting your work, love to look with a cup of coffee in the morning. Billy

Hey Billy,

Thank you. I don't know what to say. There is no end to what we can all learn. I say never give up, never give in. Keep striving for excellence. It might surprise you what you really are capable of. Sometimes it is just a matter of a little instruction or adjustment in technique. Sometimes more. If you live to be 100 you still have 50 yrs to work on it. Don King was doing stuff in his eighties that I had never even thought of. Tiny, tiny flowers. A belt with maybe 50 or more flowers done and done well. Any way, thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Such kind words are an encouragement to me.

Troy

[RyanCope]

That's an immpressive backgrounding job Troy. Well done! Beautiful saddle.

Ryan

[dog]

Troy, excellent saddle thanks for posting. Dave Beagle

[TroyWest]

That's an immpressive backgrounding job Troy. Well done! Beautiful saddle.

Ryan

Hey Ryan, must of missed your post when I couldn't get on LW for a few days. Thank you so much.

Hey Dave Beagle. Haven't heard from you in a while. Thank you for the kind word also.

Troy

[Skidder]

Always great to see beautiful work! Even better when it's something that everyone else isn't doing! That's the part of working with leather that keeps me going. Taking a vision you have in your head, and then seeing it become reality and really work. You know you're onto something when 20 years from now, people will spot it and know exactly who built it because it's a unique piece of art. Awesome!

[TroyWest]

Skidder, I appreciate it very much.

Troy