Calf Roping Saddles

[HanginH]

Hey everybody,

I was looking a building myself a new saddle to Calf Rope out of and seeing as I have never built on before I thought I would see if anyone on here has made any or had any insight on construction, trees, hardware etc. Lots of guys that I have talked to are using the Faith calf roping saddles and I had a look at one of the trees and they seem to be similar to an OY tree but didn't know if anyone has a tree or modified tree that they like to use.

Like I say any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[bruce johnson]

I'll bump this thread up and start it off. The modern calf roping saddle pretty much seemed to have evolved into a single purpose saddle. I have built exactly one new one so take that for what it is worth. It has worked out really well for me, but mostly all I do is tie some at home anymore. Several years ago I had several good ropers over for saddle tuneups and we kicked around what made a saddle good. Several things came out of that. First off the shorter seats are the deal, Your feet are more underneath you relative to a longer seat with most trees. You push up and rope with a lot less falling back or pulling yourself up coming out. Some guys are likng the cantles a little higher than they used to for that reason too. They like a wider seat than usual. That helps you to stay out on the side and not be shading to the middle. They aren't riding all day. Their impression was at that time that a wider seat helped them stay out, and also made it easier to slide the left leg over. Skirts left full, heavy leather and heavy plugs, along with doubled up seat jockeys. They didn't like a lot of forward stirrup movement. A couple guys had me put a reverse bind on the right leather to keep it from going too far forward. The dropped double dee rigging kind of works for this, but there are somne other rigging styles that are a little freer to the front. I usually position the front of my rear dee about at the front of the cantle point dpending on the tree and rigging position. They liked them behind that position some.

As far as trees, the bar patterns that Jeff(?) uses at Faith have a pretty good following. Lewis trees also are popular. I am sure there are others too, but those are what I hear the most. There are a few guys on here that rope really good and hopefully they can fill in some more blanks.

[jwwright]

Most of the saddle I build are for ranch cowboys and professional trainers of cowhorses, cutters and ranch competition horses........many times a combination of all those............my background is likewise. In the course of training horses for a living for 30 years, I did do some arena calf roping when I was much younger. So, based on this information, take what I have to say for what it's worth. I agree with everything that Bruce pointed out. For trees, if you are considering a true handmade tree, I know that Rod Nikkel and Jon Watsabaugh are both building calf roping and team roper trees. For swell shape, the OY and TMs have been popular for many years. The Dee Picket (DP) swells are something that I like in a saddle like this also. Most prefer a lower gullet height on these as well..............7 1/4" or 7 1/2". JW

[gtwister09]

Well Bruce has pretty much hit the nail on the head about a single purpose saddle. He likewise has done a good synopsis of their concerns and design requirements about seat length, width, stirrups, rigging and styles. It is spot on with what I have been gathering from ropers and saddlemakers over the years. Other ropers have different requirements as well including different styles such as team roping or the WRCA (as JW mentioned about working cowboys).

In talking with some family members and other guys, they have tried a bunch of different custom makers and semi-production models. Some of the custom ones that they have used and liked are Faith, Hogg, Slone, Council, Wharton, Kaspersky, Hamil, Tieking/Lewis and Martin (before Equibrand).

Some of the tree styles that they like are as follows:

Dee Pickett

Bowman/SF Bowman

Toots Mansfield/Low Toots Mansfield

Olin Young

Chuck Shepherd

Betty Gayle Cooper

WIll James

I know Lewis Saddle Tree and Oxbow both produce a Hogg tree. I know that Tieking/Lewis have a great reputation among the team ropers and I don't know much about Oxbow. Hopefully this information can fill in some more gaps.

Regards,

Ben