diference between a cowhorse saddle and reiner saddle

[PENSKE]

Im a saddlemaker in mexico and a person ask me the

diference between a cow horse saddle and a reiner

I belive its the swell and horn Do I wrong.

[Priam1]

Im a saddlemaker in mexico and a person ask me the

diference between a cow horse saddle and a reiner

I belive its the swell and horn Do I wrong.

I'm not a saddle maker, but I am a reiner and what we like is to have a lower horn so it does not get in the way of our rein hand, since we ride with a low hand and a lot of loop in the rein and lighter bars so we can get closer to the horse. Depending on what part of the country you are, the saddles may be slightly different. I am East of the Mississippi River, so we ride Texas style as opposed to California/Vaquero style. Most of us in the East ride for pleasure meaning that we do not work on ranches and most of us do not rope so we do not need a heavy tree. We do not have as easy access to working cattle as other states do so reining is much more popular than Reined Cow Horse. We also like a rise to the saddle to sit the sliding stops easier--but not too much since our technique is to guide our horses with primarily leg pressure and it is very important for us to get in balance with the horse because the cue for our horses to slow down is not hand movement in the reins, but a slight rocking back on the hind to make the horse slow down when we do our small circles. Our horses have to ride between our legs, which means that their shoulders have to be straight up and their hind end behind their front or as we sometimes say-- tracking straight. If you are used to building a Charro saddle, I assume you usually have a flat seat with no rise. As far as swells are concerned, a moderate swell like the Association or Modified Association would be fine. As far as rigging is concerned, 7/8 or 3/4 is what I see most of. Not too much full doubles. Hope that help Compadre.

[CLH]

I'm not a saddle maker, but I am a reiner and what we like is to have a lower horn so it does not get in the way of our rein hand, since we ride with a low hand and a lot of loop in the rein and lighter bars so we can get closer to the horse. Depending on what part of the country you are, the saddles may be slightly different. I am East of the Mississippi River, so we ride Texas style as opposed to California/Vaquero style. Most of us in the East ride for pleasure meaning that we do not work on ranches and most of us do not rope so we do not need a heavy tree. We do not have as easy access to working cattle as other states do so reining is much more popular than Reined Cow Horse. We also like a rise to the saddle to sit the sliding stops easier--but not too much since our technique is to guide our horses with primarily leg pressure and it is very important for us to get in balance with the horse because the cue for our horses to slow down is not hand movement in the reins, but a slight rocking back on the hind to make the horse slow down when we do our small circles. Our horses have to ride between our legs, which means that their shoulders have to be straight up and their hind end behind their front or as we sometimes say-- tracking straight. If you are used to building a Charro saddle, I assume you usually have a flat seat with no rise. As far as swells are concerned, a moderate swell like the Association or Modified Association would be fine. As far as rigging is concerned, 7/8 or 3/4 is what I see most of. Not too much full doubles. Hope that help Compadre.

Try google ing Don Leson saddles, He makes some really nice saddles,also BoBs Saddles. You should be able to see the differance. Merry Christmas Clint Haverty

[bruce johnson]

Penske,

I missed this thread until Clint brought it to the front again. We did some of this in the past and my sister-in-law is a serious reined cowhorse person who has shown on several levels for a long time. Mostly she has trained and shown in cutting board type saddles for the last several years. Maybe a little more front rise in the seat than some extreme boards, but a BW kind of front end with a 3-1/2"or so horn kicked forward a little. The biggest difference between the two events is working a single cow down the fence. They want a horn they may need to get ahold of turning a cow on the fence and pulling up out of a tight turn. Some want a little longer seat for some room to maneuver without getting popped up out of there. The reiners seem to like maybe a little lower set of swells and lower horn, and maybe a little shorter seat.

With the increasing popularity of some of the ranch horse versatility classes and "Horsemen" contests having steer stopping again, some of the cowhorse people are needing something they can rope out of now too. The beefed up BW ranch cutters with a roping horn and a little bigger bar pattern are getting more popular looks like.