Saddle Seat Repair/replace

[DoubleC]

I'm sorry Knut, I was just going on my gut too, and you're probably right. Cheryl

[oldtimer]

I'm sorry Knut, I was just going on my gut too, and you're probably right. Cheryl

I might be wrong, but my gut tells me ...;-)

/ Knut

[DoubleC]

I'm just sorry I snarked at you. I was too tired by then to be even looking at forums, but that does not excuse it. I haven't a clue, just know I'd take it off Kevin's hands and fix it and sell it to someone :-) It could on my list of 193272 things I'm going to do that with :-) Cheryl

[longtooth]

The cost to do the seat would be about 750 dollars. The hide for the seat and the side jockeys are very expensive. English bridle leather from England will make you gasp. I wonder who was chewing on the cantle? Some jobs are better left alone.

[Kevin]

Longtooth is right on the price and that is on the low side. You can tell from the shiney leather, it is either a cheap saddle or is very, very dry. Most English seats do, did, have seams in the back, now they sometimes pad the back of the cantle to do away with the wrinkles that would occur otherwise. Rounded (dressage) cantles are easier to do with no seams.

Everything does come off but the "groundseat" and the rear 4 billets. It's almost a three day job. Take everything apart, block your new seat leather on, let it dry, take it off, sew it together and put it all back together.

Kevin

[Kevin]

I may be wrong, but the saddle looks Argentine to me.

Kevin

[Jax]

I've done some of these, a few years ago though, its not such a scary job, if you are seaming by hand it is rather long winded though, if it is a quality saddle (I wouldn't like to say from the pics, are there any makers plates under the skirts? That may be an indication of better quality) the repair would be well worth it but if not then will the person let you have the saddle just to "play" with, then you could strip it down to see what goes on inside. The main problem you may face is if it is made on a plastic tree as you cannot tack into a plastic tree you must use staples and best to use an air stapler too. Good luck!!

[fivewayswelshcobs]

I wish we could get $750 for re-seating a saddle -last one I did was £140 , they can be a pain in the rear end but satisfying when finished. The time taken depends on the hide used. As for someone doing it without training I wouldn't touch it as everything needs to be put together in the right place and pulled on straight as it can affect the way a saddle rides and can also affect the horse and its back. It can be patched but personally I dislke the way it would look but for a cheap job it can be done. I know if someone came to me and asked me to do more than a basic repair on a western saddle I would tell them to find a saddler who knows about that type of saddle as I am only trained in english saddles.(master saddler)

[TackCollector]

It looks like an Argentina saddle to me. Cantle cover (see pic for example; this is from CWD) or the other thing I've seen in English saddle repair books is slip a piece of leather underneath there, smooth it out, glue it, and pinch up the seat edges as close together as possible while it's druing. Then take a wax pencil and fill in the gap with wax afterward. I can see where the cap might be faster, lol.