Saddle Making

[Tex]

I have a few questions about saddle making.

I have been working leather for quite a few years now but have never stepped up to building saddles. I have had no formal training & am self taught.I have learned form my mistakes cause leather & time ain't cheap & it cost you money on whatever you are making. I have done some saddle repairs & that was what got me thinking on building some saddles. I have seen some really bad things on some of the factory saddles I have repaired. Not saying that all of the factories do these things. One as a matter of fact was a new saddle I bought for me from what was suppose to be a reputable factory in Tx. where I am from. Needless to say that saddle was shipped back the same day I received it due to some problems that should have never been. I am no expert by any means but horse sense tells you a few things. I have also seen alot of low end saddles built where I live now & wonder why even put something out like this. This is AMERICA not some foreign country trying to pawn off junk on the public.

My questions are:

Is it crazy to think of building some saddles without any kind of formal training on saddle building?

Why are there not any 18" Wade tree saddles or 18" saddles on the market except on special orders?

I was told by a reputable Idaho maker that anything over a 16 1/2" would sore the horse unless you are riding a draft horse. If this is true what is a Texas Midget like me to do. I am 6'4" & 300 lbs. I have been riding an 18" factory made saddle & it felt like I was tilted forward. I move the stirrups leather all I could & that didn't help matters any.

I was told by a reputable Montana maker that an 18" was a better than trying to squeeze a big person down into a smaller seat due to rider comfort & comfort to the horse by spreading the riders weight over a larger area of the horses back.

I know you have to have a good tree to start with. The seat & swells are very important & need very close attention when building. And that you need to use #1 leather. So how crazy am I to think on building saddles? I mainly want to do this for me, my family & friends. And if these work out good then make some for sale to the public. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Goldshot Ron]

Well, since no one responded to your questions I'll try to give you some advice. First, the average length of the bars for saddles is about 23 inches. As you push the cantle back to make the seat larger, you don't increase the length of the bars. So this places the center of balance for the rider out of alignment to the horse's center of balance. The overall length of the skirts is usually around 27 to 28 inches in length. If the skirts are longer, you'll need a larger pad (duh), but often overlooked. With a longer and larger pad, you start interferring with the hips of the horse, another possible sore spot for the horse. I recently ran into this problem with a saddle that I built, and I am now remaking the skirts to fit the horse, not the rider or saddle style. Hope I didn't bore you, but, you may want to consider a draft cross for your primary steed Tex.

Ron

[Rod and Denise Nikkel]

First, the average length of the bars for saddles is about 23 inches. As you push the cantle back to make the seat larger, you don't increase the length of the bars. So this places the center of balance for the rider out of alignment to the horse's center of balance.

This is true for production trees where the bars are replicated by duplicating machines of various sorts (though even production companies often have a longer bar length for extra long seats). This is not true for real hand made trees where the bars are made individually for each tree. Most hand made makers (ourselves included) keep the same distance in front of the fork cut and behind the cantle cut on the bar and vary the distance between them, meaning that the bar length changes depending on the seat size desired. Of course you hit a maximum length after which you interfere with the horse and then there are tricks we can play with angles cut on bars and cantle that help keep the bar length shorter while still giving room for the rider while keeping him more central on the bars, or moving the fork forward on the bars, etc.. Only when we hit the end with all our tricks do we have to resort to moving the cantle back on the bars themselves.

You also have to remember that pressure (weight divided by surface area) along a time continuum are what is important. Lots of weight can push the limit on the time a large person can safely ride, even with as much surface area as possible, and they need to be aware of that.

So yes, making trees and saddles for larger riders means things have to be that much more carefully built so as to not harm the horses. The market for such saddles is also a small percentage of the main market. Both reasons are proabaly why the bigger companies don't cater to it. There may very well be a niche market there that is open for someone to take advantage of, but a good understanding of how saddles work on horses and what is needed to keep them comfortable would be a must if you aren't going to have unhappy customers with sore horses.

As to your question, there are a lot of saddle makers who have had no official training. There are more good resources available now than there probably ever have been. Check out the pinned topics at the top of the Saddle Trade Resources section in this forum. You sound like you have a good idea of what you want to do and why, and there's no harm in trying!

[Tex]

Much obliged for yall's replies. I reckon being a Texas midget does complicate matters a bit. That was 1 thing I was wondering about if the cantle was moved further back on the bars if it got into the horses kidney area or puts more weight in that area. I just always figured the skirts would have to be cut no larger so that it didn't interfere with the hip area. I know I have seen a man riding a 21" saddle & he makes me look small. That 1 blew me away cause I thought 19" was the biggest. Are these 18" & 19" factory saddles not really safe for the horse? My steed is a 15 HH 1/4 horse that is 1150 lbs. He is stout as lye water. I have tied on to some big bulls with him & he pulls them pretty durn good in my opinion.That's a pretty good horse carrying a rider my size & pulling a 1800 lb. to 2000 lb. bull. I sure don't do it daily but I have had to do it. I really appreciate any experience & knowledge I can get from anyone.

Adios,Tex.