First Saddle Project - Advice Appreciated

[rdl123]

Thanks for the comments everyone - I am going to try to get the finished, blocked skirts to measure @ 28" - 28.5" - I'll lace them about half way @ back.

Randy - The cantle back is tooled - Not a very good picture though - I'll try to get a better one. When it came time to actually install the cantle back I had some fun with it - Profile of tree at the cantle is quite 'bubbled' and I had a hard time convincing the leather to actually stick in all areas - Ended up pounding it down several times with a hammer over a leather pad - However - It didn't make cantle back any prettier...

Oltoot - I agree - Flow and balance is what is really important to me - I think that some of the best looking saddles out there are the plain ones that are really well proportioned...I've looked at Steve Masons work a fair bit - I like his lines and how his rigs look.

How important is it to slick out my rigging leathers?

R

[Goldshot Ron]

Randy, what you'll find is that saddle pads are only 29 to 31 inches in length. Last year I built a saddle that I thought looked good, and it was based on a design of Pat Parreli's saddle. The skirts were too long for the clients pad and his horse. I ended up making new skirts; and, the finished product now fit the clients horse; but, didn't look the way that I had envisioned.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Goldshot Ron

[thecowboy7]

Randy, what you'll find is that saddle pads are only 29 to 31 inches in length. Last year I built a saddle that I thought looked good, and it was based on a design of Pat Parreli's saddle. The skirts were too long for the clients pad and his horse. I ended up making new skirts; and, the finished product now fit the clients horse; but, didn't look the way that I had envisioned.

Ron - Just an FYI... while most of my arena pads are around 30", all of my pads for daily ranch work and ridin' in the mountains are at least 32" long. I even have a nice Coolback pad that is 34" long. It costs a little more to get them, but I've found that when riding sometimes 50-60 miles a day with saddlebags on the back and gear on the front, a long pad goes the extra-mile in protecting the horse. Some might think it's overkill, but I've never had a horse complain

[rdl123]

Thanks cowboy7: I measured my good wool pads last night and one is 32" and the other is 33" - The Navajos I use over them are just a bit shorter. So should be OK. This saddle will get used on a bunch of horses so I want to make sure it doesn't get too long - Especially if I'm riding younger horses.

[thecowboy7]

Thanks cowboy7: I measured my good wool pads last night and one is 32" and the other is 33" - The Navajos I use over them are just a bit shorter. So should be OK. This saddle will get used on a bunch of horses so I want to make sure it doesn't get too long - Especially if I'm riding younger horses.

No problem... Your pad setup sounds really similar to mine. Also, I totally agree about making sure the saddle isn't too long. Mine works great on the bigger ranch horses, but on smaller stock and colts it's a bit much. I'll be starting to build my first saddle middle of this month, and I'm shooting for something that I can use on a bigger variety of horses. Oh, and I'm definitely lookin' forward to seein' your saddle when it's all finished!

[Aurelie]

NICE work going!

[rdl123]

So this weekend I cut my skirts out, fitted them to the tree and blocked them, Also got out flat plate rigging and the liners for these plates.

However, bit of an issue with my skirts - I'd sure like to hear your thoughts on this - Basically I used the Al Stohlman pattern for skirts and went slightly butterfly with the pattern.

However, as you can see in the picture they aren't very deep at the rear cantle point - Or where the rear billet rigging plate will be - My question is - Do I just go ahead and use them or do I cut new ones that are deeper? It is important t me that this saddle is 100% functional - Especially for roping. Will these smaller skirts @ the back be an issue?

Kind of frustrating to say the least! My pattern looked great - However once I actually got the skirts laced and on I realized I need to take 3/8" of each side @ the rear where they butt up - The 3/8" was removed from the inside side - This jacked the skirts up another 3/8" plus blocking sucked up more skirt material than I had guesstimated - The bottom line is they are way shallower than I had planned on. Should I live with it or cut new skirts - Probable means buying a new side of Herman Oak.

rdl

Edited January 13, 2014 by rdl123

[rdl123]

Oops - Started post I didn't mean to...

Edited January 13, 2014 by rdl123

[Aurelie]

hum....

just my 2 cents.....other will give their toughts if they want

1/ you re with flate plates so the back rigging will be attached to the flat plates (not the skirts) = here no troubles in paradise (you do have a lot of room between the back rigging and the sirt (the other way around would be a problem)

2/ regarding the skirts (i am talking for myself ) : i ve been taught that skirts had a play in "support" (i won't discuss that further because this is a touchy subject - i do not care if people agree or not / i do not care to enter an endless discussion about who is right or wrong)

SO i would tend to say :

i would do them a bit wider than that for a ranch BUT i would do that kind of skirts for a Barrel

ANYWAY : i think that you can stay with that AND keep in mind this thought for your next saddle ....

I do not think that there is a "big" problem technically speaking but more an esthetical one

Keep going

[rdl123]

Thanks Aurelie: Also, I do have enough room still to move the rear plate up about 3/4" and it will still be off the bars - This will help the aesthetic issue...My jockeys can swoop down, cover rivets in rear plate, and be off of skirt line by about 1" or so...

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

rdl