Ralide Trees

[Echo4V]

I have noticed some Ralide trees for sale but I have never dealt with one.

I know the tree makers probably won't like them but what do you saddle makers think of them?

Does it take a special type of glue to get the leather to stick to them?

Will they hold up like a wood tree?

[moriver]

Glue works fine, trees that I have used have held up ok. Cheaper, more uniform sometimes since they are molded, I do not use them in high end saddles, but they work good and cut some costs for youth saddles.

[Echo4V]

would they tend to flex or give with a heavy rider?

I noticed the ground seat is formed on them already so is it a decent seat?

I mean if you put stirrups and rigging on it could you ride it like it is? I know that's not a great idea, I'm just wondering how much work the seat would need.

[Elton Joorisity]

IMO...junk

[TroyWest]

They will not hold up like a wood tree. I've see horns jerked off, fronts jerked off, bars broken in a dozen pieces.

[oldtimer]

Nails and screws won´t stick in the long run and the plastic has a tendency to crack and break from the pressure of the screws. Holes for screws has to be pre drilled. IMO: junk

[Denise]

I noticed the ground seat is formed on them already so is it a decent seat?

My answer to the above question is a very definite no. In years gone by, I have ridden in many ralide treed saddles and I can still feel the lump under my leg caused by the way the stirrups go through the built in groundseat. A good saddle maker can make a good seat in almost anything, but they would have to do a lot of work to make anything at all comfortable.

[Hidemechanic]

Ralides are fine for show or pleasure. But they are plastic and the get brittle with age. I've repaired some with shatered bar ends. The brakes tend to follow screw lines like glass follows a scratch like.

As for seats, they are not built to be anatomically corect so they would need a little work. I have modified the lumps and ridges out of them to make them comfortable(store boughts).

As for flex, they will not flex from rider's waight so as you can notice. They are a stiff piece of injection molded plastic. Probably more flex in a wood tree(but not from rider weight).

Ralide does make a flex tree that is not so stiff. I think you would have to be in an extreem situation for it to flex the way you are asking.

The only other thing is that the last time I talked to them I think they said they had a 25+ min. on ordering trees from them.

As for fasteners, I would use ring shanks and if I use screws either predrill or with drywall screws I work them in in stages, go in, back out,, go in further, back out then finish set. Hope that helps. GH

[TrooperChuck]

Personally, I believe no one has yet found a totally satisfactory replacement for the traditional wood and rawhide saddle tree. There is only one reason why they've been used for hundreds of years... because they are the best! My opinion only.

I've repaired a couple ralide trees, the rear bars of both had shattered into multiple pieces. I've never seen a wood/rawhide tree do this.

The old cowboy who taught me how to make saddles believed ralide trees can't hold nails as securely or as long as wood/rawhide trees. His advice to me was "Just pretend you've never heard of those."

[JRedding]

I think I'd rather ride bareback.

[Becca4U]

I think that Stohlman in his saddlemaking books gives excellent insight into the Ralide trees. I won't buy or use one.

Personally I prefer wood and rawhide covered trees. But did buy a mule saddle (from the maker - was his personal saddle). It is a wood tree with the durahide coating. Great tree and excellent saddle, but the leather does 'squeek' against the tree coating. Granted, you can get into some crazy situations even with the best mules and this saddle has held up quite well. The maker knew what he was doing!

[JerryLevine]

Ralides are fine for show or pleasure. But they are plastic and the get brittle with age. I've repaired some with shatered bar ends. The brakes tend to follow screw lines like glass follows a scratch like.

As for seats, they are not built to be anatomically corect so they would need a little work. I have modified the lumps and ridges out of them to make them comfortable(store boughts).

As for flex, they will not flex from rider's waight so as you can notice. They are a stiff piece of injection molded plastic. Probably more flex in a wood tree(but not from rider weight).

Ralide does make a flex tree that is not so stiff. I think you would have to be in an extreem situation for it to flex the way you are asking.

The only other thing is that the last time I talked to them I think they said they had a 25+ min. on ordering trees from them.

As for fasteners, I would use ring shanks and if I use screws either predrill or with drywall screws I work them in in stages, go in, back out,, go in further, back out then finish set. Hope that helps. GH

Did you use the ring shanks for everything you'd use a tack/nail for? Were they any particular finish; plated or stainelss steel?

Thanks.

Jerry

[mulefool]

Over the years I've seen alot more broken Ralide trees than rawhide covered wood. Also the bars don't have as much bearing surface as most good rawhide covered wood trees, either. I'm not sure I would feel too bad about one in a pony or kids saddle, but for anything that is really used at all, I'm with the traditional tree. Chris

[saddles]

It all depends on what you are doing with them. I have found the seats in some of them to be more comfortable than alot of the big, wide ropers out there. They tend to get brittle with age though, and are subject to temperature change. They either fit a horse or they don't. The best thing about them is they make several specialty trees that are hard to find. It's also relatively inexpensive to replace them when they do break since they have never changed the patterns. There are several knock offs of these trees out there as well, and they are WAY worse then the originals. We used to build a production saddle for Weaver Leather a few years ago. We built around 1,000 saddles on the Ralide trees. We use a stainless steel pan head sheet metal screw on them with great success. The screw melts right into the plastic as you run it in. Now after that screw has been taken out a few times for repairs and such, you may need to retap it or use a longer screw. Also, the only time we have seen the bars tails broken off is when they have had string holes drilled all the way through them. They can and do hold up to several years of riding, but you have to have the type of tree for the activity you have chosen. A barrel/pleasure tree was not designed to rope out of for instance, you just can't get that through some peoples heads

Lacey

[greg gomersall]

Ralide builds trees they bill as roping trees but thier warrenty states subject to normal use and to them roping is not considered normal use for a saddle. Kinda hard to collect on that kind of wording. do ypurself and your horse a favor and ride bareback till you can afford something better. Greg

[saddles]

I'm not debating the right or the wrong of them, just telling you what I know from working on and building on alot of them. I'm sure everyone would love to own a custom saddle built especially for their horse, but the truth is that's not going to happen for alot of people. You have to know how to deal with them (ralide trees) when they come to you for repairs, fit problems, etc. because there are more out there then we all care to admit.Would I recommend one? Yes and no. Depends on the circumstances. Trail riding, yes. Roping, no. In my opinion there are even worse super cheap rawhide covered wood trees out there.

Lacey

Edited January 22, 2009 by saddles

[greg gomersall]

kind of misleading to advertise them as a roping tree when they turn around and say roping is not normal use for a saddle tree when something goes wrong. Fecal matter is still fecal matter no matter how you package it. Greg

[saddles]

Everyone's entitled to their opinion...

[gloomis]

It didn't take much to pop this one off.

[saddles]

Are you sure this is off a Ralide brand tree, or is it a knock off? By the pictures of the horns I'm seeing in my catalog there's no way, unless it's pretty old, that it is a Ralide. There are several companies out there that are using various brands of injected molded trees, somehow the Ralide company gets to take the blame for all of them.

Lacey

[Denise]

Lacey,

What are the names of some of the companies making knock offs? I'm not familiar with them myself.

[saddles]

Hey Denise, I wish I could remember or find the info around here. Some of them it's virtually impossible to find a phone number at all as they only sell to very large manufacturing outfits. I can describe them though, we had to hunt one down last summer to replace the tree in a little junker barrel racer. The only reason we found it was because Ralide themselves gave us like three different places to call. We figured it mainly from the number on the tree, which was not a Ralide number. Also the horn was braided which they do not do. We've had to do small repairs on several others as well. The biggest tip off is the material the tree is made out of. It is not the same as a true Ralide tree. The horn placement and type is another. Hope that helps a little!

Lacey

[HarryB]

Just my 2 cents worth. Don't use them in a cold climate. While in Colorado and -20 to -30 usual for the winter, the trees became brittle and didn't recover from the cold very well.

[saddles]

You're absolutely right about that!

Lacey

[gloomis]

Are you sure this is off a Ralide brand tree, or is it a knock off? By the pictures of the horns I'm seeing in my catalog there's no way, unless it's pretty old, that it is a Ralide. There are several companies out there that are using various brands of injected molded trees, somehow the Ralide company gets to take the blame for all of them.

Lacey

This is an old one maybe 30 yrs. It came off of a barrel racing saddle,that didn't quite make it into a horse trailer. but it looks like the ones that I was forced into making when I worked in a production shop.