Drop Ring Vs Flat Plate Rigging

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I am curious how one gets a 3/4 rigged saddle to stay in place on today's horses? You can have a pretty good tree fit, but that saddle is going to creep ahead on most of the horses in my part of the country (Midwest) if it's got a 3/4 rig in it. I rode one when I was a kid. Loved the saddle, hated the rigging. I also personally like an inskirt, but agree that repair and relining is a pain in the butt. Put in correctly, it can be used on a saddle that will receive very hard use, and will stay put better than a standard dee ring rig. However, used long enough and hard enough, repair will be more expensive than any other type. I always thought the standard dee ring rig was the easiest to repair, not the most difficult. Personally, not a fan of flat plates at all. I think it was Verlane Desgrange that said "A flat plate is anything but flat." The first one I built for myself, I finally tore it out and put a regular dee in it.

[JAM]

I am curious how one gets a 3/4 rigged saddle to stay in place on today's horses?

I can't tell you why, but all my personal saddles are in 3/4 or 5/8 single, and I have no problem on any of my QHs. My customers all take 3/4 (the brave ones go for 5/8) and they have no problems with saddle creep (they have a variety of breeds). Maybe it's the trees - I only build with Rod Nikkel trees - or maybe horses' shapes haven't changed as much as everyone thinks. But it works for me and my customers. I know there are cowboys and operations in the west, Nevada and Oregon, who won't ride in anything but a CF rig. Perhaps they buy/breed their horses for that old ranch horse body type, and all their horses tend to be peas-in-a-pod for backs and body types, but CF works for them.

Now that I think about it, I can finish up riding and find my cinch has loosened to where it's barely snug, and the saddle hasn't moved/slipped/slid at all. So maybe it's the tree.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

JAM do you use a wider cinch on these saddles? The old McClellans were basically centerfire, and the original horse hair cinches were very wide. I'm just picturing in my mind what a 3/4 rigged saddle looks like on a modern horse, with a long shoulder and withers set way back. The cinch ends up way back on their belly. If a horse has a bit of a pot belly, that cinch is going to slide forward. Granted, it may be loose then, and if the tree fits the horse well, the saddle won't turn, but if you cinch tight and put that cinch ahead where it wants to be, there is quite a forward angle to the latigos and cinch. That is what wants to pull the saddle ahead. Personally, I've never built a 3/4 rigged saddle, but I've had dozens of people bring older 3/4 rigged saddles in and tell me they just can't get it to stay put on a horse. On most of these, it's not the tree, it's the rigging. If it works for you, more power to you. Maybe I'll build one, get a real wide cinch, and see how I like it.

[JAM]

This is one of my saddles, with a 3/4 single rig and a mane hair cinch, probably 5" wide, on one of my horses (a QH).