Spring Saddle Project

[venthompson]

Decided I needed a new saddle so I hacked one out this spring. 16.5 inch Slim Fork Bowman with 4 inch comfort cantle. Rocket hide braid on the horn and cantle. Mother hubbard style full carved. In skirt rigging. Been 25 years since I've done any Saddle work so there are lots of flaws.

Edited June 9, 2014 by venthompson

[Billy H]

Very cool looking Rig!!

For someone taking a 25 year break, I would say you still have the touch.

The slim bowman is not common, but looks real nice on that pretty paint. Thanx for sharing. Billy

[rktaylor]

Looks nice. Can you post some close ups of the cantel and horn? How long did it take to braid that?

Randy

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Love to see others ideas, and work. Thanks for sharing.

Bob

[venthompson]

Here are a few pictures of the horn and cantle. The cantle is kind of wavy, I didn't get the strings thickness evened out. I was cutting the strings lengthways from a horse hide and the thickness varied quite a bit and I couldn't get the thick spots thinned down to match without losing all of the strength. But because I was building it for myself I didn't bother cutting other strings to match. I did about 6 inches an hour over a few days.

Edited June 10, 2014 by venthompson

[GrampaJoel]

Nice job!

That is probably the most uniquely built western style saddle as I have ever seen.

Braided and leather hole locked on the fork I've never seen.

Now days just about everything I've seen is saddle stitched together.

Your method adds a special twist to this saddle.

So how does it ride? Is it what you hoped for?

Again, nice going!

I like things that are unique.

Joel

Edited June 10, 2014 by GrampaJoel

[venthompson]

It rides good so far, haven't done much yet with it except a couple of brandings. It sits on a horse fairly well if they aren't to fat. Drug a bunch of calves without a breast collar and it stayed in place pretty good. The welt idea on the swells came from Jeremiah Watts web page, I think he called it Marshall welt.

[Goldshot Ron]

Quite a unique saddle for sure. I like the braided cantle. It certainly is a saddle that wasn't just knocked out, but well thought out. I like to use SF Bowman trees, but I haven't heard of a slim fork Bowman. Are there any similarities between the two trees? Also, what is the style of horn on your saddle?

Do we have to wait another 25 years to see your next saddle?

Ron

[venthompson]

The SF stands for Slim Fork. The horn was just a 3 inch dally with a 2 inch cap, I added about 2 inches to the horn cap with extra leather and did a couple layers of Leather to build the neck of the horn up. Not sure if I'll find time to do another saddle. I have about a 16 various hides waiting to get made into rawhide for braiding projects. Kids and a job cut into my leather/rawhide time.

[venthompson]

Ron, I got to thinking about the 'SF', I guess I really don't know if it stands for slick fork but that is what I learned some 30 odd years ago from somewhere and I never gave it a second thought until now. It would be nice to actually learn the history of the SF Bowman tree but I wouldn't know where to look, or the history of the other styles of trees also.

Ven

[brycew74]

I dig the braided horn and cantle, what edge braid did you use for them?

[venthompson]

The horn was a over 2 under 2 eight strand and the cantle was O1 U1 eight strand edge braiding.