Help With Great West Saddle

[MustangStorm]

I need help getting an idea of what my saddle is worth.

It is a youth saddle from the Great West Saddle company in Sherrwood Park, AB. It has a roping rigging, what I assume is regular QH bars, a rough out? seat, a 13 or 13.5 inch seat. I have outgrown the saddle, and no longer have a horse at the moment. I have had others tell me to ask for amounts ranging from $300 to $2000. Please help. The pics that I have are too big to upload at the moment so i can email them to someone or try to find a way to make them smaller?

[Havilah]

If you go to Tinypic.com you can upload your photos and post links to them here.

That might really help.

[MustangStorm]

Thanks I'll try that!

http://tinypic.com/m/if8ttw/2

http://tinypic.com/m/if8tv5/2

http://tinypic.com/m/if8tvm/2

http://tinypic.com/m/if8tw2/2

http://tinypic.com/m/if8twi/2

[Saddlebag]

This is not of the same Great West Saddlery that made many fine saddles in it's hey day. What is the tree made of?

[MustangStorm]

It's not? I was told that there was only one Great West Saddlery. Is this wrong?

The tree is made of wood and rawhide, I was told. the saddle is at least 30 years old.

[joe59]

I generally try to stay away form replying to these types of saddles BUT there have been several on this site and others , so here goes: 1. From the pictures, the "stamping" (tooling) is NOT hand done. it is from an embossing plate. 2. The screws at the front jockeys, rear jockeys and the cantle points are most generally associated with lesser quality saddles. 3. The skirts do not appear to have been blocked to form around the bars of the tree. 3. the skirt lining (as near as I can tell from the pictures) does not appear to be genuine wool skin, also a sure sign of lesser quality saddles. 4. The bars on the front of the saddle appear to be too short and with the full rigging position this can cause pressure points. 5. The stitching on the rolled edge of the fork cover and cantle binding appear to be about 5 stitches per inch. Most custom saddles are sewn at a minimum of six stitches per inch and some at 7 or 8 per inch. 6. Most, but not all mass produced saddles that have a padded seat use the padded seat to cover the fact that seat is made in two pieces and there is no leather in the cantle area. The padding is glued directly to the ground seat and suede leather covers the seams. 6. Although the tree may be wood covered with rawhide, there are many different construction methods. The best trees are wood covered in rawhide, laced with rawhide and nailed. Poorer quality trees the rawhide is laced with nylon thread and stapled.

In the past I would work on these types of saddles. With the cost of materials and labor costs, repairing these types of saddles is not economical for the customer or the the saddle maker. If I were to put a value on this saddle it would be somewhere between 150 and 300 dollars maximum. The same type and quality of saddle can be purchased brand new for around 500 dollars.

If this sounds like a rant, I apologize. I have seen this type of saddle fail under moderate riding. They don't fit a horse well and can cause pain and injury to both horse and rider.

[Saddlebag]

I agree with Joe. I had trouble looing at the pics as an ad that takes up half the screen would show up. When I tried to X it out, it took me to their website. By manipulating the images I was able to see them. I just realized something. The saddle is stamped Great West Saddles, not Great West Saddlery.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Saddlebag

[MustangStorm]

Thanks for the info. While the saddle has lasted for years and has fitted both my large horse and my small horse without any trouble, I honestly know next to nothing about how they are made or what they are worth, so the info from you guys is a big help. I'm impressed that this saddle has lasted so well since it appears to be a lesser quality saddle. It has been owned by my family and friends since it was bought new 35 to 40 years ago. Thanks again for the help.