How To Repair A Torn Seat Jockey?

[thenrie]

I am working on repairs on an old Hamley ranch saddle I have. Learning as I go. Don't fret, though, it was in pretty bad shape and wasn't worth sending it to Hamley for repair. I inherited it from my wife's family and have been using it for several years. My last horse beat it all to heck, so I'm working on putting it back into usable condition.

Anyway, on one occasion I came off the mare and hooked the seat jockey with a spur, tearing it. Now I'm trying to figure out an effective way to repair the tear without it looking like an abomination. I plan to put a patch in the backside a little bigger than the tear, and stitching around it.

Should I use 7/8 oz leather, skived around the edges? I would glue it on with contact cement, then stitch around the tear. I also have some 3 oz veg tan that I have for linings. Would that be substantial enough for the patch? Wouldn't need to skive it and it wouldn't make a lump.

I'd appreciate advice and photos of similar repairs if you have any.

Thanks.

[dbusarow]

Since the jockeys dont normally take any stress at all I'd use the 3oz to keep the repair as thin as possible.

That must have been some wreck to tear the seat jockey.

Dan

[oltoot]

Make the patch triangular in shape and 2-3 inches wide at the bottom. Start with leather about the weight of the jockey and a little soft.1" french edger around the outside edge. Wet it. Trim the inside edges of the tear to be straight if they aren't then french edge tear edges on back. Glue, sew, (double row is best) and pound like the dickens to get rid of any hump as much as possible and set stitches.

Edited January 1, 2015 by oltoot

[thenrie]

Did my photo not show up on the original post? I'm just getting a link address when I look at it now.

Oltoot, I'm trying to visualize what you described. What I'm seeing is that you are recommending starting with skirting leather, skiving the patch around the edges and skiving the tear on the edges of the tear, such that the thick part of the patch will fit into the skived area of the tear, making the patched area only slightly thicker than the original leather. Yes? Then, stitching a double row all the way around the tear (I will be hand-stitching). So, no stitching across the tear, like I so often see? I am assuming the patch will be stuck to the back of the jockey with contact cement before stitching.

dbusarow, it wasn't really a bad wreck. She got a little nuts and went down. I stepped off her back when she hit the ground, but my spur caught the jockey as I unloaded. The saddle is a 1947 Hamley Ranch Saddle and the leather on the jockey is a bit old and brittle. It left a tear about 4" long from the front of the jockey.

Thanks for the replies, fellas.

Edited January 4, 2015 by thenrie

[oltoot]

Yes except make the patch a little larger so that stitching will be firmly anchored in full thickness. Yes to glueing it down firmly first.

[thenrie]

Got it! Thanks!

[Saddlebag]

It's been a while, can you show us how the jockey turned out? I'd have experimented with a patch but doing a baseball stitch the all the thicknesses where it tore. This brings the edges together very nicely. If the stitches are uniform distant out from the rip and from each other it does a nice job.

[thenrie]

It really has been awhile. I was just watching a saddlery video (Agar France) on Youtube and thought about this forum. I finally finished repairs on that old Hamley a few months ago and forgot to ever post the results.

In the long run, the saddle needed a lot of repair. Not only that, but there had been previous repairs of varying quality, all of which brought the saddle's value down to where I felt justified in trying the repairs myself. Here's what it needed: Both stirrup leathers were worn out. One strap was original, the other was a replacement. Both sweat flaps had been replaced and had been tooled with a different pattern and tooling than the original. The cantle binding was destroyed when my horse went down with the saddle on. The seat jockey was torn by my spur when I came off the horse. Several saddle strings and conchos had been replaced. The rear rigging straps on both sides were splitting and needed to be replaced. The skirts had been poorly refleeced  a long time ago and were curled at the edges, needed to be re-done.

I did all those repairs and used the original rolled tooling on the saddle skirts to create a pattern I carved into the new stirrup straps. The end result was pleasing to me and brought the old saddle back to life for another 75 years or so. The only repair I was not pleased with was the repair of the tear in the seat jockey. I used a waxed nylon thread that would not take a stain. I wish I had used a linen thread or a dark brown thread and the repair would have been hardly noticeable. Oh well. Chalk it up to experience.

I hate adding photos to this forum, because of all the resizing and fiddly work, so here is the URL to my web blog on the repairs:

https://westerntrailrider.com/wordpress/blog/finally-finshed-the-repairs-to-the-hamley/