Worth Buying Or Reading?

[Thor]

I'm interested to learn more about the history of the western stock saddle and of course came across these two titles:

Saddles

http://books.google.de/books/about/Saddles.html?id=lKYZy8dq8qMC&redir_esc=y

They Saddled The West

http://www.amazon.com/They-Saddled-West-Lee-Rice/dp/087033199X

Since those 2 books are everything else but cheap I was wondering if someone on here has these books and could share his/her thoughts about them.

If there's an online version of any of these books I'd be very interested to know. Also if there's an online equivalent to those books, or to start with, I'd like to know about.

Thank you!

[Denise]

Both these books have been commonly read by saddle makers. The Beaties book was actually recommended reading in a saddle making course here in Alberta a few years ago. I've read it, though I'm not a saddle maker. I got a copy through inter-library loan, which is a really good option prior to buying. Some good information in it. It has been a very influential book in the saddle making world, I think.

The They Saddled the West book is decent history on saddles in North America. We eventually splurged on a copy off Amazon to get one for ourselves. I think we paid more than the $84 they are asking. Nice to have in the library of someone serious about learning about saddles and their history.

[Tosch]

It did not let me copy/paste something ....

If you really want to dig deep (!!!) into history do an internet search for SSHT-0039 Smithonian (=Man made mobile: early saddles of Western North America. You can download it as a pdf file. Might be a deeper look into history than most like.

You also can do an internet search for The legacy of the Wyoming Stock Saddle which can be read online, I somehow downloaded it and have it as a word file. As the title implies it concentrates on the Wyoming Stock Saddle.

Probably not quite what you was looking for, but that is all I can help you with.

[Thor]

Thanks for the feedback Denise and Tosch. The Smithonian book is really worth reading and a great source of information.

[Harfindel]

The Beatie book is a good resource. Beatie did a lot of his own research while writing it and it is pretty accurate. Some people writing later take issue with portions of it but I think its pretty good.

They Saddled the West is a very uneven resource. It has a lot of detail, but very few citations to any sources. My sense is that a lot of the writing records things that were common wisdom at the time, or that were told to the authors by others, particularly people who were then-operating the saddle companies of each chapter. Some of the things asserted in the book turn out to be true, but other things are very incorrect. For example, even small details about Aleck Taylor and his 19th Century saddle-tree business turn out to be consistent with historical documents, and therefore very likely true. But most of the assertions about the 19th Century history of the Visalia Stock Saddle Co. are way, way off, and provably so. This book is entertaining but you have to be careful about repeating stuff from it as true, without checking first.

Another good book, though with a narrow focus, is Laird, The Cheyenne Saddle. Laird's work is the result of research into primary sources. Very nice photos, too.

The very early history of western stock saddles weaves in and out of the history of antebellum US military saddles, so other sources would include Steffen, United States Military Saddles 1812-1943; Dorsey, The American Military Saddle, 1776-1945; and Knopp, Confederate Horse Saddles and Equipment.