Great West Saddle Co.

[Wenny]

Picked up this poor old thing for $20 off Craigslist. It's dry, filthy, and worn. Stamp on the jockey corner says "Great West Sadd..." with the rest worn away. That and the loop seat places it around 1900 in Calgary, Alberta.

I know the fenders aren't original. They're not the right style, and they're actually in pretty good shape. The rest of the saddle, Hmm. Well, it's not gonna win any prizes. What's interesting to me about it is that fifth concho on the skirt. Never seen one of those placed like that before.

Thought I'd share it here for y'all to take a look at. Here's the picture that was with the ad. I even got the metal stand along with the saddle for my $20.

Here you can see that extra concho down in the corner.

Here's the rigging, which was probably redone the same time as the stirrup leathers/fenders.

[Saddlebag]

The concho and strings may have been put there for saddle bags or maybe even a medicine bag. Is there one on the off side? This is one saddle I'd put the hose to if it didn't rain. Then give it a good soaping.

[Wenny]

Because of the short strings, I believe the fifth concho was purely decorative. Here's a pic of the clean-up, and no, I didn't use a hose! Need to refleece the skirts, re-cover the horn, put on a new cantle roll, cut some new strings and put the lot back together. No rush.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Wenny