In Skirt Rigging And Riders Leg

[oltoot]

Rawlins

[kseidel]

Anna,

First of all, your work looks nice and clean. It looks like you did not block your skirts under the tree. If you did, probably could have been higher. After blocking your skirts, and before making your rigging top plate, while the skirts are still wet, you should put your draw down strap over the saddle and pull the skirts down to help shape them to the shape of the horse. I even put several pieces of filler leather under the strap to set the skirt in the correct shape. This greatly reduces the amount of break-in needed on the finished saddle. Then, your rigging should be made to conform to this shape.

At this point, due to glued surfaces, it is difficult to get the skirt wet enough to properly shape it. However, get it as wet as possible and try to shape those skirts to the shape of the horse. My main concern with those skirts is the slope behind the cantle. It comes off quite straight and does not appear to follow the rock of the tree bar. If it is too low, it will rub on the horse and may lift the bar off the horse. This pressure can be a real problem for the horse. You may have to cut the skirts apart at the back and leave them loose.

As Oltoot says, a 7/8ths rigging position would be better, but your placement is workable. I agree with BonboBob that your fenders should be a bit longer. Even an inch would be better. A shaped fender does give a lot more support under the riders knee. An exposed stirrup leather can rub the rider also.

I too advise getting your seat shaped and tacked onto place when doing a test ride. The feeling of everything- rigging and ground seat- will feel different. You do not have to have the seat final cut, just rough cut and shaped.

Hope this is helpful.

Keith

[Anna]

Thanks for responding Keith. So far I have gotten the rigging skirts shaped down a lot more than they were just by wetting and strapping them down with the draw down strap. We have been on the go a bit lately so hopefully in a week or so I can get the seat shaped up and tacked down. Here's a picture of the skirts pulled down.

Once again thank you to everyone for all the help on this.

Anna