Season 4 in my saddle

[Goldshot Ron]

Billy,

Did you ever think of carrying your rear part over to the middle of the bars and lacing both sides together in the rear.  Then leave off the rear jockey, and just put a design on the rigging plates in the rear area.  The more I look at your idea, the more I can see it as a way to reduce weight, yet still maintain the integrity and strength of the rigging.

Just thinking outside of the box .

Ron

[Billy H]

Big Sioux  --  I look forward to what you are able to create!  I have a few conventional saddles projects to do before I tackle a new challenge that will hurt my head.

 

Randy  --  My theory is,  what you create on the left side should balance to the right side if your tree is even on both sides. I always check the tree before I start putting leather on.  When I put the Swell/Rigging on final I had 2 strings  -- one at center Horn and one center Cantle Back plus laser and ruler  to make sure it was square and true.

 

Hey Josh ! It was a good Christmas, and will be trying my best to make 2018 better than 2017. Hope all is well with you and your family.

 

Ron  --  I see all sorts of possibilities, although in the last 1000 years I think that we will not be creating a new wheel. LOL

 

Thanks to all ,  Billy

 

[Squilchuck]

What brand tree is that?  I don't see the conventional rawhide covering.  My first thought was a Precision tree w Kevlar covering, or just some kind of resin? Without the rawhide the tree would be much lighter, I'd guess, but still strong? What has been peoples experience with trees sans rawhide, or Precision brand trees? I've made three saddles and thinking the next to be lightweight.  --John

[Billy H]

Hi John,. This tree is a  custom built one by "Jon  Watsabaugh ".

He uses some hi-tech mixter to cover the wood and it is strong yet can flex some.

I have not talked to him for a while, but he sure does beautiful work.    Billy

Edited January 4, 2018 by Billy H
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[mudman]

On ‎12‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 8:31 AM, Billy H said:

Coming up on 4 hard years riding this saddle I made for myself. Holding up very well

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Billy

Good looking rig. Appears to be holding up very nice, well done. 

[Billy H]

Thank you mudman

[Ken Nelson]

I am curious,  it seems like a lot of people any more are very concerned about the weight of ranch type saddles.  Throughout the last half of the50's,  60's, 70's, 80's and into the mid 90's  I do not remember this being an issue with ranch saddles.  I understand most people ride a lot different than they did when I was young and a lot different type of horses.   I understand most people do not ride from can't see in the morning until can't see at night 7 days a week anymore.  The old cold blood horses of the era ending sometime in the early 70's is gone. I haven't seen one of those old 16+ hand horses, weighing 1300+ #'s for a long time, with a rough head and a lot of feather on his legs.  I do realize almost no one ropes hard and fast any more, which was the order of the day back "in the day". Stick a full 7/16" X 28' nylon on a big cow or a bull on the fight or jerk down an 800# cow  running full bore, you pretty well take the stretch out of everything.  And you have made a commitment and a pretty serious one.  I wonder how many people keep 7 to 10 head of horses rode down HARD these days. I wonder if the 25 to 32 # saddles  a lot of people are building now would have held up then.  Back in the day,  Them old "made" cowboys would not ride a light saddle.  They were afraid of them.  Were we all paranoid back then?  But it has changed a lot and I probably need to adapt my attitude.   I had 2 saddles fail 40+ years ago and worry about one of mine failing someone.

I don't know if I am being overly cautious.   Just wondering.  Ken

[Goldshot Ron]

Ken,

I don't know your age, nor the area where you were raised; but being raised in Southern California, most of the people that I've met have been mainly recreational riders.  They don't need heavy saddles, and the only jerking down that they do is on the cinch.  In the last 65 years, I've met some ranch riders that had to rope a steer for doctoring, and young fellows that like to play cowboy (even those young fellows have grown up and use chutes more and more).  I've worked with packers that tow mule strings, and they use lighter saddles, especially in the Eastern Sierras where less weight is good.  A well built saddle doesn't have to be 40+ pounds.  As a Back Country Horseman member, I see the aging of America when it comes to horse people.  As we age that old heavy saddle has to give way to lighter saddles if we are still to enjoy the horse experience.

I think the experience that you describe is that of people who make their living on horseback.  Running cows doesn't have to be on horseback any longer.  Heck, in my area, there's a family that have been running cows for over 125 years.  One of the daughters rides her mountain bike to check on the stock (through areas where only a mtn. goat can go).   I just hope horses stay around a little longer, even if people are using endurance saddles.  People can still buy good roping saddles, but I think the trend is toward lighter and more comfortable recreational saddles.

Ron

[Billy H]

Ken and Ron, I think both of you bring up good points.

Back in the 70's , 80s and even the 90's it seemed saddles where heavier.  Saddle trees a lot of the time had double rawhide covering, 3 inch full double stirrup leathers were pretty much the only thing put into cowboy saddles. Skirts I thought were bigger and fenders I thought were bigger also. It may not jump out at you - but each one of those parts of the build start adding up to more weight.

Skirt rigged saddle were not  common place as they are today in my opinion, that also is a weight factor.  Even doing fully covered leather stirrups or metal covered stirrups add weight to the saddle.

Billy

[cowboycolonel]

Well, I haven't been around as long as you guys seem to have been, but I'll throw in my opinion -- not that you asked for it.  My first saddle weighed nearly 60 pounds.  Being new to the riding world, I thought that was just the way it was.  Then I started looking around at some of the whys and wherefores, and then reached my own conclusions.  I don't ride all day every day, but there are many days that I have spent all day ( more than 8 hours) in the saddle.  And I've had to lug my own saddle around to different parts of the country (and Mexico), so when I made my saddle (as opposed to trail saddles for little old blue-haired ladies) I studied up on what needs to be stout and what doesn't.  The saddle I ride now weighs just over 34 pounds.  It has seen seven good years of work, including roping my share of about 3,000 calves per year.  It was made stout, for all day work, and as light as I could get away with.  As you can see, my manhood isn't tied up in hauling (or making my horse haul) a saddle that's primary virtue is how much it weighs.  Naturally I take care of my gear and I watch for cracks, rips, tears, and loos stitches.  That said, my saddle was painstakingly made to exactly what I wanted -- full custom, so I could get away with some things that you never could in a production model.  I like the weight, the sturdiness, and would compare mine to anyone's for wear per workload placed on it.  Just my humble input.