Horn Broken Off - Wade Saddle

[Ken Nelson]

I did not mean to make this a personal attack and I hope you did not take it as that.   My experience has been that if someone cannot afford to get a repair done professionally,  they need to do it themselves.   The insurance agent I referred to in my earlier post, and he was a rancher, bronc rider, bareback rider and colt starter in his earlier days,  told me his rule of thumb in advising a saddle shop owner is:   Don't send any saddle out that will not take extreme use because you never know how it will be used, no matter what the customer tells you. Don't repair junk that is really not safe to use on a ranch.   And most important, "REMEMBER, THE LAST GUY THAT HAD HIS HANDS ON A SADDLE THAT FAILS IS THE FIRST GUY SUED!!!!", If it fails and someone gets hurt or killed.   I knew that but hadn't thought about it until he told me that.  I offer that as a favor to any young starting up saddle makers out there.   But that is just my 2 cents worth.

[rdl123]

Ken,

I sure didn't take it as an attack and I think it's good very good advice.  Making me re-think this whole deal for sure.

Last thing I need is a lawsuit...

I am going to go back to my old motto of 'no repairs'.  Too many variables to be worth it - Especially for a guy like me who does this as a hobby and in theory 'for fun'.

RDL

[Ken Nelson]

I have done a lot of repair and it is a money maker if you get what your work is worth.   However,  Like I stated earlier, I do not repair anything that is of such poor quality when new it is not safe for ranch work. If you do professional repairs, it will get you orders in time.  I build several saddles a year for one man and have for a number of years.   I repaired saddles and tack for him for 2 or 3 years before he ordered his first saddle from me and now there are almost 30 of my saddles on the ranch he manages. All started doing his repair work and the repair work got him in to the shop when I had new ones done and he liked what he saw.  hth  Ken