Ugly Seat Replacement

[gothcowboy]

I picked up a project saddle, an old Cow Country production saddle, and it's turned into a horrible thing (of course). It needs new everything, so why do I persist? Well, because before I tore into it a whole bunch I already got new fenders for it, re-dyed and conditioned it, etc.. I knew it needed a new seat, but figured it wouldn't be too difficult... until I took the old one completely off. Turns out the old padded seat is two pieces of leather that joins in the center under a section of padded seat leather. There is no solid piece of leather as a seat to put new padding and leather on - it's literally the two jockeys sewn to a disintegrated seat, and that old disintegrated seat is what went up under the cantle binding. Then, underneath the old seat is some yucky old hair felt nailed directly to the tree, right over the strainer. It's nasty.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to discover something like this. Short of killing it with fire or cutting a completely new seat, jockeys, etc., what's a good solution here? Should I just reassemble it with new heavier leather to replace the old padded section, than pad that piece, or reassemble it exactly as it was built with the skimpy padded seat section holding both sides together? I appreciate any tips!