Well made Colorado Saddlery...how old would it be?

[lamberthorse]

Hey everyone.  Long time reader...first time poster.  I'm not a leather worker but I do tackle minor repairs, occasionally make simple things like bosal hangers, and I'm pretty decent at telling good saddles from bad.

I'm usually not one for production saddles, but about 15 years ago when I was on the hunt for inexpensive colt saddles I ended up buying this one that confuses me a bit.  It's clearly from Colorado saddlery given the stamp on the seat behind the hand hole, but the quality is much closer to my nice saddles than anything I've seen from production saddles.  Despite being pretty snug for me even when I was skinny, I found myself using it for riding colts fairly often just because it was so comfortable.  I had taken it apart right after I bought it to clean it and make some repairs.  As I recall, the ground seat was all leather and looked like someone had taken some time shaping it.  Of course, there are things I don't love about it.  I'm not a big fan of the external rigging plates or the low mounted breast collar dees with the stamped steel tabs.  I don't care much the shape of the skirts as far as appearance goes and the stamping is nothing to write home about.          

I actually called Colorado Saddlery to see if I could get some information on it.  The only number stamped on it is on both the skirt below the left side bar and on the rigging above the back left dee...11455.  Unfortunately they told me that number couldn't be looked up..that they needed the one from latigo carrier which unfortunately had been replaced at some point.  They were nice enough to offer to look through their catalogs to see if they could match a picture of the saddle up to something, but unfortunately it seems they don't know much about saddles because a day later they sent me a page from a late 90's catalog that showed a cheaply made swell fork saddle with in skirt rigging.

 

Would anyone know about how old a saddle like this might be?  Was there a time they employed or contracted actual saddle makers?  On a side note, the brass breast collar dees were added by me, the rope strap was added by a friend of mine, and I did replace the stirrup leathers.  I also think someone tacked a newer round colorado saddlery plate to the back of the cantle as there's an indention and holes from a different type of plate that was apparently there before it.

Thanks,

Phillip

[oltoot]

Prior (exactly, I don't know) to 1982, CS would hand out orders and parts to any and all takers, then buy back the finished products within a specified time frame and 'fill' the order. It got too hard to handle and they increased their in-house capability and started doing it all with employees was my understanding if that helps you?

 

[lamberthorse]

That's interesting.  Guess it would have been luck of the draw on how the finished saddle came out. 

I did happen to find some pictures of one of their saddles that despite being a different saddle, had a lot of very similar aspects to it.  I just got an e-mail back from them saying that model would have been made in the 60s and 70s.  Kind of when I suspected this one was made.

Guess I got lucky with this one.  It's sure not a looker, but for the $150 or so that I paid for it, it has made for a nice colt saddle and loaner saddle over the years.  

Any idea if they made their own trees back then? 

 

Thanks,

Phillip

[oltoot]

I think yes that in the very beginning of things, tree making and nearly mass produced saddles had to be one coordinated undertaking