Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Saddles, what do you ride in.

What do you guys ride in? I have a trooper real comfortable for long trail rides and easy on the knees.I had several different styles of Tuckers, high plains, endurance and a couple others. They were all comfortable for the rider but the ones I had didn't fit my horses real well. I have Tennessee walkers and a fox trotter.

I'm thinking of trying other styles of saddles. I like Billy cook, Colorado and McCloud saddles.

How do you guys that have the hard smooth seats like them? I've never rode in one and would like to try one. I know a lot of people love them.

padded seats are for candy-azzes....develop yer buns-o-steel.....

Well, my usages and my horses are much different than yours so there isn't much comparison. I ride western stock saddles and spend many hours in them so they are like an office to me. I see you are from Oregon so I will mention that my saddlemaker is my friend Charley Snell, a lifetime working cowboy who has managed a ranch near Spray and Fossil for the past 15 years. Charley was trained by Dale Harwood, the dean of western saddlemakers. He also lived with Ray Hunt and has assisted Buck Brannaman so he knows all areas of western horsemanship. Charley makes a true Wade saddle and his trees come from New Zealand. Charley tells me most "Wades" today are not the same as the tree Cliff Wade originally designed. I also have a saddle built by Shawn Kramer of North Dakota, another talented saddlemaker. It is built on a Weatherly tree. At my age I like an inset padded seat, also called a doughnut padded seat. To relieve knee and ankle pressure you might try a Crooked Stirrup. My stirrups are 5" Monels so I have plenty of foot support. All of this might be totally different from what you would need or want, but there are lightweight western saddles being built on Wade trees that you might like. You will want narrow bars for the horses you ride, though. I gave up on factory saddles 30 years ago but I have a friend who rides a saddle from Colorado Saddlery and he gets along with it fine. Endurance saddles and some trail saddles are great for what they are designed to do, but if you want real comfort and need to pack things, a heavier saddle is required. You are supposed to sit "in" a saddle and not "on" one, so think of a saddle like a chair. You need enough chair for support and comfort, but not so much as to be excessively heavy.

So, to be less verbose, if you choose a western saddle your first choice is for a tree that fits both you and your horses. Everything else is secondary.

Thanks mtrancher, I always thought of a chair of something you sit on not in but I see what your talking about.

All I use my horses for is trail riding, hunting and camping. I do go on long rides. I'm curious what you say about a saddle that needs to be fairly heavy to be more comfortable,could you explain that? What do you mean by pack things on you saddle? saddle panniers and bags?

I think my next saddle will be custom built but since there so expensive I need to learn as much about them as I can. I know the custom ones tend to be heavier than most. I can't decide weather I want a padded seat or hard seat.

lila, I wasn't sure when you posted if you rode endurance, light trail or what. Recreational trail riding (little or no camping) is becoming pretty big, I hear. So, when I say heavy, I simply mean western as opposed to English, Australian, endurance, etc.. though those can work. A heavy working western saddle can weigh almost 50 pounds fully rigged. You don't need that. You need one from 37 to 42 pounds, I suspect. A good custom saddle can be made for you for as little as $2500. You don't need to spend $5000. It will last you the rest of your life. But, you need to explain to the saddle maker the type of horse you ride. A Wade tree sits a horse better than most trees, but there are a lot of Wade knock-offs around. A well made saddle can be comfortable without a padded seat. I have a 15" old custom made saddle here, built on a Modified-Association tree, that is very comfortable. No padded seat. It is all in how the ground seat is put in. I would recommend a basic western (ranch) saddle, rough-side out, no frills, bells or whistles outside of the basics. It would be worth your time to visit a saddlemaker and get an idea how a saddle is constructed. A good custom made saddle seldom loses much value if you take care of it. Another option is to search western stores for good used saddles. A little research and you will learn who some of the good saddlemakers are and you can keep your eye out for their work. Try ranchworldads.com as a place to start for used saddles. Go to www.eclectichorseman and read the ads there for the names of high-end saddle makers. (I think those URLs are correct) But, first determine for certain what size seat you require. Most men ride a bigger seat than they need. And, as we age, those doughnut styled padded seats are very nice. I rode hard seats for 40 years but as I enter my 60th year the natural padding is all but gone. Stirrups do make a big difference for comfort, so look into the Crooked Stirrup or a wider Monel stirrup.

I ride a wade tree saddle, 15 1/2 inch hard seat. Its a handmade saddle from a saddle maker in Three forks Mt. I was going to have him build me one but I ended up buying He had already made.

I ride custom that a local maker did for me 15-20 years ago when my back was on the fritz.I had him make it light weight so it has a synthetic tree ,but the horn is double reinforced with two steel rods as I dally a lot of pack strings on it.So far it has held up

It is a 15" seat, with cheyenne roll, a Bowman style fork and lightly padded seat. He put 2&1/2" leathers on the stirrups to lighten it up. Saddle goes 28 lbs without cincha, britching and breast collar.

I added STI break away stirrup is after I got hung up once as I ride alone a lot.

I have riden a lot of saddles, but these are my favorite


http://www.timpilandcustomsaddles.com/

an old Heiser, here.....




or a Brad Mcclellan roper....

huntsman22, love that Heiser. Been wanting a similar style for a long time. Found what I was looking for at a horse and tack sale last week. Lovedahl saddle on a Ritter tree. It is over 25 years old, but you would never know it. Have not put on a horse yet...been too busy.

Nice old Heiser. Probably has the bars in it that would work for lila. I have my father's old Miles City saddle that was made for him in 1934 when he was running wild horses for the CBC. It's built on a Sid Special tree. That tree was designed by Sid Vollin, my father's wagon boss on the CBC. Lovely basketweave on Round Oak's saddle. If I knew how to post photos I'd show you guys a picture of my new Charley Snell saddle.

Billy Cook saddles on a Cliff Wade tree.





Then there is my sporting saddle. A George McClellan 1904 pattern.

Saddlesore - how do you like the STI stirrups? I am currently looking for a different saddle to fit a 1/2 morgan. short backed square built horse. I have an Fred Hook that I like, but it does not fit as well - horse grew between five and six....

The STI stirrups are great.You never know they are there,they are a little bigger than most coventional stirrups, boot fit wise.They have only came off twice in about 6 yrs and that is when I was riding in oak brush that snagged everything.
I highly endorse them over any other ones on the market.Once installe they look and feel like a regular stirrup.

They wouldn't be Warren Wright made trees would they?
I have an old saddle here made by Warren that I bought for $75 off someone who didn't know what they had.
Considering he doesn't make saddles anymore and only makes trees I got a VERY good deal.

I'll swap that old Heiser for my Warren Wright roper any day. That is a lovely old saddle.

Huntsman22, nice looking saddles! horses too!
You look like Aaron Tippin.

Roundoak,I rode in one of those McClellan saddles a few years back. Surprisingly very comfortable.

Saddlesore got me thinking. I had lower back surgery a couple years ago and was wandering if there are certain saddles with twist that are more accommodating.

Maarty, yes, indeed. Warren Wright.

I thought it would be, he makes a very good tree and is under-rated here.
The majority of saddles sold here these days are either cheap nasty Indian saddles or synthetics (we need a vomit emoticon)

Nah, you have him cornfused with Tom Selleck or Sam Elliot.....grin