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

Same basic design but usually a deeper seat and with knee rolls.
Look here and you'll see some examples

http://www.downunderweb.com/

I've not ridden an Aussie saddle but I looked into it. After talking with an Aussie import company at length I called a friend who is a much better horseman and cowboy than I am. He's tried everything and competed at the highest levels. I was looking at the Aussie saddle simply for "riding circle," which would be similar to some folks making endurance rides. He'd ridden one and told me he didn't think I'd like it, that for those of us who have 50+ years experience riding western saddles we would find ourselves thrust forward too much and not able to adapt.
A couple of you have PM'ed me asking for photos of my Charley Snell Wade, which I've sent. I got a Photobucket account this morning but I haven't mastered the process yet. For one thing I am a Mac user and some cut-and-paste processes are different. But I do have photos of the Snell saddle plus photos of the Al Furstnow Miles City Saddle, made in 1934 on the Sid Special tree, and the old Fred Mueller saddle, circa who-knows? Maybe someone here can help me on that one. If anyone can help me with the photos that would be appreciated, too.

has anyone heard of these saddles, good, bad?

http://www.steelesaddle.com/saddles.htm

Mine is playing up for some reason and I haven't been able to load the photos you sent me.

To the OP. Trail riding gated horse's' you really should give the aussie saddle's a close look. I rode one for a time, and really liked it on the walking horse I was riding. My wife just bought one last year for her foxtrotter, and love's it. My other suggestion is the McCall High Country Wade. I've ridden one for several years now , and find it to fit several differnt backs well enough I haven't put a white hair on a horse yet.

myrancher, I got the pictures thanks. Are those the ones made by Snell? Just asking cause the names under the saddles are different.

I would like to try an aussie. They look very comfortable. But I still want a good western saddle for packing,I think they would work better for packing. Saddle panniers and such.

I've heard a lot of good reviews on the McCall. Haven't ever seen a used one yet though. But mtrancher sent be the ranchworldads that looks really promising.

lila, only the new saddle is Charley's. The two old saddles were made years before Charley was even born.
The idea of a "trail Wade" is a good one and you might look at www.jjmaxwell.com
I've no idea how well their saddles are made but they do make a lightweight Wade for trail riding.
A Wade, properly built, will sit lower on the horse's shoulders so as it was discussed in Pat85's "mare" thread attention has to be paid to gullet clearance on the withers.
Trail riding and trail horses are not my forte. The gaited horses many prefer for trail riding are slighter in the shoulders than the average ranch horse and trail riders, I assume, seldom trot or lope. In my riding, one is seldom at a walk. Hitting a long trot is standard.
Many "non-Western" saddles have no horn (though it is optional on Aussies) and few if any saddle strings.
Adding a thought as to horse confirmation as mentioned earlier. Very few horses are smooth in all gaits. Most have a gait or two they prefer and will be smooth in those gaits. Though I've rode Arabians and Morgans, most of my experience is with Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. I've never ridden a Foxtrotter or Walker, though I've seriously looked into it. Not long ago I raised a very good gelding but his legs were too long for his underline. This caused him to overreach or "forge" and it also disrupted his faster gaits. He was a great cow horse but two farriers did little to help his problem so I sold him and he is presently a trail horse in Colorado. From all reports, the people love him. I am presently riding a maternal half-brother to this horse and he also over-reached a little. This time I went to another farrier, a neighbor who has a horseshoeing school teaching the "natural" method of trimming hooves. I'm having a senior moment and forget the actual name of this method and its originator, but it squares the toes. This guy is expensive and that's why I normally didn't use him, but he has made a difference with this horse.
Another common problem with some horses is they are simply allowed to get too fat. Fat horses don't travel well and it's misery to sit on one. In some cases people might be blaming the saddle when all that is needed is for their horse to go on a diet. I doubt, though, that obesity is too common with gaited horses, but I could be wrong on that.

Re-gaited horses? I could never figure out this rage of wanting gaited horses here. Gaited mules are even more advertise and they add $1000 if soto the price.Riding rough country/mountains,you never get into that gait anyway.

Most mules are naturally smoother gaited than horses anyway, Had fellow lead bunch of us on a trail ride who rides a big walker and told us our mules could never keep up with him.Besides keeping up, our mulse hardly broke a sweat an dhis horse was drenched.

mtrancher, thats what I thought. I only got the two older saddle pictures. Do you haven a picture of charley's saddle?

Kings (Sheridan, WY)



Cost me a 25 dollar raffle ticket at the Sheep Foundation show in 1994. President of the Foundation called me and wanted to buy it, was horrified that I planned to ride it. Been doin' so ever since.

(Dos Equis beer holder over the scabbard is an essential add-on.)

+1 to that.

When I hear someone say what a great mountain horse their gaited breed makes I pretty much know they've never taken them off a nice wide, smooth trail. They also lack the powerful hindquarters and struggle going up steep hill off trail.

+1 What good is that gait going through the timber stepping over blow down trees?

tahnka, wow beautiful horse and saddle. Buckskins are one of my favorite color.Sweet setup!


mtrancher and saddlesore if you guys ever have a chance to ride a good gaited horse you would understand the rage. Especially if you have a bad back. Not all gaited horses are naturally gaited or smooth with no bounce or trot. True you don't gait down mountain trails. Gaited horses can walk slow too. But you also have miles of trails where you can fly on a smooth gaited horse while drinking a cup of coffee and not spill a drop. But if you would rather post I understand. All horses have there place. Sure I agree nothing looks better than a big muscular quarter horse. If I were doing ranch work all day I would pick a quarter horse. If I was trail riding all day nothing beats a good smooth gaited horse! I've ridden both a lot. Lot of my friends have quarter horses.

Sure I'm just a trail rider who hunts and camps with my horses and some of you guys are rancher's who need quarter horses for your farm work. I love all kinds of horse. If I had a 1000 acres I would own several different kinds

Tahnka, oh, you scored!
Lila, photo of Charley's Wade sent your way.
Those are interesting observations on gaited horses regarding mountain travel. My country is almost devoid of trees but the hills are steep.
I mentioned Shawn Kramer before. He made me a 15 1/2" Weatherly but it was a little too big so I stripped it down and gave it to my wife. She loves it. Shawn is a master carver. Look at his work at www.sandhills-saddlery.com

Ol' Bucky sure looks stylin' in that rig....

Where I hunt,there are no miles and miles of easy trails that one can go. Here in the rockies,it's either up of down and 50% of the time there is no trail. My back has two 6-8 " rods in it with 8 big screws that look like 3/8" lag screws.

Here is some of the country I ride and hunt in. Most elk are killed at the base of the ramparts you see which means bush whacking up thru the aspen and spruce into the rocks.







That indeed is a good looking horse and rig Tahnka.

Not much to see ,but here is the custom saddle I ride. This mule is a stocky 15hd halflinger mule.The one in the back is a little 13&1/2 HD fox trotter mule. He just doesn't have the deep body to keep up,but that one is pushing 30 and he never had a quit in him.She doesn't have the full rigging on her in this photo,but hunting she gets a full breeching and a heavier breast strap. The walkers make good mules disposition wise,but they sure get tall. 16hd + . The fox trotter tends to be a little smaller. The halflingers themselves are hard to fit a saddle to because of thier short and flat back. Put that into a mule and you compound the problem with the straight back and littel to no withers. For an all around mule though,it is hard to beat a a good built 1/4 horse mule.The halflinger mule just gave me the added stockiness I wanted. Mama was sort of like a minature belgium



Here is the same mule at a day old.Her mama was a 13 hd heavy draft type halflinger.

Beautiful country Saddlesore!

I'm not going to defend my gaited horses all day. But why would anyone want to gait a horse over blow down Trees? Do you trot your horse over blow down trees? For some reason people think gaited horses are show horses in the arena with there big lick shoes on.Thats not what I'm about. Yes gaited horses can go up and down steep trails over logs, through water,rivers. They are endurance horses that can go all day. And they can even walk slow over stuff. Where I live there is no flat ground. I live on the base of Mt. Hood mostly all steep trails up and down. We also ride in the eagle cap wilderness which isn't exactly for the fait of heart.

From my experience with gaited horses in rough country you lose all the advantages and take on some disadvantages.

We have a gaited horse in the outfitters string. She does have two pretty good traits. She makes a great lead pack horse with a bunch of mules behind her, because she does keep up on the trail and doesn't pull on you, but we have good mules for that too. And if a guy just needs to ride in/out (6 hours one way) of camp with no mules in tow she will cover the ground quickly.

lila, I agree with you that gaited horses can do just fine in the mountain's. I rode walker's and foxtrotter's for years. I had a paint foxtrotter mare that I would have put up against any horse in the mountain's. She was catfooted and sure! Made the mistake of putting a price on her and a fella who rode for the Eastman's up at Dubois bought her. But, having said that, they will never get me away from the quarter horses. More than anything, I love my cowhorse bred quarter horse's. Saddlesore, Those are some pretty mule's! My dear old dad is a mule man, and won't hardly ride anything else anymore.

Ditto what Ralphie said.That is what I was trying to convey.No one said you gait them over dead falls ,etc. It just doesn't make sense to pay the extra money for what you don't need.

No need to think one has to defend thier walkers.Each breed is meant to do certain tasks well and others not so much,and all have specific saddle fitting problems. Since most western saddles are set for full or 3/4, 1/4 horse bars, the 1/4 horse is probably the easiest to buy a factory made saddle for with reasonable chances of getting a good fit.

Since I ride and work mules,I give up that advantage of being easy to fit a saddle to,but gain the advantages of being able to work them in rougher country.

If your working cows, 1/4 horses tend to be a litte more cowey without working at it too hard than other breeds. However,if you are doing big gathers,you might select something else that can cover more ground faster.
Down in the west NM and eastern AZ,NV country, a lot of cowboys/buckaroos ride the walker mules.They are long legged and can cover that sparse rough country where the grass grows in bunches every 50 ft and yet the hold up better in the heat than 1/4 horses.

The problem is folks trying to get a horse or mule to do something when it is best suited and bred for another task,and that is the same problem when they try to select a saddle.

I have had folks come to look at mules to buy and the 1st question they ask is if it is gaited.I usually don't even waste my time and thank them from coming and walk away.