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

Maarty, we need to get you Kiwis some good saddles. If you want to see my saddle built on the Warren Wright tree -- photo taken when it was brand-spankin' new, just PM me your email address and I'll send it. Or anyone else for that matter.
Has anyone rode one of those new "treeless" saddles?
Lila, if you go looking for someone to build you a new saddle bear in mind the old saying amongst saddlemakers: "You build 100 saddles before you learn to build one right."
Huntsman's Hermann H. Heiser probably sold for $60 in its day -- what vintage is it, Huntsman? -- but is worth many times that today. When Dale Harwood started his saddles probably brought around $1000 (just guessing.) Today any used Harwood can bring $10,000 or more. It is the same as investing in collectible art. There is nothing better to sit in than a good saddle and nothing more unbearable than a bad one. Charley Snell built me a saddle in 1984 and after using it hard for almost 25 years he convinced me I needed a new one. I tried four saddles (only one from Charley) before he sent me this latest one. The others all sored me somewhere.
I have an old saddle in the barn bearing a stamp Huntsman and Saddlesore probably know of. It's an early Mueller. It's in great shape but the bars are way too narrow for today's horses and having rode Weatherly and Wade trees for years, I'm not about to go back to the high forks and cantles of those old bear traps.

mtr, my heiser is from the 20's. and you are right, the older saddles don't fit many horses nowadays. muellers, fraziers, hamleys, heisers and others were stout, well made kaks for the working man. And were made to ride in. All day, everyday......get a pic of the mueller up, feller.

Yea,I have had a Hieser and also one old saddle made by R&R out of San Angelo TX around 1900.That hieser must have went 50 lbs,but it sure was rideable.
This local guy( Bob Brenner, Pikes Peak Saddlery ) has been making saddles for 40 years that I know of and makes a good saddle. He has spent quite few years conducting classes on saddle makeing and will make you a saddle on any type of tree you want.
I'd like to ride a traditional treed saddle like rawhide over wood,but sometimes you are delalt hands that make you comprise in your older years.Mine being weight.

lila, a neighbor of mine was t-boned in his truck by a drunk driver 10 years ago, broke his right hip and injured his lower back. After he healed up from hip and lower back surgery he got back into riding, but the western saddles caused him a lot pain. He went to a sports medicine specialist at the UW Hospital in Madison Wisconsin for further therapy and they recommended he try an Australian stock saddle. Bingo, he rides as much as he used to except for roping.

As a side note, he has rode my McClellan a few times and found it comfortable.

Roundoak.I have the same problem. With some 6" rods going down my lower back,I can't ride any high cantled saddle.The top of the cantle snaps into my back and OUCH.

Even worse should the mule decides to jump a stream or log and I am not prepared.

Saddles are kind of like women. You never know what might fit a guy. Looks,size,weight and i guess they don't have temperment but i've ridden some that would gnaw on your backside all day. There was a custom saddle maker in tombstone for a while that spent 2 days fitting the seat to you when you ordered a saddle.

Fred

A friend had Rick Bean of Meridian Idaho build him a saddle. Rick would powder the seat then have him sit on it to find rub points and adjust accordingly. It took several sessions before he had it the way he wanted it.

A friend of mine was having a saddle built and the saddlemaker put a temporary rigging on the tree and had him ride it. It was little more than a bare tree with stirrup leathers, stirrups and cinches.
Saddles are like boots. If they don't fit you'll pay for them with pain.

While saddle fit for the person is important, I pay a lot of attention to the back conformation of the horse. Grandad preached no downhill backs, withers must be higher than the croup and flat, slab shoulders. Granddad was a Quartermaster Sergeant involved with the Army remount program based in Fort Reno, OK during World War I and after the war got transfered to Front Royal, VA. Won't own a saddle horse without these characteristics.

+1

I want a deep seat to help keep me in the saddle, I have come out of roping saddles too easy when I did not want to on the trail. I also insist on Taps on my stirrups after seeing a friend get drug by his horse.

Roundoak, if you don't own a copy, look for the book

Roundoak, if you don't own a copy already, look for the book WAR HORSES by Ed Roberts and Phil Livingston. It is a very thorough history of the government remount program with lots of photos. You can find them for $7.95 at Edward R. Hamilton or on Amazon.

Will look into it.

Thanks
Wayne

McCall's Saddlery out of Vernal,UT. Resonably priced, quality saddles. Got a 98 Wade & a Trail Wade. Many miles & never sored me or a horse.

What ever happened to Utahn saddles in Vernal?

I ride a wade from Rafter W Saddlery in Rigby, Id. I've had it going on 5 years. It's been a good one.

That is one chubby horse there Ralphie. Another pound or two and you will have to forgo the flank cincha.

She's just being used as a brood mare right now. She's full percheron. I've never really rode her but we had her up at the barn last summer and the kids wanted to ride her around. We've packed her and put dudes on her as well.

We have around a dozen different saddles at any given time, mostly higher end Circle Y's, many many different Billy Cooks, etc. with a few custom saddles.

My every day riding saddle is a Courts, just a standard saddle. Have another Courts roping saddle that's had plenty of miles on it. My trail saddle for one Qtr. mare of mine that's really built like a brick sh*t house is an original Ortho Flex. It's the only saddle out of about a dozen different ones I've tried with full trees that fits her and fits her well. It's actually an Ortho Flex roper, something I've never scene before but found it on feebay and had a return agreement if it didn't work.

Some other saddles that have done well and are comfortable are Circle Y Park & Trails. Reasonable priced...

Roundoak, the australian saddle would be kinda like an english or some troopers right. I've never rode in an ausie.

Oh, GO DUCKS!!