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

Great photos, saddlesore.

You don't need to, they are very popular back here in the east. The amish use standard bred and saddle breds to pull their carriages, and those horses get hundreds of miles put on them in a year. There are several recreational gaited horse clubs here where they get together and do trail rides. I rode one this year and couldn't use my saddle. This horse had no withers what so ever and needed a special saddle and rigging to keep it on. The lady told me that was indicative to that breed. He was really no fun to ride in that situation, you hold him back at a pace with the QHs he would get upset, you let him gait the other horses can't keep up. You could really cover a lot of ground on one of those, but I prefer the QHs with the big step.

I understand what you guys are saying. I quess I like to have the best of both worlds. All the walkers I've owned have had real high withers and narrow in the shoulders so I could never get the kind of saddle I wanted. My favorite saddle are the ones that seem to only fit a QH. So I may be looking into getting one custom made.

mtrancher sent me a picture of Charley Snell's saddle, Sweet saddle. Thats the kind I'm looking for!

Here is that saddle that Bob Brenner made me.The photo is about twenty years old.Prior to me putting breakaway stirrups on it.

The second photo shows it fitted to a Walker mule. That was a big 16HD+ mule.You can tell how tall it was by where my feet ended up above the cincha.

It was a good mule,but she was too big.Unhandy in the timber and the smaller mules would out work her.3 days hard riding and she was done for a few days.

A top hand once told me that if I ever rode a good riding mule I'd never ride a horse again. Still haven't rode a mule.
One has to be careful today in talking about Quarter Horses because there are now about five or six distinctly different types. That's the problem with over-specialization. There are reiners and cutters; western pleasure and trail horses; race horses; halter horses; general purpose ranch horses. They're practically separate breeds.
Beautiful day here today. First day all week without 50 mph winds. Would really love to saddle the ole bay and go ride 'round the cows but I have an appointment with the neck doctor.

Was that walker mules mom bred to a standard or mammoth jack?

Regardless of breed a horse born and raised in hill country will out perform a horse raised on flat land in any discipline given equal training.
What I mean is if you take two horses from the same sire and dam, one born and raised and ridden in hill country and one born, raised and ridden only on the flat to the same trainer and give them the same training in whatever discipline they were bred for the hill country one will out perform the flat land horse 99 times out of 100. They seem to know where their feet are and trust themselves more and have more stamina and athleticism due to their years of up and down and sideways.

One of the best race horses NZ has ever seen was born and raised on hill country, he was ridden on the hills every day he wasn't actually on the track either racing or training. He was used for stock work and as a general hack.

That is another thing, horses perform best when they aren't bored. If all you ever do is ride your horse in an arena or up and down the same trail they'll never work as well as if you vary things. We get bored doing the same thing day after day and so do horses.

Talking about distinctly different types and breeds do you think there is real one horse that is better for all around trail riding?Just curious what yall think. My first quess would be a mule but what about a horse?

std jack about 13 &1/2 hds

One of the old type breed of Morgans do real well

I ride in a semi-custom wade. Has Arizona bars, fits most horses very well. Comfortable as anything to me. 15.5" seat.

This is in Arizona. 5 day Mountain Lion hunt. 20 miles in the saddle a day. Not a sore spot on my butt or legs.


Saddle even holds a Bobcat pretty well. (so does the horse.)


This is at home on my Nokota. Does very well on trails. Sure footed and can handle the hills real well. Not sure I have a vote on a breed that is better for all around trail riding, but the Nokota breed works well for me.

I have two Walkers, that will go all day in the mountains (up to 10,000ft).
They are extremely sure footed. For the ill informed gaited horses just don't
gait. If you have ever ridden one they can walk, trot, canter, and gallop just like
any other horse.A smooth 4 beat gait is just icing on the cake. We gait our horses
up and down long steep hills and narrow mountain trails, not just flat land.
I'll put our 3 year old buckskin mare up against pretty much any horse on an all day ride
in the mountains, flat land, and in between. Before you ask I'm no expert rider
and weigh 240lbs they are not carrying a light load by any means.

yeah I like the old lippitt and goverment lines, shorter and stocker than the ones now.

Got to remember on the mules when selecting one for general trail use, whatever traits the mare brings to the equation are then transferred to the mule.Good and bad.So a person does not want a thorobred mule for a trail/pack animal,or a percheron mulefor a saddle mule.

Year sgao, people made mules from trash stock mare as because they figure they could not get a good foal out it.That is where all those nasty ones with bad reputations camefrom.Now days, breeders are using good mares and good jacks to breed quality mules.

Robster, Nice pictures! sweet job on the cat.


Come to Oregon and help me kill some of our mountain lions. We have way to many.

Robster.There is a fellow up in the very NW corner of CO that raises them blues.He has a herd of about 20-30.I Ihink his name is Dickerson( same as that fellow that raises a lot of longhorns). He is about 3 miles from the Utah and WY line .

Coolpapbill.You need to revist some of these post.No one is saying the walkers can't do it.It is just that most of the time you don't need that gait in rough country and around here if you tack the word "Gaited" onto something( especailly mules) you end up about $1000+ more in price.
I live about 25 miles NE of Colorado Springs.That is about 45 miles from the top of Pikes Peak and another ten miles to Cripple Creek .Now the big gambling town around here. I have challenged a lot of horsemen to race from my place up over Pikes Peak ( 14,000 ft) to Cripple creek against one of my mules.
Never had a taker in 30 years because they feared they would cripple thier horse.I ride in that type country every hunting season. If one starts to chase lion dogs ,it gets even more exciting.

Robster - nice looking horse and saddle. How do the wade saddles fit size wise? I'm looking at getting one, but have not had an oportunity to sit one. Would a 190#, 34x34 guy fit in a 15" or would that be snug?

Thanks for the compliments on the "Sheep Foundation Saddle", and the buckskin. He has some history too:

My father did a lot of work in Montana,Dakotas,Wyoming,etc. for the movie industry, supplying Inidan artifacts, guns, technical advisories, and had some walk-on parts/extra/stunt work as well, including Missouri Breaks, The Trackers, Stacking, Far and Away, and Dances With Wolves.

Dad told this story: Five different horses were used to portray "Cisco" in Dances With Wolves. During filming of the buffalo hunt, Costner insisted on doing his own riding. Going full speed, his horse collided with another horse and rider. Costner was tossed pretty hard. Got up, shook it off, and demanded the "stand in" horse to continue the shot. You are looking at the "stand-in".

Dad bought this horse at the close of the movie shoot, rode him for 2 years, then sold him to me. Tahnka passed away in August of 2010, at 26 years old. And now you know where I got my handle for this forum.

If you watch the movie closely you will see markings come and go off the horses playing "Cisco". White blaze on forehead, then none. Dorsal stripe, then none. White rear sock, then none. It gets pretty easy to pick out Tahnka off and on in the movie. They necessarily spray-painted a white sock on him for some scenes, but never bothered with the forehead blaze or dorsal stripe. Tahnka had none of these.

Tahnka still had faint evidence of the "US" hair brand they gave him for the movie on his shoulder when I got him from Dad. Apparently the "hair brand" went a little deep.

He excelled for me in team-penning, (a true "point and shoot" horse: show him which cow, and hang on!) hauled numerous elk and one bear on his back, and was my fearless friend.

Quite a story.Everyone should be so lucky to own one horse like him.

Gene Ovnicek?