Design me a saddle !

[cvb]

Ok folks

As you may know, I'm planning on getting a new saddle - from About The Horse.

I have to make some decisions about style but I thought it would be fun to share :D

SO:

I have a 9 year old appy mare. Her current western tack is all dark brown/mahogony colour. (I'll post a picture at some stage of her - or there's one in the Mark Rashid 05 thread).

We don't anything specific - just general stuff. Might do a bit of trail at some stage. I know I should be into fancy trimmings, but I like clean plain lines...

So: if you could design a saddle from this site https://secure.cnchost.com/aboutthehorse.com/html/saddles.shtml what options would you choose ?

p.s. you don't HAVE to choose for me, am still curious what you'd pick anyway ;)

[cvb]

a picture of the front half of Fi ;)

http://groups.msn.com/NRphotos/cvbfifi.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=5462

This is in her working bridle (I do have a "show" one !)

[Jessey]

Hopefully I should have attached a pic of my saddle, plain, simple but beautiful (well as far as I'm concerned its perfect)
For Fi I would probably choose something fairly plain so as not to 'out do' her coloring and I would probably choose a darker finnish, maybe an oak color. Personally I like a high cantle and a narrower fork, the seat shape is also important (esp if you go for a hard seat), I've had a few people sit on mine and do nothing but complain. I like square skirts but they just didn't suit Qaboos so we have round, not sure how much I like some of those really big square or hexagon shaped ones??????????

J

[cvb]

No one ?

Either a trail or light trail

Not sure about Skirt shape either

Fenders: inside (standard)
Fender Leather: smooth
Seat Jockey: smooth
Rear housing: frog (standard)
Seat: full padded
Cantle: straight ? with leather binding
Horn/front: standard leather
Stirrups: leather covered plain bell
Conchos/Rosettes: Traditional silver - not sure whether to have the D ?

Arg - decisions decisions

[Esther.D]

For what it is worth - since I know nothing about western! I like the first of the trail saddles...but I think on Fi I would go for a darker colour :)

[cvb]

Hey Jessey thats a PILE of rosettes ! :D

According to "Horse & Rider" light coloured saddles are in. But given Fi is so light herself, and we're in UK so no one really knows whats "in" ;) I do think the dark tack suits her better.

But both my saddles have been square skirts.

I guess I'm also thinking about weight as well - my current saddle is a tonne :eek: at least - honest... ;)

I'm not keen on lots of "chrome" but if I want any, I need to decide it now.

Ah well - Fi's going to get taped up with fluorescent pink masking tape sometime soon as I follow their templating instructions :rolleyes:

[cvb]

p.s. Jessey - I have a Heather Moffett seat bone saver for my western saddle and its soooo comfy !

[Montana]

Hi CVB,

Well, I don't think I've seen a piccie of your Fi, so I'm not sure what would suit her best, but if it's any interest, I made my 'about the horse' wish list sometime ago!

Fender: inside, smooth
Skirt: round (short backed Paint/Arab x!)
Rear housing: Lace - I know, it's an extra $50, but sooo smart!
Full leather seat
Cheyenne roll cantle with Rawhide
Leather horn
Leather plain bell stirrups
Silver conchos (with Dees, can never have too many places to tie things to!)
and.. a hobble holder - no idea what it does, but looks great....nope, might just skip that one! :D
Also like the cornered oak stamp. I'd would be in dark oil, trail saddle.

Just need to finally convince OH (& myself!) that I can really justify spending that much!

Cath x

[Jessey]

so you want the full low down, my perfect saddle would be:

Skirt - square
Fender attachement - texas twist
Fender leather - smooth
Rear housing - Frog (easier to clean)
Seat - full leather (hard)
Cantle - straight with leather
Horn - Leather (would also request a replacable wrap)
Front - plain
Stirups - see below
Conchos - Brass D's on leather
Strings - front, middle and back
and a rope string

Color - dark / red and have all fittings in brass including brass oxbow stirrups.

Tooling - none

well that would be my perfect saddle, I have seen one, one of the wranglers working at the TX took delivery of it during our stay one year, it was TO DIE FOR!!!!

Ha, a thought, cut out some of the pictures from the web and over lay them onto picture of Fi, that way you could check out the different styles :D Oh and I think a contrast to your horses coat color is best for Bo whos dark bay I have a light saddle but for Jess I will but a dark one as shes chestnut.

J

[galadriel]

About halfway down the page, there's a row of two saddles. I like the tooling style of the second. Fairly simple, but with a nice "finishing" touch (the line of tooling at the edges); looks elegant to me. Most tooling looks "busy" to me.

Of course, considering that I ride primarily English, you may not agree with my opinions :)

If you're going to be riding in a Western saddle that *fits*, then more skirting is better. So I'd go with a square skirt, myself.

[cvb]

just got to share this. Didn't feel up to doing a "proper" template last night, but figured it might be worth "practising".

So went out with my fluorescent pink masking tape and the instructions printed off the web.

Well have you ever tried getting low-tack tape to stick to a horse that is starting to shed their winter coat ? You should have seen this poor horse with fluoresecent pink tape peeling off her :eek: I think electrical tape may be required ;)

And then I got to the bit of the instructions where it says "mark where the last rib is." You have to find the last rib and work up to where it joins the body..... which is fine if you can find a rib, any rib :rolleyes:

Hmmm - Fi is keeping Duds company on his "diet" (less turnout) and now I know why :eek:

My horse has no ribs !! :eek: ;)

[Scribble]

wow
and i thought it was hard enough choosing a t-shirt for me :cool: !!!! lol
that sure is alot of choices!!
great fun tho :D
Riah

[Peace]

Oooo, I like the dark leather one in the center under "Light Trail Saddles" - the one with no horn, just a raised pommel.

I like the way those saddles look as if you could keep your feet underneath you without having to fight the saddle to do it. :cool:

[cvb]

been mulling, and think I may go for the built-in twist on the stirrups. I already have a "repaired" knee so something that reduces the stress should be good value for me ! ;)

Peace - yes, I thought the endurance style saddle looked nice too - but I need something that will look right for western classes...

[Jessey]

The Texas twist dose help reduce stress on the knee/ankle but it can make it a bit bulky, not that it bothers me in the least :D . If not you can get those add in bits which align you stirups properly for you.

J

[Sterling]

I'll post some of mine when I get home

[love4horses]

All I have done is western riding and nothing else, but I am anxious to get into dressage. I think with your horse, you do not need to put on a light colored saddle. It would destroy the look of the horse. She needs a dark saddle, with it being a good brown leather one. A good website to find saddles for a lesser price is StateLineTack.Com (http://www.statelinetack.com). I know it is American but there are some very good saddles on there, and some for half the price of those Cordura saddles. It doesn't matter what is "in". What matters is what looks and feels good on your horse. For me and trail riding, I get a performance saddle because it sits better than most trail saddles. I hoped I helped you some :) !

[galadriel]

Beg to differ about the "very good saddles" at a cheap price. A saddle which is cheap new is *not* a good saddle, no matter how the marketers describe it. The tree is the most important part of the saddle; a good tree should cost about $150-$400. A saddle which costs that, or less, for the *whole saddle* has got some awful junk in there pretending to be a saddle tree.

Cvb has already had trouble with a poorly fitting saddle, which is why she is looking into Black Rhino. Black Rhino are some of the best Western saddles out there.

[love4horses]

I know that, but I could also recommend a Tucker Saddle (http://www.tuckersaddle.com). I have heard that they are some of the best trail saddles in America, BUT some may disagree. :D

[galadriel]

I wouldn't recommend the Tuckers either, actually...mostly because every one I have personally seen was skewed. There may be good ones out there; I just haven't seen any.

[Sterling]

Black Rhino are some of the best Western saddles out there.
For what? I have been riding western for years and never heard of that brand. I was mostly around the show circuit though, so that may be why :)

[galadriel]

You may not have seen any because they're not mass produced. Unlike many of the other brands, they're individually made. You won't find them in catalogs or stores; they are only made by custom order. There aren't a lot of them out there--but the ones that are, are REALLY nice.

It's rather like the difference between prints of mediocre art that you can buy anywhere, and an original Van Gogh ;)

[cvb]

Should also add that there were 2 Black Rhinos around at the Mark Rashid clinic, and everyone that got a chance to sit in them was just drooling over them :rolleyes:

Cos of Fi's sore back, I didn't get a chance to sit in one. But they look great.

When most of the tack is imported, you don't get a lot of choice or chance to change things. So when you make a decision, you want to go for the best value for your money :D

[cvb]

here is a better picture of Fi in her current saddle

http://groups.msn.com/NRphotos/cvbfifi.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=5543

[Jessey]

Hey Cvb, have you decided where would be best to advertise your saddle yet? have got to think about doing mine :(

[cvb]

Nope - I want to take some pictures of the underneath and get some views from e.g. Galadriel or UK (western) saddlers before I go ahead. As the "About The Horse" lead time is 6 months, I have some time ! But thats why I wanted to get the tempate done - as the clock won't even start clicking til I have a proper order in :rolleyes:

It'll probably be a nice saddle for someone - I just need to find the right person.

I'll probably start local - and maybe WES News ? And maybe the Western Rider magazine ? (don't read it myself as its so expensive to subscribe compared to US Horse & Rider). Then beyond that there's always eBay...

[Jessey]

My friend put her saddle on ebay (UK one) reacently, her top bid did not reach her (very reasonable) reserve and the top bidder was in the states :confused: so I don't think I will be going there. Guess I will put it in the 'free ads' cause its free and other than that just ask around a bit. I just can't really afford to buy a new one with out selling my old one at the moment, suggested to OH that his tax rebate would be very handy - he didn't like that idea much :(

J

[cvb]

this is my current saddle

http://www.tumbleweed.se/wpt/view/74/974/974/

appreciate its in Swedish - but the picture needs no translation !

[sozzie]

Hi cvb.

I got my first western saddle a couple of weeks ago. I got it from an English company but it was made in the USA. I sent them a template of my horse plus photos and details of her height, weight and breed. They are custom made saddles but the one I purchased was already in stock and I didn't want to wait 6-8 weeks for one to be made.
I chose to have one with double skirts, only small bits of tooling and silver conchos, the suede seat matches the colour of my horse and hopefully the leather will darken a bit so it's more like the colour of your current one. I chose this saddle as it wasn't incredably expensive (not cheap either) and it has a flexi-tree which great for the comfort of my horse and hopefully me (my horse hasn't been backed yet).
Here's a picture incase it helps you decide how you want your new saddle to look like.
The only negative is that I'm having to oil it and there's still a lot more oiling to be done.

[cvb]

Sozzie - this is my template drawing and photos :D
http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50939

I haven't heard back if they can use it ok or not, so may need to have a second go at it.

Where did you get yours from ? And what make is it ?

I'm keen to go with the About The Horse option as they are highly recommended but also LOOK great :D

So far i've had

saddle 1: Circle Y synthetic. Light, comfy, and fitted "english" style horses - but not my fat QH-type Appy mare :rolleyes:

Saddle 2: current saddle, second hand Dakota Basic Roper as posted. Heavy, leather, quite comfy - but doesn't fit the mare :rolleyes: