I’m pretty excited today.

Several months ago I started working on a Christmas gift for my oldest grandchild, Adi. She’s four years old. Last spring she saw a pony and told her mother, “Pop-pop (that’s me) is going to buy that pony for me.” Nobody is sure where that came from, but it sure clicked my switch!

So. Pop-pop figured he’d better get to work! I decided to take the old, worn out pony saddle I learned to ride on and rebuild it for Adi’s Christmas present. Like I said, I started on it several months ago, but didn’t get far. I disassembled it and made a few repairs on the saddle tree. Then a couple months ago I bought the leather for it. Then about a month ago I cut all the parts out of the leather. Well, yesterday I got back to work on it.

The tree had a couple places on the pommel where filler had broken out, so yesterday I repaired the tree with auto body filler. Worked like a charm.

Today, I installed the gullet cover and covered the horn.

For my first saddle, I’m pretty pleased with how the horn came out.

Looking forward to making some more progress next week. I’ll keep you posted.

12/15/2016:  I’ve made a little more progress on Adi’s saddle. I’ve finished the ground seat, installed the pommel cover, and have the stirrup leathers ready to finish.  I’m working on the saddle skirts now and should have them finished by the the week’s end.