Finally finshed the repairs to the Hamley!

Those of you who have followed me for a while will remember that way back in about October 2012, during a training session, my mare, Penny, blew a gasket and let off a bunch of steam. In doing so, she went down and as I made my exit, my spur caught the seat jockey of my Hamley ranch saddle and ripped it. The spur also left a long scratch across the seat. Then, Penny wallowed around on the ground a bit, trying to regain her feet, scratching the pommel pretty good. When she got her legs back under her, she jumped up right into a large oak tree, punching a stick about the size of my index finger right through the cantle binding. Luckily, both Penny and myself were ok, but the saddle took a beating.

Just a few days later, I went to mount Penny, who was wearing the Hamley, and the on-side stirrup strap broke. As I inspected things, I noticed that the rear rigging was about to break loose as well. It was time to put the Hamley on “injured reserve” and start looking at repairs.

(Click on the photos to see them full-size)

Now, it’s not like I ruined this saddle. If you are familiar with western saddlery, the name Hamley should ring a bell. Hamley, Pendleton Oregon, has been making quality saddles since 1883. They are one of the few saddlers still in business from the days before the horseless carriage came into vogue. In fact, I sent the serial number of the saddle to Hamley and received a Certificate of Authenticity, confirming that the saddle was made for my wife’s uncle, Earl G. Richins, and that he paid $154.50 for it in 1947. Cool!

So, this saddle belonged to my wife’s uncle until he passed away in 1974. Then we think it passed on to his sister’s husband, who rode it until he was in his 90s, when the ranch he rode for apologetically told him they couldn’t use him anymore, because they were afraid he’d get hurt. Well, he also passed away and the saddle eventually passed on to me, being the last of the family with horses.

With that little history, it won’t surprise you that the saddle had been through several repairs during its lifetime. One stirrup leather had been replaced by scabbing in a section of new leather in order to retain the original tooling on the outside. The other stirrup leather had been changed altogether…the one that broke…and the tooling did not match the original. Also, the skirts had been re-fleeced at least once and the last time it was done was a poor job. The skirts were curled around the edges and the fleece was wearing out. The rope strap had been broken and replaced long ago, as had the original saddle strings. In other words, the poor old saddle was in need of major repairs…again.

Now, I have aspired to become a saddler for many years, although I had never actually done anything more than a few minor repairs on my own saddles and one major rebuild of the pony saddle I learned to ride on as a kid. However, in doing my research I found that having Hamley rebuild this saddle was way beyond my reach financially. Since the saddle was in such poor shape to begin with, and since so many repairs, of varying quality, had already been done to it, I decided that the value of the saddle couldn’t be degraded much more if I did the repairs myself. So, the decision was made. I would use the Hamley to improve my knowledge, skills, and experience as a saddler.

Over the years since 2012, I have acquired the basic tools that all saddlers seem to have. I have also acquired the basic skills that saddlery requires. Several months ago I disassembled the Hamley and removed the damaged parts. However, the rest of my life made me put the Hamley on the back burner. Then, during about November last year (2017), my wife received a telephone call from her cousin, the daughter of Earl G. Richins. She was asking whether we knew the whereabouts of some of Earl’s belongings. She was only about 13 years old when Earl died and, due to some unusual circumstances, some of his belongings had passed on to his siblings, rather than to his young children. That included my Hamley saddle.

My wife told her about the saddle, the needed repairs, and asked whether she would prefer I reassemble it and leave it as original as possible, or whether I should do the repairs needed to make it a serviceable saddle again. She never really answered the question, but said she would like to have the saddle. I decided the right thing to do was to go ahead with the repairs and give her the saddle in working condition. After all, it was her father’s saddle and she was the rightful owner.

Last week I finished the last of the repairs and reassembled the saddle. This afternoon I took it on a shake-down ride, to make sure my repairs meet muster and are comfortable to ride.

Here is a list of the repairs I made:

Replaced the torn cantle binding
- Oiled and stained the cantle binding to match the color and patina of the original leather
Replaced the old rear rigging leathers
Replaced both stirrup leathers
- Tooled the stirrup leathers to reflect the design of the original tooling on the saddle
- Stained the stirrup leathers to match the color and patina of the original leather of the saddle
- Cleaned and stained the sweat leathers (which had been replaced in an earlier repair) to match the original color and patina of the saddle
- Replaced the Blevins Buckles with new, better ones.
Replaced the old cinch latigo with a new one
Replaced the rope strap
Made new stirrup keepers
- Tooled the stirrup keepers with a “R” for Richins.
Stained the scratches and gouges on the seat and pommel to hide them
Refleeced the original skirts (hand-stitched)
- Added backing to the skirts to stiffen them and keep them from curling
- Replaced the saddle strings with 1/2″ heavy latigo strings
Patched and stitched the rip in the seat jockey.
Oiled entire saddle and gave it a nice finish.

I have to say, I’m very pleased with the way the saddle turned out.

The one repair I’m not proud of is the repair to the tear in the seat jockey. I used waxed poly thread and it would not take stain, so the thread stands out white against the dark leather of the saddle, making the repair very obvious. It’s serviceable, but way too obvious. That was a lesson learned and a mistake I will not make again.

So, next week I will give my wife’s cousin a call and make arrangements to return this saddle, which is hers by right of inheritance, to its rightful owner.