I’ve been busy remodeling the master bathroom in my house these past couple of weeks. Doesn’t leave much time for messing with the horse or working on the saddles. I’ve been trying to do some research on pack saddles, though, in the early morning and evening hours.

Since I’m going to have to put together two pack outfits for the trip, and likely have a third for a stand-by, I’m trying to decide whether to go with Decker-style pack saddles or the old standard Crossbuck packsaddles.

I have been using Crossbuck pack saddles and Utah-style paniers (big, open grocery sacks made of canvas and other tough materials), since I was in high school, so I had never even considered any other option for my Great Western Trail trip. As I started looking into suppliers for gear, though, I noticed that most of them seem to be carrying Decker-style pack saddles as their main fare and Crossbucks have taken second-seat. So, I have been asking around about the relative advantages and disadvantages of each.

The Crossbuck pack saddle has been around for a long time. I haven’t been able to come across anything that tells just how long they have been around, but suffice it to say that when one imagines an old miner with his pack donkey, in the pre-Gold Rush days, wandering around the west, dodging indians and avoiding civilization, he had a Crossbuck pack saddle on his pack animal.  The Crossbuck gets its name from its configuration: Crossed wooden “crutches”, normally made of oak or some other hardwood, attached to the saddle bars, traditionally made of Cottonwood, for the horse’s back. The crossed bars looked a lot like a “sawbuck”, which is a fixture made for cutting wood, consisting of two logs or wood beams, bolted or tied together crosswise, across which the wood to be cut was laid to hold it in place.

Modern Crossbucks are solidly glued and/or bolted or riveted to the saddle bars. They are normally rigged for double-cinches and use breast straps and breeching to keep them in place on the animal. An over-sized saddle pad, normally made of mohair or wool felt covered by canvas is used to protect the pack animal’s back. Modern Crossbuck pack saddle bars are carved to fit the animal much like modern riding saddles, however, when one looks at an antique pack saddle, one can easily imagine a sore-backed pack animal. Many antique Crossbuck pack saddles simply had wide, short, flat boards for saddle bars. The rigging of a Crossbuck pack saddle hasn’t evolved much over the years. It is essentially the same as it was 150 years ago.

In the late 1800s, came along the Decker-style pack saddle, which was developed to more easily haul odd-shaped loads while protecting the pack animal. Decker pack saddles were not named for the inventor, S. C. McDaniels, an old Arapajo packer from around the turn of the 20th century, but for several brothers named Decker, who saw the utility of the new style pack saddle and applied for a patent, which, apparently, was never granted. The name Decker stuck, however, and the saddle has had that name since the early 1900s¹.

The Decker-style pack saddle, rather than using wooden crossbucks, has steel bows, arches, or hoops (take your pick as to what to call them) to which the saddle bars are attached. Modern Deckers may have saddle bars made of wood or polymers, and they may be fixed or “self-adjusting”, or able to move to self-adjust to the shape of the pack animal’s back. Deckers have several hoop configurations, to satisfy varying needs of packers.

The original Decker hoops were simply arched hoops connecting the two saddle bars. The straps from the paniers (the bags that hold the loads) are buckled through the hoops, or are attached using Decker hooks.

A Decker saddle uses an oversized saddle pad, similar to the Crossbuck saddle, however, in addition, the Decker saddle uses an Arapajo, or Half-Breed (apparently in honor of McDaniels, who is said to have been part Arapajo), which is a padded canvas pad that lays over the pack saddle, protecting the pack animal, the saddle, and the saddle pad, from the chafing of the loaded packs. The Half-Breed has slits in it, through which the hoops of the saddle protrude, allowing the paniers to be attached over top of it. The Half-Breed also has side boards installed in pockets in the lower sides of if, which help distribute the load across the pack animal’s sides and further protecting it from the chafing of the load.

Many packers also utilize a “Quarter-Breed”, which is a piece of canvas, which lays over the Half-Breed, to protect it from wear and keeping it clean. Since the Quarter-Breed is simply made of canvas, it is easily and cheaply replaced.

The rigging of a Decker pack saddle is more adjustable than that of a Crossbuck saddle. Most Decker pack saddles I have come across have buckle adjustment available for every strap on it. A Crossbuck saddle’s rigging has few adjustments, outside of the tightening of the double cinches. The Decker’s rigging can be adjusted to move the cinch farther back, or forward, as well as use a single or double cinch. In fact, most of the Decker saddles I have seen come standard with a single cinch. Decker-style rigging appears to be more easily repairable, since it attaches to the pack saddle via D-rings, rather than being riveted or screwed to the saddle, as Crossbuck rigging normally is.

Crossbuck paniers, at least the ones I am acquainted with, have hanger straps that are simply leather or nylon loops sewn into the top edge of the panier. These loops are hung over the crossbuck to suspend the packs. Often there is no adjustment. They just hang where they are. You can adjust the way they hang a little by the way your diamond hitch is tied, but for the most part “they is what they is”, as they say.

Decker-style paniers are more versatile. They may have hanger straps, like the Crossbuck paniers, but they have buckles in them, so as to be able to unbuckle them and pass them through the Decker hoops. They can also be used on Crossbuck saddles, in the same way Crossbuck paniers are used, except that you can loosen or tighten the hanger straps to adjust the way the packs hang. This is useful in balancing a load, when necessary. Decker paniers can also be made, or fitted with, “Decker hooks”, which are brass, bronze, or steel hooks, made to hook onto the Decker saddle hoops. Decker hooks can greatly simplify the loading of a pack animal, particularly single-handed.

Decker saddles also lend themselves, depending on the hoop configuration, better than Crossbucks for “top packs.” While I have always simply loaded stuff on top of my Crossbucks, thrown a canvas tarp over the top, and tied it all into place with a diamond hitch, there are available a number of different styles of top packs, made specifically to load on top of the pack animal and the paniers. Top packs made for Crossbuck saddles are generally configured in an “H” pattern, allowing for the crossbucks. Top packs for Decker saddles are rectangular or square and have no need for the “H” shape, in most configurations, and therefore can have more space in them. Never having used one, I can imagine that it would be somewhat easier to pack and load a square pack than an “H” pack.

As for panier shape and configuration, Decker saddles are easily adaptable for a number of odd-shaped loads, from railroad ties, to hay bales, to regular Utah paniers. I have read of Decker saddles having shelves attached to them to facilitate the packing of lumber and other long, straight goods. While Crossbucks have been used to pack odd-shaped loads, over the years, the Deckers have proven to be more easily adapted and therefore more efficient. The original Decker brothers are said to have amazed many experienced packers with their efficiency in packing hundreds of tons of goods into the back country of Idaho in the early 1900s.

 

Now for costs. From my research, it appears a fully outfitted Decker-style saddle will run roughly $100 more than a similarly outfitted Crossbuck. The added expense is in the Half Breed and some extra leather in the rigging, with the option of adding a Quarter-Breed, if one wishes. I have recently (as of January 2013) found Decker pack saddle outfits from the low $500 to the mid $600 range, not including freight charges, if any.  A fully rigged (minus cinches) Crossbuck will average about $500, give or take $40 or so. Some sellers throw in a saddle pad with either type, which is nice and effectively lowers the price of the pack saddle outfit.

Now, before I close this post, there has, actually, been some innovation in pack saddles in the past several years. In my research, I came across the record of a patent application from 2003, by a man named Summerfield. He applied to patent a new style of pack saddle that seems to capture all the good of the Decker and Crossbuck saddles and combine them into one. The new saddle, in fact, has crossbucks, but they are made of metal, each having an eye at the top of the crossbuck, to which Decker hooks or ropes can be attached, as well as being configured to allow Crossbuck-style paniers to be hung over the crossbucks.

Summerfield Pack Saddle Patent Application, Google Docs

The Summerfield saddle bars are wider than either the Decker or Crossbuck bars, and are carved to precisely follow the contours of the horse. The saddle rides on an over-sized saddle pad that has pockets on the sides to hold the saddle bars. The pockets have a closure at the top that captures the bars and holds the saddle pad securely in place. The bars appear to be attached to the crossbucks in a manner that allows them to be adjustable, however, they do not appear to be “self-adjusting.” The saddle can be easily configured for either a double or single cinch, just as the Decker can. It appears a Half-Breed and Quarter-Breed could be fitted to the saddle, as well.

I can see where the Summerfield saddle and the Crossbuck might have one failing in common, that the Decker does not share. I have read on two different sites where the author has said that in the event of a “rollover” wreck of a pack animal, the Decker-style pack saddle is much more likely to survive in usable condition than a Crossbuck pack saddle. Due to the configuration of the Summerfield saddle, I would think it might suffer damage from such a wreck.

Having said all that, I have been unable to locate a dealer who carries the Summerfield pack saddle, as yet.

So, I guess the matter comes down to this: Tradition? Do it like my father before me…and with me…or practicality? While I still have leanings toward the Crossbuck (I just like old-style stuff), the practicality and versatility of the Decker-style saddles is winning me over.

Now, being retired, and not being, by any stretch of the imagination, wealthy, I must also consider costs. I have been in this mode for many years, due to a Chief Executive Officer in my home who is an excellent money manager, my good wife (she is the reason I can be retired at all), which has led me, in many instances, to attempt to build things I want. So I am contemplating whether I want to try to build a Decker-style saddle.

I have all the tools necessary. I have the know-how to use all the tools. The Decker-style saddle is quite simple. Much simpler to build than a Crossbuck, if one has the tools to do so. I have the leather working tools to make the rigging as well. The one fly in the ointment, so to speak, is the canvas Half-Breed. I would need to find a supplier who could provide two or three…not two or three hundred…over-sized 1″ thick mohair or wool felt saddle pads measuring about 32″ by 60″ or so. Dad has the sewing machine, back in Arizona. Good excuse to go see him.

So, here we go again. Another project for me to try my hand at. I’m looking forward to it already. I’ll keep you posted.

1. Information regarding the origins of the Decker saddle were taken from information on the Outfitters Supply website. Many thanks to Outfitters Supply for such an informative and well-executed website.

2.  Many of the photographs on this post were taken from outfitterssupply.com website. Others were from Google Images searches.