{"id":3857,"date":"2020-05-18T23:00:26","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T05:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westerntrailrider.com\/wordpress\/?p=3857"},"modified":"2021-01-02T15:18:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T22:18:53","slug":"maybe-its-time-for-a-new-saddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westerntrailrider.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2020\/05\/maybe-its-time-for-a-new-saddle\/","title":{"rendered":"Maybe it’s time for a new saddle"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\r\n\t

I noticed\u00a0 a couple weeks ago that the fleece on my old Utahn Saddlery ranch saddle is worn out. I bought that saddle well-used in the spring of 2015 and have put a lot of miles on it since then. I’ve replaced all the saddle strings and many of the conchos, but now the fleece needs to be replaced. That got me to considering that I should build myself a new saddle.<\/p>\n

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Over the past 10 years or so, I have accrued the necessary basic tools for saddle making and have done minor and major repairs to a number of saddles. I have learned all of the various skills necessary to complete a saddle, but just haven’t yet made one from start to finish. That’s something I have aspired to and I think it’s time.<\/p>\n

So, the first step is to decide what kind of saddle I want to build. It seems to be something deeply rooted in my soul to have a love of traditional…even old…ways and things. I absolutely love the 1870s style western stock saddles. The half-seats in particular. So, my first saddle will be a half-seat, similar to this one, built by Kevin Sonmor.<\/p>\n

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He has a wonderful video of him building this beautiful saddle on his YouTube channel, Agar France:<\/p>\n