My new saddle

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

KHickam

50 Cal.
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Messages
1,331
Reaction score
13
Well, it has been months in the making - mostly spent gathering materials - then a trip down to a friends house to work on it. It is a modern tree (Brownie didn't sign up to be a re enactor, and the tree fits him)

It is a skelton rigged facsimile of a spanish saddle we used 12 oz harness leather, iron stirrups and I really can't wait to get the go ahead to start riding again

IMAG0967.jpg
 
I ordered them online and started filing all the casting marks and stuff of then I heated them and dunked them in light oil

Can't remember the name of the outfit but they have a nice selection of english type iron stirrups
 
Nice job. If you really wanted "Spanish", you should have gone about 3 times the diameter on the horn! :wink: :thumbsup:
 
Wes/Tex said:
Nice job. If you really wanted "Spanish", you should have gone about 3 times the diameter on the horn! :wink: :thumbsup:
Not for the pre-1840 period anyway - the horns were generally much smaller than those seen later - here's an early California made saddle
circa 1830 - the great big dinner plate sized horns are mostly post 1850-60 http://www.furtrade.org/museum-collections/tools-utensils/

another couple - central Mexico 1803 on page 25 and Mexico circa 1830 on page 49 of this excellent treatise - there are several more examples with smaller horns later as well.. http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/HistoryTechnology/pdf_hi/SSHT-0039.pdf

Richard this type saddle usually includes an over pad aka mochilla
 
Last edited by a moderator:
LaBonte,

Thanks for the education, makes sense now.

Think I will stay with my 4-wheeler, don't have to feed it and it has never thrown me off.
 
VERY NICE.

Fwiw, I'm looking for a saddler who will build me a similar TX Revolution era saddle to fit my "free mare" for my "dirt farmer" impression.
(No such thing as a "free horse". - They are all costly.)

yours, satx
 
Great looking rig! :thumbsup: Can't comment on the historic accuracy, but it would make me proud to straddle it.

Gotta wonder about the buckles sitting so high on the stirrup straps. Hoping they pull way down for riding.
 
They don't but the way I ride they don't bother me being up there. and if they do - I can always add a mochilla or some other type of buffalo hide pad with a suringle
 
You guys are wearing me out with all the new words, going to have to make Wikipedia a favorite.
 
Interesting rigging

Last fall, in the middle of a road, I came across an English saddle that had apparently fallen off a vehicle. Fairly new but suffering some bad road rash. I wondered if possible to alter it to a an early 1800's military saddle, perhaps an 1833.
 
My understanding is the english saddles have changed very little over time - that was a recommendation I got too - get an english saddle and call it good.
 
Yeah, I think it looks great. Too bad Sean (NM/TX) still doesn't appear on this forum. He was interested in saddles, etc.
 
I sent him pictures just now - was talking to him on the way down to my buddies to make the thing a couple weeks ago and I promised him pics :hatsoff:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top