My team of craftsmen (and craftswoman… sorry jodi) is by far the best group of talent in any shop… the problem is there aren’t very many of us.  Not to mention our lack of space that is needed to perform such a job… cramped quarters.  All of this combined with only having one sewing machine, only three draw down stands, two head knifes, no clicker, no band knife, and only two people who actually can build a saddle from start to finish.  Every year we build these saddles within a short time frame.

The thing to remember here is that our shop is a true custom shop that produces on average 4-5 saddles a month, each completely different in design and artwork.  We work in a manner that allows us to focus on the specifics that the customer requested and do the best possible job that we can.  Then what makes us want to take on such an endeavor and how do we shift gears to get the product completed at the same quality level and deliver on time?

WE HAVE NO IDEA… BUT WE DO IT!  HA HA!

When we first took the job on, we knew that it would be challenging to say the least.  What we didn’t realize is that in complicating things a bit and pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zone, we gain very valuable skills and techniques that allow us to become more efficient throughout the rest of the year while increasing the quality.

The first year was very stressful, constant worry and running close to the deadline… but quality was maintained.  The second year we finished with time to spare and quality increased a little.  This year we started earlier, working the saddles in with our customers orders, and feel more confident than last year.  That is not to say that we are not conscious of the task before us or too comfortable and wasting time.  We still have a lot to learn about the art of project planning and execution, but we do have a couple years behind us now and feel like every year has benefited us not only on this project but on all our projects year round.

So as we have already begun the “Big Loops” this year, I thought it would be fun to give an inside look at how we handle them and the chaos that could possibly insue within our little shop in Bryan, TX.  I will do my best to not only post about the triumphs, but also post on the screw ups and mishaps (hopefully we don’t have too many of those).  I have no idea how many post there will be or if it will be worth reading at all, but I will do my best.  I’m not going to lead you on, there usually isn’t ever a ton of shop drama, fist fights, crying, or firing of employees… but this is a new year so you never know!

We want to thank the Phillip Ranch for giving us this opportunity and all the ropers that spend their hard earned money and time traveling every month trying to win one of our saddles.  We will make sure that this year’s saddles are everything that has come to be expected from the Big Loop Big Money Tour Finals!

In my opinion, mold is a good sign that your leather goods are healthy enough to support the life that is mold.  By this I mean that you have done a great job of keeping your tack and saddles oiled up.  Mold will not grow on saddles or leather that is dry rot and dead…  nothing available for the mold spores to live on.

*SIDE NOTE:  Letting your leather starve from a lack of oil is not a good mold prevention game plan.

Since seeing mold on your stuff after a period of storage is a good thing what’s the problem?  Mold isn’t something you can just not worry about.  After time, mold will stain the leather and deprive the leather of much needed oils and nutrients that are important to insure that your tack stays soft and comfortable not to mention safe.

The thing that I recommend for killing mold is simply vinegar and sunlight.  Mix a spray bottle with half vinegar (white vinegar is fine) and half water, then spray the infected piece with this solution and set out on a sunny day to dry.  If your saddle is covered in mold it won’t hurt to spray the entire saddle down with this and set outside in the sun.  You don’t have to soak the leather, a little will do.  Once sprayed down, wipe the mold away with a cloth.  The vinegar should kill the spores which can remain in the leather for years waiting for another chance to grow.

A dehumidifier in your saddle house will cut down on the mold for those saddles stored for longer periods without use.  When it comes to your tack compartment on your trailer, if your done for an extended period of time take your gear out and store in your saddle house.  The absolute best place to store all your tack and saddles is in your house where its climate controlled.  Unfortunately, most women don’t take too kindly to tripping over bridles, breast collars and saddles when their walking through their home… but give it a shot anyway and let us know how that turns out.

Don’t freak out over a little mold… grab that bottle of magic mold killer you mixed up (and labeled so your not spraying your horses for flies with vinegar) and fight back!

Here is a warm up piece we did this morning. I’ve started the layout, now you can take it from here. Notice the flow, be sure to move forward in the right direction.

My brother, Ben Schane, brought his Martin guitar in the shop on a Saturday and after a song and a beer or two we did what anyone would do. We tore the pick guard off and made one out of thin Herman Oak leather. It was a lot of fun and turned out kinda cool.

These are common thoughts about different styles of trees and what fits certain horses better.  The truth of the matter is that the tree style doesn’t decide how a tree fits on a horse.  The tree style (TM, OY, Association, Wade, Buster Welch, etc) is nothing more than the style of the front, or swells, that the tree has.  Now some of these styles have a certain cantle or horn that is common to use with it, but these can be changed to the customers specs.

All of these fronts can be attached to many different bar styles, shapes, angles, and lengths.  A Wade front on Arab bars is still a Wade but will not likely fit a foundation bred Quarter horse.  A TM front mounted on bars with a bar spread of 12″ is still a TM roper but will have trouble setting low and flat on the same horse.  So if the front has no bearing on how the saddle sits on a horse, what determines this?  The bars.

The bars are the only thing that should be touching your horses back during use, so the bars are what determines how the saddle will fit the horse.  All fronts can have different gullet Heights which can be changed according to what is being built and for what reason, but the bars are set depending on the bar conformation of the saddle maker’s needs for that horse.

In our shop we have a certain bar conformation that we like to use and we try to use this same conformation no matter the type of saddle we are making.  We may use a different bar STYLE (arizona, cutter, roper, arab, etc) depending on what we are building, but the bar measurements are usually the same (except in extreme cases).  I will get into our bar conformation in a later post.

If we want a saddle to sit low on a horse, as in a calf saddle or Wade, we can adjust the gullet height to what we need on a particular horse.  This does not change how we set our bar angle and spread, that is determined by the horse we are fitting.  One of our cutting saddles could have as high as an 8 3/4″ gullet height compared to our team roper which is usually around 7 1/4″ height.  If we are fitting these two saddles for the same type of horse, the bar angle and spread will be the same.  The only difference here is the height of the gullet.

Now you may have a TM roper from saddle maker X that fits your head horse better than the OY from saddle maker Y, but its not the TM or the OY that is causing the difference, its the bars that the two saddle makers used.  Different trees from different tree makers or saddle makers can fit different depending on the bar measurements they use.  But the front isn’t causing the difference in fit.

Fit your horse by the bars, and pick your front by what you are doing out of the saddle.

When I am checking on this problem for someone, I have them saddle the horse just as they would any other time.  This is when I know if we actually have a serious issue or just a simple human error.  Usually, the customer will put the saddle way up on the withers right on top of the shoulder blades.  At this point I run my hand under the saddle and pads and find the tip of the shoulder blade which is usually right under the center of the front bar pad.  THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT SPOT FOR THE SADDLE TO SET.

Now I don’t care how old you are or how long you have been a cowboy.  I don’t even care if your dad, old grampy, your uncle, or John Wayne told you to set the saddle up high on the withers, I am telling you now, THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT SPOT FOR THE SADDLE TO SET.

Let me explain.

 You should be able to find the tip of your horses scapula with ease every time you saddle him/her.  This is crucial to his being able to compete at his best without you or your saddle getting in the way.  As you can see on this horse, his scapula is angled back towards the end of his withers.  When this horse takes a step forward with that leg, the scapula will move down a bit and reach towards the hip as much a two inches.  This is where the flare in the front of the bars come in, this allows for clearance of the scapula under the front tip of the bar.  With this scapula moving so much as the horse is walking, trotting, running, cutting, or even jumping it is very critical that we not restrict its movement with our saddle.

A horse carries 60% of his weight on his front end and these massive shoulders are what allow him to collect that weight and move with the athleticism that makes them great.  The shoulders are key to functioning well and painfree.  If you set the saddle too far forward you are constricting the scapula’s movement and causing pain which leads to poor performance in the field.  The least that happens is the horse’s scapula moves your saddle back off the blades where it should have been to start with, creating a nonexistant problem.  It could be worse depending on the jerk that the saddle takes and the placement the scapula is in at the time of the jerk in relation to the bar.

If you have a problem with your saddle moving back on you, try this and see if it helps before you assume the saddle is not fitting.  When you saddle your horse, feel for the tip of the scapula under the saddle and pads.  When you find this, shake your saddle back till the front concho is behind this point.  I use the front conch as a good reference point for the front tip of the bar.  If you have been riding your saddle too far forward for some time, this can feel weird when you get on and ride.  You may feel like your too far back on your horse’s back.  Don’t freak out!  Give this an honest try and you will notice a big difference in how your horse performs and your saddle won’t move back anymore.

Many people put their saddle on their horse’s back looking at where the girth is.  Different rigging positions can change where the girth is in the girth area of your horse (we will address rigging positions in a later post).  No matter the rigging position that you have, be it full or center fire, your saddle can only set where your saddle has to set… BEHIND THE SHOULDER BLADES.  This is what makes saddle fitting difficult sometimes.  A real short backed horse can make a person ride the saddle too far forward trying to get the back of the saddle away from the hip… still has to ride behind the shoulder blades.  A big long shouldered horse will cause the rider to set the saddle too far forward because they feel like they are setting way back on their horse and the horses neck feels a mile long… still has to ride behind the should blades.

There are many, many, many other references on the internet that also explain this idea and also in more depth.  This is not a new idea or something that we claim as our way of fitting and saddle placement.  This is a common problem, probably one of the most common, among riders of all levels.  Always remember, in 1900 we rode horses a lot more than we do now and for longer periods of time, and in 2012 we have way more of a saddle fitting problem than we ever did then.  Stay away from gimicks (both saddles and pads) and be sure that the human variable isn’t what is causing your problem.

This is our third year attending this event and we are looking forward to seeing our friends and making new ones. Like every year in the past, we try to start early and have two or three custom saddles made for this show. Again this year we were only able to bring one. With our growing order list and the demand our saddles have at home, we were only able to escape Brazos county with one.

This is the first time in our three years here that the weather has been bad. It’s currently raining and cold, so the ropers will have to contend with cold fingers if they want a chance at the money, truck and trailer.

Good luck to all the contestants! And to all the spectators, set back and enjoy some of the best team roping action on the planet!

I get this question a lot both at the shop and when we are out at events and trade shows.  The most common time this question is asked is when a customer brings in a saddle for repair and the repair needed is so extensive due to the amount of dry rot that the saddle has.  Here the customer will usually say, “I would of oiled it but I didn’t know what kind of oil to use.”  Too this I always answer, “Even the wrong oil would have helped more than what you did… which was nothing.”

We have worked with All Around Performance Horse since they started this ranch rodeo and this year is no different.  This year we are adding the Top Hand award to our saddle build sheet as part of our sponsorship.  The Top Horse and Top Hand saddles will be the awards that these athletes will be competing for second only to the cash.

As we begin designing and building these saddles we will update with video and photos so that the competitors and fans of this event can see the great craftsmanship that goes into building a custom Don Gonzales saddle.  If you are looking for more up to date information on this event and the creation of these awards along with other projects DGSaddlery is creating daily, visit our website at http://www.dgsaddlery.com/ where you can stay connected through facebook and twitter.

Also be sure to check out our friends at http://www.allaroundranchrodeo.com/ for event dates, their blog, and other great All Around Performance Horse info.