# Considering a DIY saddle...Possible journal.



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Ordered this tree-
https://www.ralide.com/product/model-1450/



5 3/4inch gullet, smallest I could find that still was a 14 inch seat. I'm hoping the rock & twist will match or be close to my pony, but it can't be any worse than all the others I've tried/bought...Right?...Ugh.
If its terrible, it'll be resold.

Anywho, I'll be dressing it up skeleton style. So just the bare essentials with my English leathers & irons for further weight trimming & leg contact.

This is an example of a skeleton rigged saddle-




If anyone else has done this, please share!

I'm currently looking at 2 finished saddles that are supposed to be 5.5". If I like one of them, I'll buy it, have it shipped and pray that it fits. If not, I'll be even more poor, until it sells.


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## greybeard

Have you looked into Mexican type saddles? The ones I see at the Plaza de Toros Guadalarajara  and the
charreada Cala de Caballo events aren't much more than bare trees, but they do all have a huge pommel.


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## Baymule

Interesting project.


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## Amelie the Bee Keeper

I wonder how this will go?


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## secuono

The two saddles are FQHBs, so passing on them.


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## secuono

Emailed the company, since they didn't send me a confirmation email nor a ship date.
Got an email back minutes later. Bizarre. Since all my previous emails they never replied to...
Anywho, she said it should ship by the end of the week, slow company. Or maybe Amazon prime has ruined me, lol.


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Haven't heard back about shipping. Just sent another email for an update.


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Tree came in, has some issues I emailed the company about. 
   


I'm pissed off that the price has dramatically dropped....


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## secuono

As for fit, seems to be a winner.


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## secuono

Just ordered a few things for this project.
Back cinch, straps + connector strap.
Four 3" dees, for the front and rear cinch connections.
Cinch strap + off billet strap.

Got padding measured & cut out. Pondering if its possible to glue them to the tree or have them built into the saddle pad instead. It seems saddle makers think its best to use a pad.
Working on figuring out the straps on the tree that will have D rings. 

Drew up a quick picture of an idea I have, but still researching other methods that involve no screws/nails. 
 

After I taped the felt panels to the bars, I retested fit, then hopped on to get a feel. He was being an arse to the younger gelding, but nothing slid, so that's good. Was able to hop off w/o the tree tumbling off right after me. *phew*


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## Baymule

Watching your progress is going to be fun. You will tackle anything, I like that about you.


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## secuono

Just bought heavy duty 2" webbing. 
There were many that seemed similar, but they were actually thinner. =/ 

I have thin 1" nylon webbing, but decided not to use them for the majority of this. I will be redoing my stirrup bars with it. Since its bare, I'll be able to sew it nice n tight instead of finagling it into place, lol. 

And already have heavy coated thread, its not cotton, I forget what, but its also strong.

I wonder if spray paint will stick to the tree...Would be nice to use glossy black on it...Have a new can, so I think I'll paint it once I have the straps adjusted and dry fitted. If it chips, ah well, lol.


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## secuono

Baymule said:


> Watching your progress is going to be fun. You will tackle anything, I like that about you.



At the very least, I'll learn a lot and you guys may be entertained!


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## promiseacres

interesting. 
My "new"saddle is a treeless. I have about 10 hours in it. Love it!


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## secuono

Both sets of shipments should arrive Thursday. 
I'm excited!


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Got a reply.
Chipping by horn is cosmetic and not structurally important.
The crack, they say is also cosmetic and use epoxy to fill it.

Google shows not much will stick to it, so...lol. Loctite has a snall 2 part glue that should work. Want to use it for the bar pads.


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## secuono

Okay....couldn't wait...Sprayed outside, but drying in laundry room....
One thin coat kinda looks neat....


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## secuono

This is supposed to work.
 

I have a pond leaf basket that cracked one winter. I used an epoxy, two part putty I had to mix. Works great and I think it also works on polyethylene. I think that's what the leaf basket is also made of.


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I need a 1ft sq section of this for my cushion...but it's only sold in a bundle of two.
Wanna guess the price of that?
$298!!!!!! Plus shipping!
No!

Ugh.
Maybe I can find someone with a roll that can give or sell me a wee section...



Why this?
Easy to fit and clean, soft and! Super warm!


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How I'm planning on doing the front cinch rigging-
 

And lookie here! Cable rigging! How neat!
First is also skeleton rig.


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No luck finding the sheet, so looking at alternatives. None available in stores locally or an hour away, so Amazon it is!
I have a 1" thick sports chair cushion, but it's too thick.

Oh, accidentally scratched off a bit of paint from the seat...so, lol, looks like it will peel eventually, at least on the smooth sections.


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## secuono

Alright, so I measured the stadium cushion and its 3/4" thick. Decided to trim, contour and sit in it. Guess what? It works!
The little triangle wings, I'm debating cutting them off. Not sure if that will cause an odd leg gap or not. Going to sew a heavy black canvas cover for it, already have the fabric from my bareback pad I made.
Really wish the paint would stick, kinda looks like funky old wood, lol.






Here you can see how much padding the store saddle needed. Two 1/2" felts, it compresses to nearly half.
And you can see the stirrup hangers + webbing I used on the store saddle, took em off to play with how I want them attached to the tree.



The bar pad is 1/2" wool felt. Bad pics, but you can sort of tell it needed it for the spine clearance.
 


Alright, attempting some diagrams.

This might work if there is enough clearance, if not, I have curved needles and will sew each individually to themselves.
Blue solid line where the two webbing straps could layer over each other and be sewn together.
Blue dots is where it goes through.
Pink lines underline the fender slots built into the tree.

On the right, you see the pad dip, that is where the tree has a built in dip so the fenders would go w/o adding bulk. I'm going to wrap the 2" thick webbers around the slots to both fill that space and to block my 1" webber from sliding forward.



Location of stirrup hanger, at the back to help with correct leg placement.



This diagram is of rigging.
Front orange. I may go up n around, orange dots or go through fender slot, green dots. I need to mess with the green area, it may not be wise or cause issues for my pony.
Back orange. I think I may add straps sandwiched between the bar and pad to secure it from shifting. Will play with that, too.
Purple solid line. I may further trim my pad. It would stay long enough to keep the rigging Ds on it instead of on the horse.
Dotted purple is where I'd trim the underside to lessen bulk under the thigh.


Here is a pic of the store saddle to compare how much less there will be. I marked on it to make it a but easier.
Yellow, tree of this saddle, roughly, did the front not low enough.
Blue, where pad may be trimmed.
Purple, horse's shoulder edge.
Green, location of Ds.



No packages yet. Going to go out to search for glue soon.


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## secuono

The scrape. Boo


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## secuono

The 2" webbing arrived!

Rest is still pending....
 

Couldn't find the new glue, so got the putty type. No idea if it will stick to felt....but I'll try to rub it in real well, if that's even possible, lol.
Nearly all glues will not work on PE & PP.


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## secuono

That's all the website says....So I guess it's a waiting game now...

Order #---- was placed on December 4, 2018 and is currently Completed.

Your order was shipped via USPS
Tracking number is --------------


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## secuono

Was messing with the webbing and thought of wrapping it by the horn.
Turns out some do that. Lots of ways to attach.



 

 

 

 


I want it to be more of a full/point billet style, so directly under the pommel.


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## secuono

They finally took it to the PO today! Should arrive Monday. =/


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## secuono

Got a little sewing done and dry fitting.
If the Dees arrive Monday, then I'll be able to test the saddle out the next day!
Will glue pads & seat cushion after the Dees are installed.




Pony doesn't know a rear cinch, though, I have flanked him from the ground to get him used to it. Been doing that with the little gelding while also working on heart girth pressure, so I was like, why not see if the big pony will care...lol.
So I'll strap the saddle on and lunge him for a bit to see how he takes it.


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## secuono

With a cinch and stirrups hung, it looks more like a saddle!


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It just departed MD....Maybe...maybe it will show up earlier?! Hoping!


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Yippie!!!
Out for delivery in my town. 


I mention " in my town", because sometimes it's out for delivery in a town several hours away.... =/ And then it might not get here until nightfall or the next morning.


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## Baymule

Your saddle is coming right along! Out for delivery here means 9:00 PM or later. LOL


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## secuono

Arrived at 3pm...I'm less than a third of a mile from the PO...hah.
I was putting up temporary snowfence to keep ewes away from neighbor when the box arrived, so didn't get to it until 4pm.

Got the back dees installed. Front dees are on, sewn together, but still need to sew the twist in the webbing. I ended up looping the webbing up over the rise and not through the fender slot.

Pictures of it on my pony tomorrow.


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## Baymule




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## secuono

Ready to test out.
I'll probably have to cut n melt more holes in the straps.
May also need kid sized stirrup webbers...
Will find out in the AM.


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## secuono

Snowing, so no pics.


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## secuono

40, sunny and dry tomorrow, so I'll test it then!


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## secuono

Still wearing my big mud boots, so I didn't hop up.
He didn't really react to the back cinch.  
Need to work on the seat cover, they only sold blue or red stadium cushions.

What do you all think??


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## frustratedearthmother

By Golly it looks like a saddle.  You did a great job!


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## Baymule

He looks happy with it. You will have to check it out for comfort too! 
Question, did you put a connecting strap from the front cinch to the rear one to keep the rear one from sliding?


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## secuono

Yup, you can see there's a bit of an angle forward because of it. And if you look close, you can occasionally see it in the pics.
The rear cinch "kit", I guess you could say, came with a little strap & clip.
I put it on the shortest hole, then looped it through the D ring on the front cinch and clipped it back to the rear cinch D ring.




Oh, you can also see the front D ring of the front cinch in this pic, too. Haven't needed a breastcollar...yet.


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## secuono

I was nervous he would do something, but it seemed like he was a touch easier to ride today.


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## B&B Happy goats

I am very impressed on what you have done...looks really nice...


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## secuono

Closer pic, if you're on a phone and can't see squat. Lol.

Don't think people would realize that it's not a "normal" saddle until they got a bit close....


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## Baymule

How does it ride? It looks good!


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## promiseacres

Looks like a good fit for the pony! Am curious on comfort for you? Good job.


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## secuono

I was too worried about him throwing a baby fit or the mud, that I didn't ride for long. Sat in it a bit too forward at first, could feel the three edges of the cushion under me, but moving back fixed that. Felt a bit odd under my leg, I think it was the felt pad. Was wearing my rubber boots, worried about that, too, lol. Too short of a ride. Today is supposed to get to 46! I'll go out in an hour or so and go riding around the property.


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## secuono

Had a ton to get done today and ended up not having time. =/


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## secuono

Okay, went to trainer buddy's place.
Would of preferred that it was a true 14" and not a 14 3/4". Maybe I should of tried the 13"...lol.

Anywho, I ended up dropping the stirrups down two holes. I could probably go another hole, also helped that he wasn't bloated on hay..hah.
I need to sew the front dees to the strapping.

Going to order a slightly shorter cinch & add some holes to the connection strap.

Pretty comfy!


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## secuono

Bought a treeless....
Why?

Potato is too fat....for his custom saddle.....

Supposedly has a flex pommel from semi to full....


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## promiseacres

Some people love love the hiliasons, some dont.... hope it works for both of you!


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## secuono

promiseacres said:


> Some people love love the hiliasons, some dont.... hope it works for both of you!



Been reading posts on FB about them, and some love them, some hate them with a fiery passion and others are meh about it.
I had a red treeless pad from them years ago, very well made, w/o the tag, I'd never guess it. So, I'm hoping I luck out with the saddle, too.
If I had $ growing on trees & could trust FB people, I'd get a used Bob Marshall instead. But the possibility of loosing all my $ in a scam is far worse than loosing some money by returning the Hilason & paying restocking fees.


I've had a few different treeless saddles over the years, I hated how it was like riding a pillow...And some of the newer, but still similar style to the pictured ones, are so bulky under the leg. Literally 3" away from the ribs on each side!!! Seat was great, flaps & pad, horrendous. 
Oh, red pad is the Hilason, ugh, he's so fat here...


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## promiseacres

secuono said:


> Been reading posts on FB about them, and some love them, some hate them with a fiery passion and others are meh about it.
> I had a red treeless pad from them years ago, very well made, w/o the tag, I'd never guess it. So, I'm hoping I luck out with the saddle, too.
> If I had $ growing on trees & could trust FB people, I'd get a used Bob Marshall instead. But the possibility of loosing all my $ in a scam is far worse than loosing some money by returning the Hilason & paying restocking fees.
> 
> 
> I've had a few different treeless saddles over the years, I hated how it was like riding a pillow...And some of the newer, but still similar style to the pictured ones, are so bulky under the leg. Literally 3" away from the ribs on each side!!! Seat was great, flaps & pad, horrendous.
> Oh, red pad is the Hilason, ugh, he's so fat here...
> View attachment 62560 View attachment 62561


Mine is a black forest (very well broke in but I LOVE it! very very comfy, doesnt feel like a pillow.) I have a photo somewhere... see if I can upload it.


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## secuono

promiseacres said:


> Mine is a black forest (very well broke in but I LOVE it! very very comfy, doesnt feel like a pillow.) I have a photo somewhere... see if I can upload it.View attachment 62585



That's the first one pictured. Used it for lessons, but trotting was impossible in it.


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## promiseacres

secuono said:


> That's the first one pictured. Used it for lessons, but trotting was impossible in it.


That's interesting. Do you think it's the difference of their western vs dressage/endurance styles?


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## secuono

Shipped! Should arrive Monday!


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## secuono

I ended up ordering this one, since the other wasn't in stock & no idea when it might be available again.


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## secuono

It STILL says waiting for it to get to UPS...


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## promiseacres

Ugh, I absolutely hate when they do that!!!


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## secuono

Still nothing.


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## secuono

Shipped late last night...
So, lots of calls n emails gets them to ship....
Should now arrive Thursday.


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## secuono

Finally got an email response..."It shipped Monday, should be there Thursday, says tracking."
DUH!! I can see that.
But that's days late, ya lazy liars!

Ugh. I try so hard to ship out sheep fleeces or anything, no matter how small or cheap, same day or as soon as golly possible and this lazy company doesn't even bother for 5 days... Gonna roll my eyes right outta my head!


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## secuono

Its here!


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## secuono

The leather scratches easily, first thing I noticed when I was removing the cinch.
Second is that the cantle isn't level with the pommel, but I'm hoping that's from shipping & with use, it will adjust to the right place. 
I felt snug & even a bit secure in it. I ordered the 14". I have a skeleton rig saddle that is 14.75" & I feel that is too big, so the snugly fit was nice. 
Favorite part was that the seat was firm! I've had two other treeless and both I sank into & it felt like I was on a pillow. That was terrible! I didn't try trotting just yet, as it's hot & gross out currently, but stirrups seemed secure. They also look to be tilted ones, which is nice. 
I cinched up & used a 2 step to get on, but still put my foot in the stirrup & then swung up. So, my full weight was in it for a moment & there was no unusual movement, no rolling.
I'll update again after we've had a few rides with it.


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