Considering a DIY saddle...Possible journal.

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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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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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The scrape. Boo

 

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

 

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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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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!