Saddle repair and reminiscing of my "old days"

[2ndTink]

Up until about 8 years ago, I had a hobby of buying, selling, and trading saddles. I met some awesome people doing this and made enough money to break even on the materials I used for repairs. Well, one night I went to the horse sale and ended up buying an old JC Higgins saddle, sold by Sears and Roebuck back in the day, decent old saddles. I paid a little more than I was planning but still figured I could clean it up (that takes me 10 to 12 hours) and still make $20 bucks on it. Passable for a weekend's hobby wages.

When I got it home and started going through it I found that the rigging on the right hand side had been ripped off and reattached 1 3/4" further forward than the left side. It made me wonder if that's how it ended up at auction. The closest comparison for a lady is wearing a bra extra tight with one cup lower by 2 inches, if that doesn't have you cranky and ready to throw a fit, I don't know what would. I ended up moving from Idaho before I got it fixed so here we are, on the opposite side of the country with it hanging out in the basement for 6 1/2 years. Needless to say it's super dirty and the leather is in need of some conditioning.

At some point and time I had taken the saddle all apart, so I drug all the parts and pieces up stairs while singing Buckin Horse Rider by Corb Lund. This saddle has definitely seen a lot of miles, I wonder where all its been and what adventures its been on? I miss having a leather shop and making all the custom tack and repairing saddles and the friends I met along the way, and here I am, no horses and expecting I won't have any horses in the future. A huge part of the "who" I was is gone. I still have all my leather working tools and supplies but I no longer have a shop set up (lightning strike - fire - complete loss, but all my tools were saved by my neighbors throwing them out of the burning shop ). This area isn't much for western tack and I'm not much on English riding, so it is what it is and I don't really have the time anyway.

The fenders got dunked and scrubbed and rinsed with cold water and hung on a limb outside to drip and dry a little. No sun today and mid 60's, you don't want to heat leather to dry it. The Higgins is now completely cleaned and it is now time for me to scrub the tub. I should have weighed the saddle, pretty sure I got enough dirt off of it to make a difference

 

[sourland]

Well done. The stories it could tell if it could talk.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's cool. I have my saddle. My horse is gone now, I can no longer ride either. My saddle is probably useless to most people. I keep it and my bridles because they mean something to me. I also don't want to forget all those years. I clean mine up occasionally. It's like an old friend at this point.

 

[2ndTink]

That's cool. I have my saddle. My horse is gone now, I can no longer ride either. My saddle is probably useless to most people. I keep it and my bridles because they mean something to me. I also don't want to forget all those years. I clean mine up occasionally. It's like an old friend at this point.

That's great that you still have a few things left, and that you clean them off and on. Good leather is so amazing, it lasts such a long time if you just take care of it a little.

I might regret selling all my saddles someday, but I still have several bridles, mohair cinches, and other things. So many memories and I'm very glad to have them. I miss having horses, but - chickens!