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[RC] Seeking childs western saddle - rides2farOn Sat, 12 Aug 2006 08:32:27 -0700 (PDT) Chris Paus <chrisnstar@xxxxxxxxx> writes: I just love my Wintec lead line saddle for little kids. I start all kids in it. There's a great hand grab place if they feel off kilter. That's the one I was trying to think of. A girl I recruited way back when...Becky Wright (I think that was her husband's last name) moved to Oklahoma and sent me photos years later of her little girl "Olivia?" on one. I really liked the looks of it. Her little girl did endurance on it. If a kid comes off > an English saddle and gets hung up, the stirrup leather will slide off the bar. Check those bars. I've had them rust shut, then once I forced it open and thought that was a good idea to leave it open, the stirrup leather would come off if they leaned too far forward going over a jump. (picture Boyd falling off on Cougar Rock on the National Geographic video) Seriously check the strength of the rigging. (look underneat the flap at how it's attached to the tree) I live in the Chattanooga area...saddle making capital of the nation. We have Crates (high quality) Double R (medium) American (bargain) and a million little shops where individuals from these companies have retired and are building saddles in their workshops behind their houses. I go to one of those guys for my repairs. He showed me a saddle someone brought ot him that wasn't even made from real leather. It was sold as leather, but you could tear it like cardboard! The MAJORITY of the people making these saddles have NEVER seen them on a horse's back. They often live in the industrial neighborhood near the factories. They go by a pattern and sell them. To them, if two tacks hold that rigging on the tree, it looks good. They don't picture anything more than a kid being led on a Shetland...certainly not a powerful horse that could take a deep breath and pop those tacks. I have pretty strong feelings about rigging since I was in a wreck when I was 17 and the rigging on my Argentine English saddle popped when my horse was leaving the starting gates on a brush track. The saddle went under the horse after about 1/2 mile and I was dragged a little (English safety stirrups did not come loose) Fortunatley, the rigging gave. It was tacked to the tree. with a western saddle, unless you have tapaderos, your kid is SOL. The tapaderos on the average stock western pony saddle are sewn flat across the front of the stirrup...unlike the old classic ones that extra toe room. Kids who have to use those stock ones are only able to get toes and maybe not even all the ball of their foot onto the weight bearing part of the stirrup. They're forced to tip toe. Do them a favor and get them some Easy Rides. If you need to use a western saddle there's stuff you can do to improve it. I think Darolyn took the western fenders off Ci Ci's saddle and hung English stirrup leathers, then put on a fleece cover. The buckles on the western saddle are usually not the sort you'd want under your leg for longer than it would take to get led around the yard. Put something else on there. If the edges of the tree dig in I'd use a thick felt pad. My personal research (put a rock on the floor under a pad and stood on it barefoot) says a felt pad helps more than foam or wool to protect against something with sharp edges. Kids saddles are usually made to tie a knot in the cinch by your knee. The Quick Cinch would fix that. (it's a girth with a billet & buckle...billet goes up from the girth, through the ring and back down to the buckle on girth) Add rings to attach waterbottle holders. Kids need access to their own water. I used to carry both our water until I got pulled and gave my junior to someone else once. They didn't think to offer her water and she didn't want to ask. She suffered for it. Personally, I love kids riding bareback around on ponies. My kids never really rode horses till they were 10 or so. But from the time they were 2 I had ancient ponies that they could put on a helmet & a bridle, climb on from the steps and ride around the yard. If they fell it wasn't far and the pony couldn't go fast. Horses have an awful lot of power. On the lessons thing. My daughters had a few outside lessons and even on their own ponies, they did much better for someone else than they did for me. Competing with other kids erases the fear & whining instinct and they have fun. I sent them to Pony Club camp and they had a ball. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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