Stirrup-straight-ugh!

["Raymond O'Donohue" <rayo@cfw.com>]

Those things are awful-and unneccesary. I am a person who is 
fanatical and fussy about all my gear,but especially so re saddle girth 
rigging and stirrups/stirrup leathers. The answer to a perfect "hang" is 
to simply put a half twist in the leather on the front side of the 
stirrup whilst in the correct hang position.. In other words,your leather 
is now "Upside down" as it enters the buckle. This hang'em straight. Here 
are two further refinements I wouldn't be without:First take the entire 
aforementioned set-up and turn the entire apparatus UPSIDE DOWN-your 
buckle is now at your Foot,in front of your stirrup,where it can create 
no bulk,lumps,or rubbing,and the slack of your strap is hanging downward 
-where it can be tucked into your oversized hooded stirrup,another safety 
and convenience I wouldn't be without. Second refinement: The entire 
affair is slid through a 15 inch tunnel-back fender,from Tucker's in 
Memphis,which you of course will not hesitate to modify by 
trimming/chamfering any offending rubbing spots with a razor blade,and by 
riveting the front face of the fender to the "topmost" of the two 
straps.Phew!One picture really would be worth 1K words here!  One thing I 
like about you E folks is your unwillingness to live with a saddle that 
s___ks.BUT:I suggest sometimes doing more modifying than buying.My 
beloved Buena Vista was junk until I cut off the original rigging and 
fabricated a forward,in-flap rigging,etc,etc."But they MADE it this 
way!",folks will say,on the assumption that "they" knew what they were 
doing,and disregarding the fact that to this day every maker's rigs are 
different. It's an endless attempt to quantify the un-quantifiable,so get 
out your tools-if thy billet strap offend thee,pluck it out.Rivets are 
easier than sewing,by the way.	Whilst flaming here,I believe Len Brown 
of Ortho-Flex  has advanced the design history of the saddle by a quantum 
leap,and I say this as a person who does not like Ortho-Flex saddles (too 
high,due to the panel system.)Nonetheless,the definitive identification 
of the problem of saddle-horse dynamics has now been 
made.Additionally,their recognition of rigging ,girthing,and stirrup 
problems has been educational for all students of the saddle.I know there 
have been some service and warranty problems,but that's a different 
subject. 'Nuff said.