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It's been a year...

Posted by RodandDenise on August 15, 2012

We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.

today since I started writing this blog.  From the occasional feedback, I know people read it sometimes.  I have enjoyed learning as I have had to think (HARD!) to clarify ideas and information to explain it correctly and clearly in an impersonal written format.  But looking at life and the amount of time the blog takes, I thought I would take a few minutes (or longer) to look back at it to see where it has been and maybe figure out where it could go.

What we have done

I checked out the tags on the right hand side of the main blog page.  (They are clickable links to help you find all the posts tagged under that heading.)  Of course, they are only as useful as I make them in labelling the posts, but I have put thought into having usable tags and not too many tags.  The posts that have taken the most study time have been the ongoing Anatomy and Biomechanics series.  The other ongoing series is on some good reasons to order a hand made saddle tree.  A lot of the posts have to do with saddle fitting and how trees and saddles work on horses.  There have been a few posts on rawhide - making it and rawhiding trees.  I have done a little bit here and there on some of the tools and equipment we use.  And I introduced you to our new pressure sensor mat.  It has also been easy to highlight the different things we do in the shop rather than the "normal" trees we build, but there were a few on the different styles of swell fork trees we have built over the past year and a few posts that include Wades.  There is a dearth, I notice, of posts about other types of slick forks though... 

What we can do

I hope to get the "good reasons" series done in the next few weeks and the "anatomy and biomechanics" series done by the end of the year.  I'm sure some of what we learn as we use the new pressure sensor mat will show up here as well.  I can continue to post pictures from the shop of "normal" and unique things we are building, and more about some of the tools and equipment we use in the shop.  And we do build metal horn slick forks, though they aren't a common order, so I should get some pictures up here about them.  (You can find pictures of slick forks on the main part of our website.)

But what do you want to see?

Since this blog is primarily to help our customers - the saddle makers - understand more about trees and how they work on horses, I thought I would ask you what sort of things you would like to read or see pictures of.  (My niece, the grammar Nazi, is dying a thousand deaths at the moment because of the preposition I ended the sentence with...  Ha, did it again!!)  Since I am writing this for "others" to read, I better listen to what "others" want to read!  Any ideas, comments or other feedback are welcome.

COMMENTS:
Posted by Deana on 
I appreciate the glimpse into your work - the thought and diligence that makes it quality work, the striving to 'know' so that you can improve. This could be the first place to 'publish' your sensor pad results. Keep showing us the different and the unusual. Please keep writing and posting pictures!
Posted by Gary on 
I really appreciate the information you provide in your blog. I wouldn't change an thing. It will be interesting to follow the research results you obtain from the sensor pad. I refer people to your site all the time as part of my "educational program for the saddle buyer".
Posted by Carrie Disbrow, BS, HTL (ASCP), QIHC (ASCP), RVT on 
I recently found your webpage and FB page even though I heard of how nice your trees were made over a year ago when the Parelli people tried to talk me into a flex tree saddle and decided to get serious about saddle fit. So, almost a year later and five saddles latter and I only have one saddle that fits one of my three horses and I'm not sure that fit is even 90%.

I'm getting ready to buy another western saddle and the info on your site in informative and the best I've seen. I'll have to email you privately about a custom tree and saddle. Please keep the info coming!
Thanks.

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