Mickey Mouse!!
We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.
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OK, so it isn’t quite the same, but I must admit it reminds me of Mickey…
Yup, Rod decided to take up the challenge and try a Western Stock (Aussie) tree. We have had a couple requests for them over the years and this time he called up Dennis Lane and asked if he was willing to share information on building these trees. Dennis, nice guy that he is, was extremely helpful. We couldn't (and wouldn't) have done it without him.
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Rod decided that if he was building one for a customer, he should build a spec one too, just for the experience. He made them both with the same knee pad patt-en (Australians don't pronounce their "r"s very much), though we have other patt-ens we can use if customers want a different style.
So why is it called a Western Stock tree? The original Australian Stock saddle has an English style tree with panels underneath it to be the weight bearing surface. The knee pads are leather, not an integral part of the tree. The Western saddle has a tree with bars composing the main weight bearing surface and different fork styles.
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The Western Stock saddle is a cross between the Australian Stock saddle and a Western saddle because it has a western style tree with bars in it with an Australian style fork with the knee pads built in.
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While those of us in North America would most likely call it an Australian saddle tree, that isn’t what Australians call it. So I’ve put both names on the Western Stock (Aussie) page in our Pictures of Trees section.
It was fun to build! Thanks again for the help, Dennis!
