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

Yesterday I posted even more pictures of rawhiding trees, and previously I have posted about Rod making the rawhide.  But before he can make rawhide, we need to get fresh hides (my job) and get them prepped for making rawhide (Rod's job). 

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

So, how many pictures of Rod sitting rawhiding a tree can I post before people get totally bored?  But this is how he spends about a third of his time in the shop.  Not the most glamorous part of tree making (if any of it is glamorous…).  In fact, this is the part that a number of tree makers get their wives or hired help to do.  Fortunately, I’m not in that group!  And actually, doing the rawhiding has been the hardest part of tree making to get right.  Why?  Because rawhide is… rawhide.  While wood is still a natural material and moves a bit now and then - rawhide??  Well, it has a mind of its own!!

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

Continuing on with our equine anatomy...  When it comes to changes from the norm in the equine spine, the lumbar section wins the race.  There are supposed to be 6 lumbar vertebrae and 5 sacral vertebrae.  In one study on thoroughbreds, 39% didn't have the normal numbers, but 89% did have a combined total of 11, which means that what was missing in one section was added to the next section.  Our skeletons go along with this, as 100% of our (two!) skeletons have abnormal lumbar vertebrae.  But at least their abnormalities are different ones so between the two skeletons I can still show pictures of what they should look like!

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

March 15, 2011

March 16, 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.

We never know where or when one of our trees will turn up.  Despite the fact that they are almost all built to order for a specific saddle maker and usually for a specific customer, they sometimes move around or sit, unbuilt on, for years.  For example, this picture was recently sent to us from Spain.  The tree was one we built and shipped to France in 2007.  This customer was a student of the maker who originally ordered the tree.  They like the tree, but the customer wants a Buster Welch fork, not a Wade.  They were trying it on to show us how it fit.  Since we keep records of all the trees we build and the customer could tell us where he got this one, we could tell him what the fit of that tree was.  Combined with the Dennis Lane measurements sent, we are very confident on the fit of the new tree we are building.

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

We ended the last post with the idea that the shape of the vertebrae is important in the movement of the thoracic spine and therefore the thoracic part of the back.  If you carefully watch a horse move, you will see that his back flexes (rounds) and extends (hollows) a bit.  That change in shape varies with gait, head position and a number of other factors.

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

Oh yeah, I did that one already too…  Isn’t it funny how that when you get an unusual-to-you order, you often get more than one in very close timing?  In this case I am talking specifically about cantle height.

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

Oh yeah, I did that already…  Today I was labelling pictures of the trees that we have shipped out over the last little while.  I take a series of shots of every tree, which proved really handy when it came to updating the website.  And I noticed something – there were a lot pictures of Wades in there.  Wonder why?  So I thought this would be a great time to show some comparison pictures of Wade forks.

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

Moving down the back from the cervical vertebrae, the next section is the thoracic vertebrae, called that because they are directly above the thorax, or chest cavity.  There are usually 18 of them, and they are really interesting vertebrae.  Their dorsal spinous processes really vary depending on where they fall in the line up of T1 to T18, and you could almost put them in order just based on those alone.  However, they have other unique features as well, such as the three facets on each side for the rib attachment.  Lining them up straight like this is a good way to compare them, but doesn’t show you their real orientation in a living horse.  And as to why the last one looks different, that is a long story that has something to do with lack of freezer space, a hot summer and not dealing with bones till October…