A broken saddle tree isn't always super obvious... Unfortunately, we didn’t take pre-derawhiding pictures of this one. The story is that the saddle was built by a well known family of saddle makers here a number of years ago. The… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/if-you-think-it-might-be-broken/
There is an idea that a tree should "flare out" at the front bar tips so it doesn't contact the horse, thus leaving room for movement of the shoulder blades. Here's an example of a tree built with that idea, and why it doesn't work in real life. We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Subscribe to RSS Feed… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/saddle-fit-shoulder-blades-and-flare/
Here's the broken tree from inside a lightly used, not-cheap saddle. A saddle is only as good as it's foundation... Subscribe to RSS Feed We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/if-they-only-knew-what-was-inside/
When we got this tree in to duplicate, we were told it was broken because it had started to sore horses when it hadn't done that before. However, it didn't fall apart when we took the rawhide off. So what was wrong? Subscribe to RSS Feed We were sent this tree to duplicate because the owner said it was broken. (I have written posts lately about this tree and some of the ways we do… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/so-why-was-it-soring-horses/
Now that we've shown you some of how tree makers do things differently, how can we make a tree that the old leather will fit back on, but do it our way? Here's what we did for this one Subscribe to RSS Feed After the previous posts I have written about how this tree was built differently than ours, maybe you're wondering how the new one turned out? … https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/so-how-did-the-duplicate-work-out/
Here's some of the differences under the rawhide. Subscribe to RSS Feed We are no longer building saddle trees, but we have two videos about how Western saddles fit horses available on our westernsaddlefit.com website.… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/every-tree-maker-does-things-differently-part-two/
Here is a close look at some of the things that can be different in how trees are made by different tree makers. And this is just the outside! Subscribe to RSS Feed We have another tree in to duplicate, and there are lots of interesting things about this tree we noticed and discovered, so I wanted to share… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/every-tree-maker-does-things-differently...-part-one/
There are a lot of damaged and broken trees being ridden because the owners can't see the damage and don't know it is here. Here is what a broken tree can look like when you finally get to see under the rawhide. Subscribe to RSS Feed We picked up a “saddle in a tub” from the Greyhound station this week. The story on this one was that it was on a young horse that was tied to a… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/things-to-see-on-a-broken-saddle-tree/
