The Three Most Important Saddle Parts

Can you name the three most important parts of the western saddle? If each of these three parts are correctly designed then you’ll have a solid saddle. Get just one wrong and the saddle can never be “right.” The answer? The saddle tree, the seat, and the rigging. While every western saddle part has a [...]

Ride Many Saddles

You can learn a lot about western saddles from reading and talking to knowledgeable folks. There’s tons of  information available on our Western Saddle Guide website. This will give you a good, solid foundation. But like so much in life, you really need to have lots of first hand experience to truly understand the western [...]

Cleaning Your Saddle Pad

The end of the summer season is a good time to think about cleaning your saddle pads and blankets. Hair, dirt, sweat and assorted crud all build up over time. If it isn’t cleaned off it can cause irritation to your horse and damage to your pads and blankets. Before each use, you should always [...]

Saddle Tree: Rocker, Twist & Flare

Veterinarian, Joyce Harman’s newest saddle fit book, The Western Horse’s Pain-Free Back and Saddle-Fit Book, is chock full of great information on western saddle fit and western saddles. I’ll be sharing some nuggets from the book on the Saddle Blog, but this is really a book you should have in your library. The first nugget [...]

Saddling and Handling a Horse: Which Side?

Traditionally, horses have been handled from the near (left) side. Today, you’ll see most folks leading, saddling, and mounting their horses from the near side. Why? This tradition dates back to the earliest mounted warriors wearing long swords into battle. With the sword most often worn on the left side by right-handed riders, mounting from [...]

The Western Horse’s Pain-Free Back and Saddle Fit Book

Veterinarian, Joyce Harman’s much-delayed book on saddle fit for the western horse was officially released today, July 2nd. The Western Horse’s Pain-Free Back and Saddle-Fit Book Dr. Harman’s earlier books and DVDs have clearly established her as the preeminent expert in saddle fit, but, more importantly, as someone who can make the subject understandable and [...]

Western Saddle Marks

Most manufacturers and saddle makers will place their mark on their saddles. While the mark can be placed anywhere, the most common locations are on the latigo holder, the seat, behind the cantle where the back jockeys meet, and on the fenders. You can see examples of marks in each of these positions in the [...]

How To Ship Western Saddles

We received a question from "Ben," a visitor and Saddle Sense newsletter subscriber, asking what was the best way to ship a western saddle.  We thought that was a great question and something we should share with all of our readers. To make sure we had the expert answer, we turned to our friend, Bobby [...]

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