Anyone knowledgable about western saddles?

[caevent]

I recently acquired a western saddle (owner of said saddle passed away). I have absolutely no use for it; I couldn’t even figure out how to cinch it up without an instruction manual! :lol: So I’d like to sell it. A couple questions:

How do I measure the seat size?
How do I measure the tree size?
How can I tell what type it is (roping, cutting, etc.)
I haven’t given it a thorough search, but the brand isn’t obvious to me. The leather and silver look to be of nice quality. Any tips for estimating its value?

Thanks in advance!

[Airfern]

If there is a maker plate you can look up serial # and get the info you need.
I found this site helpful when looking at craigslist saddles.
http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/how-to-measure-your-saddle.html

and here
http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/differences-between-saddles.html

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=caevent;6289154]
I recently acquired a western saddle (owner of said saddle passed away). I have absolutely no use for it; I couldn’t even figure out how to cinch it up without an instruction manual! :lol: So I’d like to sell it. A couple questions:

How do I measure the seat size?
How do I measure the tree size?
How can I tell what type it is (roping, cutting, etc.)
I haven’t given it a thorough search, but the brand isn’t obvious to me. The leather and silver look to be of nice quality. Any tips for estimating its value?

Thanks in advance![/QUOTE]

Does that saddle has a brand name somewhere?

-You measure the seat size at the base of the horn, where the leather of the swells start, to the front of the cantle.
-You can’t measure tree size in a finished western saddle.
-You can tell what type saddle it is by the type of horn, seat, swells, rigging, how the stirrups hang, which kind of fenders and stirrups it has, etc.

We need a picture and then we can tell you which type of saddle you have and other particulars, if fully tooled and which kind of tooling, partly tooled, slick or rough out, in skirt rigging, Mother Hubbard skirts, cheyenne cantle and which kind, etc.

Just be sure this thread doesn’t look like a veiled advertisement to try to sell that saddle.

[caevent]

Ok thanks, those tips are helpful! The seat is suede, the rest of the leather is tooled, the horn seems small and “delicate” ( top of horn has silver accent). I’ll try to get a pic to post later. Thanks for the advice - I could tell you anything about any English tack, but I’m clueless when it comes to this stuff!

[lilitiger2]

Glad you are checking it out! A really nice woman recently told me she had acquired a western saddle and, as she had no need for it, would let me have for about $100. I took one look at it, saw it was a barely used Crates, and told her she could get more like $650 and better for it!

This is my favorite site for learning about the basics of a western saddle http://www.western-saddle-guide.com/ lots of good info-maybe more than you need! But, as others have mentioned, it will explain about the parts of the saddle so you can talk about them. and yes, base of horn to top of cantle measures size, in 1/2 inch increments. And this page http://www.western-saddle-guide.com/saddle-fork.html talks about the swells (from each side of the horn) as people will ask you about them (slick fork? etc)

I also agree that http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/howshoulifit.html is an excellent site-this one talks about the fit of a saddle- and what they mean by semi bars, etc. so you can tell what you’ve got!

Sure, post pics! But barrel saddles tend to have a higher, thinner horn (no need for a rope!) a higher cantle to hold one in place, wide swells, again to hold one, a nice deep seat, and for obvious reasons tend to be lighter!! roping saddles tend to have a thick sturdy horn, are heavier, low cantle, for sure double rigged (both cinches). And weigh a friggin’ ton!

I don’t know a lot about show saddles, but if I ever got a saddle with a ton of tooling on it, I would certainly mention it in the ad. I don’t know much about synthetics either, never had one!

Maybe you’ll come over to the dark side and ride the saddle with a horn!!:winkgrin: