I currently ride in Ariat Close Contours, which I do love, but unforunately even fully zipped with the pulls tucked under the tab are scratching up my lovely new saddle… I am not sure what is going on here except perhaps that when I turn my toe out to apply spur the zipper itself is scratching the saddle? the wear on my saddle is extremely localized so I am sure it isn’t a leg issue (maybe a 1 inch-diameter circle of wear). My tall boots have a little flap of leather that covers the zipper and I have never had an issue with those - can I get half chaps like that? I have been looking but haven’t seen it. I really prefer back-zip half chaps that look like tall boots so that also constrains my search. So in short, I am either looking for a way to get my current half chaps zipper to stop scratching my saddle or to get a new pair of half chaps that won’t do this! TIA
I am not sure of any half chaps that have a covered zipper all the way down, but both parlanti and sagmae make beautiful half chaps. If you wanted to stick with ariat you could try the breeze chap, they zip to the outside though which is not your preference but it would assure that your saddle would not be scratched. The leather on those is soft from day one and they are extremely easy to break in.
I highly recommend the Parlanti half chaps. The zipper is in the back. I have a very soft Antares and I have no marks whatsover from the zipper on them.
I agree with mfleming13. You’re most likely going to have to go with a zipper on the outside half chap.
I have the Ariat Breeze chaps that were suggested and love them. I’ve had them for about a year and they were very easy to ride in from day one.
It’s very likely that any half chap with the zipper on the back would cause this problem. Except maybe the Parlanti Passion half chaps based on examples I’ve seen. They seem to cover the top and bottom of the zipper with a flap of leather, but I have no actual experience with them.
Weird… do you have tall boots that rub as well? Maybe try pulling the tab upward then putting the leather tab underneath instead of over the zipper… maybe it’s just getting too bulky?
Oops just saw that even with the zipper pulled up it rubs! What kind of saddle? And does it do it with tall boots?
It is a rather old (but excellent condition) del Grange PJ Lite - no damage on it when I bought it of this type (grain leather flaps, for reference), so this is certainly me. I only show in tall boots so I can’t speak to that, never tried it - I had this issue with my old saddle as well (I thought it was due to poor quality leather on the saddle, however, as the ENTIRE area that my leg and leather rested was wearing badly) - and the half chaps did seem to exacerbate this. They are grain leather chaps - but when I was in calfskin tall boots every day I would wear out a pair every 3-8 months (either by having the foot crack/break in such a way as to be unrepairable, have zippers replaced repeatedly, or riding a hole into the calves). My chaps also did this to a much lesser degree in a friend’s buffalo saddle once I believe, although I am far from the only one that rides it and it is 10+ years old so hard to tell what could have been mild wear from my occasional ride vs. what is from old age + many others.
I should note that my tall boots have never scratched/marked either my old saddle (as far as I could tell) or any of the other saddles i have ever ridden in them in, whereas I certainly saw it on my old saddle w/ the half chaps.
Since nobody has mentioned this…why are you turning your toe out to apply your spur?
I have a pair of Treadstep half chaps that have a zipper on the outside (https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/tredstep-deluxe-half-chaps-3216), so that should eliminate all of your saddle-scratching issues.
They’ve held up extremely well, and I never had the snap-breaking issues that other people seemed to experience with the older pairs.
shedllybip: How can you apply a spur if you don’t turn your toe out briefly? Certainly wouldn’t want to draw your heel up and alter your leg/seat position.
