I am trying out a lovely Vic Bennett western saddle that seems to fit my horse nicely…but the rigging is something I’ve never seen before. It has 2 slots made of leather and rawhide (?) and then in the body of the saddle is an oval hole that goes through the leather and the sheepskin. The latigo is tied on the slot on the right and goes down to the cinch then can come up and go thru the slot on the left…it is as if it is another version of a Double C rigging with the metal being replaced by this sewn on leather/rawhide version. Anyone familiar with this or can give me instructions as to how to properly cinch up the girth, and what is the oval hole for above and in the body of the saddle? All of this is of course under the fender…Any ideas?
photo please
This is the way most Fallis saddles are rigged. If you contact Gary at
www.stansgarsaddle.com/ He is very knowlegable about this type of rigging. E mail address is on the web site. There are many pics of saddles on the web site to look at, maybe you can find an answer that way.
Rigging on western saddle…
Thanks for the replies, sorry I don’t know how to post pictures on here…and csaper58 thanks for that lead, I did find some examples from that link…and found that it is meant to go down from the back slot, through the cinch, up through the hole, down through the cinch, insert the buckle tongue, and then slip through the front slot…forming a W. This is apparently to avoid the large lump formed by the usual knot, and allow closer leg contact…I have sent an e-mail and pic to the saddle maker, but since I bought the saddle used, I’m not sure I will receive a response. Amazing what one learns from others!! Many thx.
Go to this page and scroll down a bit to see different rigging options - does it look like this? There’s an explanation on the page of the hows and whys of various positions.
