I am currently looking for a new western saddle. Really liked a couple of Blue Ribbons that I rode in while I was looking for a new horse. New is out of my budget. Looking a used, but I do ranch riding, so the less silver the better. Can I take the silver off & replace it with leather?
You will have holes left by screws but no reason you couldn’t replace with leather rosettes etc. I would save the silver.
I say you as general you. In actuality you are much better off getting a saddle maker to do this, and it will cost.
Both my trail saddle and my show saddle are made by Blue Ribbon. Some of the screw holes that are left when you remove the silver can be plugged by wood putty, believe it or not. That’s especially true if there’s the standard cantle plate across the back. On my saddle, there isn’t any tooling underneath the corner skirt plates, which actually makes it easier because you can then get someone to tool a design that’s similar or complementary to your saddle’s existing pattern. Depending on the age and use of the saddle, though, there may be a distinct difference in the leather color, or even some dark discoloration, in the area where the silver was removed.
My Blue Ribbon trail saddle was custom made… for someone else… who had their first name tooled into the skirt leather. I did inquire about having leather pieces tooled and then stitched over the name, which could be an option for you. But after a while the name became a running joke, so I decided to keep it. I figured it gave me license to do something naughty in that saddle and it’ll get blamed on some woman named Jacklyn. 
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Have you check the Facebook groups? There are a couple specifically for Harris & Blue Ribbon saddles. (The specific name of one group is “The Harris & Blue Ribbon For Sale Page”. It appears to now be by invitation only, and I am a member of it.)
