Tear in saddle seat

[Rohello]

Hello dear Cothers!
I was wondering about everyone’s experience with re-seating a saddle. My favorite Frank Baines saddle - which I’ve had for about 20 years (gosh, I am old… :eek:) is showing signs of its old age: aka, a 1.5 inch tear between the seat and the skirt. I had it ‘patched’ about 10 years ago but the patch didn’t really “stick”.
Thing is I just love this saddle, it fits on everything from 13 H. ponies to 17H. ottbs so I’d love to keep riding in it if at all possible.
So questions are:

• have you guys had your saddle reseated and were you happy with the results?
• who would you recommend? (I am assuming I’d have to ship the saddle as here in NE Iowa, the non-Western pleasure “options” are few and far between)
• by any chance, anyone knows someone working on F. Baines?
  Thanks you all!

[myrna]

if the tear is not getting any bigger,leave it alone…

[jaybird660]

Email Patty Barnett, the saddledr@aol.com. She is one that I would recommend to see if it is doable and she does a great job on things like that.

[alto]

You might also contact Patricia at Fine Used Saddles & see who she uses for her repair work, I’d also send a series of photos off to Frank Baines & see what they suggest

If possible have the saddle thoroughly checked before investing in shipping fees (depending on your location, fees can vary a lot), be sure to insure.

[toxicity]

When my saddle got a tear like that, I took it to a local saddle fitter to see what could be done about it; she said it would cost $500 because basically the whole saddle has to be taken apart to mend the seat (or something like that, this was a few years ago so I don’t remember exactly). I bought the saddle for $500 so it wasn’t worth fixing to me, but it sounds like this saddle is priceless to you so the cost may be worth it. Just sharing because I was expecting an easy (aka cheap!) fix for this problem.

[Rohello]

Thanks all!
I was indeed hoping for an easy/cheap fix - while feeling it would probably be more expensive indeed…

[Ambitious_Kate]

There are probably many different ways to fix it to varying degrees. You had a repair done which lasted 10 years and that sounds pretty good to me. I would just have that re-done again. If it lasted another 10 years, or even 5, its worth it.

[dmj]

Had this happen to my Devoucoux…ended up needing to replace the whole seat. Cost about $800. Steve at Bison Saddlery was a gem- bisonsaddlery.com