western saddle questions

[mrs.smith]

I am fairly new to the world of western riding, but have decided to give it a try since my bursitis in my hip doesn’t like my english saddle any more. I do own a nice barrel saddle with regular QH bars that I’ve used on and off for trail riding over the years. It, of course, does not fit my narrow, rather slab sided mare. My sister was kind enough to lend me her older Wintec western saddle with semi QH bars which does fit my mare.

My first question is about the nylon cinch strap (latigo?) and off billet the Wintec has. My foggy brain remembers something to the effect that the nylon offers no give and should be replaced with leather. Is this true? Also, while perusing tractor supply, I ran across something called a “smart cinch”. Are these worth the money or just an unnecessary gadget? I liked the concept of them, but really don’t want to spend money if I don’t have to.

Also, if anyone has a good recommendation of a saddle that will fit a narrow horse, I’d love to hear it. I’m saving my pennies to upgrade my saddle eventually.

[KSquared]

Are you showing? Or do you trail ride? If you aren’t showing, have you given some thought to an Aussie Saddle? I love mine and it is like heavens clouds to ride on. I use a dressage girth with mine.

As far as a nylon vs leather. It’s been a long time, but the cinches I used on my western saddles were both and I have never noticed any slipping or any difference.

[Lori]

I have always preferred the latigo to the nylon for that bit of give. It really comes down to what you prefer.

[ezduzit]

I replaced the nylon that came with the saddle and switched to leather. Schneider’s Saddlery.

I think saddle slippage has more to do with the horse’s build. You shouldn’t have much on a narrow horse with a well-fitting saddle. I swear by Dale Chavez…love my trainer work saddle from him. No slippage there, it stays where I put it and never tilts to one side or the other.

[UrbanHennery]

If by smart cinch you mean one with a bit of stretch? I like them a lot.

[mrs.smith]

I just trail ride, so I’m going for comfort more than looks. The smart cinch has an extra roller on the buckle, so instead of wrapping your strap over itself, you wrap it once through the lower roller and once through the upper for better ease of cinching. Seems like a neat concept.

http://weaverleather.com/Equine/OurProducts/Exclusives.aspx

[SuckerForHorses]

Yes, leather has more give than the nylon, and I’m not sure its a big deal, and would go with your personal preference.

For the tie strap, on the left side, I would recommend leather if you’ll be tying it because nylon sucks for tying the cinch. If you’re utilizing the holes on the strap and the buckle on the girth to loop it thru and use the holes to keep the girth cinched up, you can use nylon.

I prefer leather because of the give.

Also, unless you have a hard time cinching up a horse, I wouldn’t spend the extra money on the “Smart Cinch” - the roller buckle just makes it easier to snug it, BUT, keep in mind, it also makes it easy to OVER snug it also.

You shouldn’t have the girth so tight you cannot get your hand in behind it. The horse needs to be able to breathe too!

[ezduzit]

Quote:

"You shouldn’t have the girth so tight you cannot get your hand in behind it. The horse needs to be able to breathe too! "

This depends on the horse. My horse HATES a loose saddle and would be very upset with this amount of ‘loose-ness’.

Just wanted to say there is no “rule” for how tight to cinch up.

Also, I had a Smart Cinch and then somehow ended up with a regular buckle cinch. I like the regular buckle better.

[katarine]

I like the Smart Cinch b/c the combination of a hot sweaty horse + sticky sweaty latigo + my sweaty short armed self + tall horse- I will take any advantage I can get.

I don’t like nylon on both latigos. I’ll use nylon on the offside, leather on the near side.