White trash saddle thread

[jeano]

[QUOTE=matryoshka;3604834]
I rode in the saddle with the commercial stirrup turners yesterday. Even though I shortened the bolt, the darn things still poke me in the shin!

So I’m going to buy two more dog collars and use them to turn the stirrups. These stirrups are ones that came with a Bob Marshall saddle, and aren’t my favorite type. I put my good endurance stirrups on the Bob Marshall saddle, so the old Abetta saddle gets the BMSS stirrups. The Abetta saddle fits the little Arab mare I’m starting under saddle.

Hey, is there any interest in a “White Trash Saddle” thread like the old “White Trash Dressage” thread a year or so ago? I’m dying to talk about some of the modifications I’ve added to my saddle. They work great but look like hell![/QUOTE]

Great minds work alike. I, too, have utilized the humble nylon dog collar and other odds and ends to make my tack do what I want it to do. Hadnt thought of using dog collars as stirrup turners, though. Currently my hardworking dog collars are wrapped around the swells of my Abetta, and the tugs of my standard Western breastcollar are attached to the leash rings on them to make it work more like a pulling collar.

I am trashy and cheap. If you cant attach it to your saddle with a dog collar or one wrap velcro you probably dont need to be attaching it in the first place. I also have about a zillion scissor snaps and carabiners (the fake kind you use for keyrings) to use for attaching waterbottle holders and such to the saddle and rigging.

Speaking of rigging, the flank cinch I borrowed from my neighbor didnt have a connecting strap to the front cinch. So I used a conway buckle, and old piece of nylon rein, a scissor snap and VELCRO to fashion one. Its working fine, been on several rides with it.

My saddle pads are far trashier than my saddle; I am ashamed to talk about them.

[matryoshka]

My Abetta western saddle is the trashy looking one. It fits both me and the horse, but all the attachment points for gear are leather. Ugh! They didn’t last long. Also, it doesn’t have a crupper ring. Double Ugh!

Since it came with a horn that I thought was always pointed at my gut on my rambunctious OTTB, I sawed it off. That looked odd, and I was too lazy to sew on a leather patch. A friend had given me duct tape the same color as my bridle (turquois), so I wrapped that around the swell to hide the gaping hole where the horn had been.

I’m also not fond of real tight girths. Hence, I like to have a crupper so the saddle doesn’t slip forward going down hills. I didn’t dare use a crupper on my bucky OTTB, but the new little Arab I’m working with isn’t a bucker (so far). In order to get the crupper ring on there, I used bailing twine looped from the ring to the saddle rigging. It goes under the stirrup fenders, but it shows from there to the back. It looks terrible, but it’s functional. I’m thinking of getting a local Amish guy to make me leather straps to do this. In the mean time, we’ve got bailing twine and duct tape keeping us trucking. Hey, I bet I could use dog leashes to do this instead. Hmmm…

At least my biothane tack looks cool! Sadly, I couldn’t get a Skito saddle pad to match the biothane, so that is royal blue instead of turquoise. :no:

[CoopsZippo]

LOL… I fall into the catagory too…

My current saddle was free to me. It is a rough out saddle of unknown brand that was given to me for free. It actually fits my horse. My pad falls into the trashy catagory. I have used zip ties for various uses. Duck tape. Bailing twine. Dog collars. Various items which come into being via Redneck engineering.

[matryoshka]

Wooohooo for Redneck Engineering!! We trail riders are so lucky that we can get away with this stuff.

[AlmostDun]

Dog collars work as curbs too. One of my barn mates borrowed my saddle for a trail ride. She found a small dog collar on the ride, fastened it to my saddle pommel, and then forgot about it when she returned the saddle. A few weeks later someone else from the barn was having trouble with a horse evading the bit. We pulled the salvaged dog collar off my saddle and fastened it where the curb strap should have gone. Problem solved.

[Shadow14]

I’m annal about my equipment and every thing must be just right. all my leather is well oiled and clean, my saddle is clean and all rings and attachments must in good shape and well done.
Sorry no trash for me, not when my life or that of my horse depends on it. I inspect my bridle constantly and have very good heavy reins buckled not snapped to the bit. My head stall if I could make it heavier duty I would. If I get bucked off or the horse goes down I want a good hold on the long reins and I don’t want to loose him. I might never find him again or he could run across a highway and get himself killed.
A broken stirrup leather at the wrong time could get you dumped as good as a broken girth or billet.
NO I ride hard, take chances at times and don’t want the horse to suffer because of it. If and when I do go down I keep my head as well as a good hold on the strong rein.
Who rides a bucker almost weekly??? I do, I do.

[sublimequine]

[QUOTE=Shadow14;3606034]
I’m annal about my equipment and every thing must be just right. all my leather is well oiled and clean, my saddle is clean and all rings and attachments must in good shape and well done.
Sorry no trash for me, not when my life or that of my horse depends on it. I inspect my bridle constantly and have very good heavy reins buckled not snapped to the bit. My head stall if I could make it heavier duty I would. If I get bucked off or the horse goes down I want a good hold on the long reins and I don’t want to loose him. I might never find him again or he could run across a highway and get himself killed.
A broken stirrup leather at the wrong time could get you dumped as good as a broken girth or billet.
NO I ride hard, take chances at times and don’t want the horse to suffer because of it. If and when I do go down I keep my head as well as a good hold on the strong rein.
Who rides a bucker almost weekly??? I do, I do.[/QUOTE]

Ugh, I thought you said you were leaving COTH for good. :dead:

And saying you ride a bucker weekly isn’t really something to brag about.

Also, folks using nylon tack or nylon dog dollars for things really are using something stronger than leather. Nylon doesn’t break, leather does. That’s why people use leather halters or breakaway halters with leather pieces.

[afastarabian]

Yep, I have definitely done the dog collar thing.

I also welded my own aluminum safety cage stirrups. They came out quite good actually, as I have worked as a professional welder in the recent past. They are very light, and cost me nothing other than a few lunch breaks. All the aluminum was from scrap that was being thrown away by the shop.

[Shadow14]

[QUOTE=sublimequine;3606065]
And saying you ride a bucker weekly isn’t really something to brag about.

.[/QUOTE]

If you ride young stuff that is high on grain and getting in shape any time you leave them have a few days off they are going to act up. As long as I ride daily Rio is fine but give him 3 days off and you had better have a good grip because he will give you a few good bucks until he settles down and works himself out.

I had a good run yesterday morning and at about 5 oclock he tore up the field. There are skid marks everywhere and the owner told me you should have seen him flying around the field, bucking, rearing, farting and just plane showing off his speed. And that is after a hard Friday and Saturday ride.
Tell me I should be doing more ground work to take the starch out of him???

Any youngster feeling his oat s so to speak and getting in good shape will act out and I expect it, ride it and then we settle down to a good work

[wateryglen]

Cheap!

OK, I’m cheap too! :winkgrin:
Duct tabe for strap keepers. Or rubber bands.
Dog collars for breast straps on blankets.
Old quilted, all cotton waffled mattress pads make good "baby"pads and it
makes several of them. Sewing machines are wonderful things!:yes:

[CoopsZippo]

Just because I am on a budget doesn’t mean my gear isn’t safe. My Stirrup leathers and etc are looked over every ride to make sure there is no tears, weakness, or etc.

I just don’t have a lot of extra money in my budget for the top of the line equipment. I have three boys. Two attend private school due to us being within the worst school district within the state. The youngest is under 2 and still at home with me.

I afford my horse just fine, but I do have to keep my family within the green budget wise. Which means boarding farther away from home. Going without an indoor. Being happy with second hand equipment and tack bought at TSC instead of the more expensive tack store locally.

[BarbeyGirl]

@Shadow14;3606408

If you ride young stuff that is high on grain [snip]

Any youngster feeling his oat s so to speak and getting in good shape will act out and I expect it, ride it and then we settle down to a good work

Perhaps you should feed less grain, or eliminate it entirely. Those calories can be replaced with fats, such as corn oil, without making your horse hot. Beet pulp is a good “carrier” to make oils palatable.

Back on topic: I use a lightweight carabiener to attach a hoof pick. I can’t think of any other…um…creative items I use at the moment, but I’m not against the concept!

[Shadow14]

[QUOTE=BarbeyGirl;3606734]
Perhaps you should feed less grain, or eliminate it entirely. Those calories can be replaced with fats, such as corn oil, without making your horse hot. Beet pulp is a good “carrier” to make oils palatable.

:[/QUOTE]

I want my horse a little hot. Covering the mileage as he does I want all the help I can get and that goes for weight also. Taking weight off is not a problem, keeping it or adding is. Corn oil doesn’t do that much, use to buy it is 5 gal pails, now I just feed steam rolled corn.
I am not complaining about the hotness, just accept it for now, ride it out and then settle in with a nice moving horse.
Besides he really looks forward to being brought in evenings and nice hot grain mixed with 6 sliced large apples. I groom, pick feet, reblanket and then put him to bed with his evenig grain and alfalfa hay.

[gabz]

Oh ladies, ladies… buy some of the WOVEN english spur straps… WAY WAY WAY better than dog collars and stirrups hobbles because … THERE’s no pre-drilled holes!! You pop the tongue of the buckle through the weave. I’ve used them as tugs on breast collars, and 2-together as a nose band.

I use stirrup hobble straps for lots and lots of things. I punch holes all the way to the ends of them. You can use rawhide through the holes … you can string things on the straps, attach the straps to any number of gizmos.

leather curb straps are another nifty trick - especially if you want to “hide” your white-trash nylon with leather. ha ha ha.

For those baling twine fixes? wrap with your favorite colored vet wrap! I’ve also used vet wrap to close a big loop in adjustable cross ties and as rein / bit stops.

Another great find are those monster safety pins - called “blanket pins”… use them to hold a cooler on a horse, or safety pin stuff to the pad. And for anyone that needs to attach a show or back number - they are great for that too - they go through thick jackets and saddle pads with ease.

Duct tape and vet wrap. Never leave home without them.

[matryoshka]

Great ideas gabz! I didn’t think to wrap the bailing twine to hide it. Duh. I have a lesson with the little Arab this afternoon, and I’m self conscious about the bailing twine. I think I’ve got some of the right-colored vet wrap. For somebody who will attach a crupper ring with twine, I’m awfully picky about color. :lol:

None of the stuff I’ve gone “white trash” about is a safety item. The dog-collar turners could be, but I double wrap them, even when using nylon collars. IMO, the buckles are the weakest part there, since dogs don’t really require the heavy duty hardware that horses do. I check those frequently.

And sawing off the horn WAS for safety. My bucky horse was an OTTB who regularly hand-galloped at about 22 mph, whether it was 2 miles into the ride or at mile 15. His feet went above the level of my head in full buck, and that was with me keeping his head up. He had some get-up and go and could buck me forward in the saddle going up a steep hill if he saw another horse along the way. So, no horn. I was thinking of using bicycling tape (the kind they wrap their handle bars with) to wrap the swells better. I don’t want anything sticky that may weep goo during a tough ride.

I have to admit that I enjoy some of the looks I get from more traditionally outfitted people on the trail. I don’t know if it was my OTTB, my gear, or me who drew the strange looks. If I still get those looks when out on my little Arab mare, then I’ll figure it is me.

[pines4equines]

Hay

I love this thread. I’m an English rider of 40 some odd years who has transfered to western and I’m seeing the light. Thanks for all the tips on better becoming my own Gypsy caravan!

Ride on and see you on the trail!

[jeano]

Not a trashy saddle ploy, but riding and safety related–One winter I used a 99 cent blaze orange stocking cap as a helmet cover for gun season. I looked like the Great Pumpkin rising from the patch, I’m sure.

Being a trail rider means you can feel free to ride your gaited horse with your dog collared Western saddle while wearing your white full seat breeches with black half chaps and babycrap yellow Blundstones and a T shirt, all beneath the floppy cashel sunbonnet brim smooshed over your Tipperary helmet and secured with one wrap Velcro. Sandwich case and flask are optional.

[QuzqosMa]

Not exactly riding-related, but I needed a chain for my Arabian’s show halter for a show, and ended up buying a $1.98 choke chain from Wal-Mart and used that!

I also use black Zip-ties to keep excess straps from flapping on my pleasure harness!

[AlmostDun]

One of my friends made an emergency overcheck with a piece of bailing twine. She’s maybe 5 feet tall, and her widdle itty bitty fuzzy cute foal grew up to be a 17 hand draft. He would pull her right out of the saddle every time he decided he wanted to stop and graze.

[gabz]

“choke chains”… LOL… yup. I bought a long one and Squished the round rings into ovals to fit through the side cheek metal rings for a block-headed horse.

The chain is smaller, but it goes under his chin and I can better “shank” and release with the dog one, than the ones attached to lead lines. It’s too bad this horse needs it too… but that’s another story.