I am very pleased with the shape of the seat. I make my own saddle trees and this is what I'm aiming for--a saddle that fits the horse properly and looks comfortable to ride in. Hope the new owner likes it as much as I do!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Pony dressage
Just finished this one up yesterday--it's a dressage saddle made to fit the Stone pony.
I am very pleased with the shape of the seat. I make my own saddle trees and this is what I'm aiming for--a saddle that fits the horse properly and looks comfortable to ride in. Hope the new owner likes it as much as I do!
I am very pleased with the shape of the seat. I make my own saddle trees and this is what I'm aiming for--a saddle that fits the horse properly and looks comfortable to ride in. Hope the new owner likes it as much as I do!
How do you do your trees? Do you sculpt them each individually, or do you cast them and then sand down accordingly?
ReplyDeleteI have been working on a western saddle tree that I would love to cast eventually, but it's HARD!
Hi Erin,
ReplyDeleteI make my trees from handcut sheet metal covered in several layers of leather. There are a lot of things I like about this method--it's super easy to size up and down, the saddles are flexible so you can bend them to fit different horses, etc. The downside is that I have to start from scracth everytime out. I'm pretty fast now and can usually make a tree in about an hour, but that's after years of practice. The other problem I have is that the metal is sharp and unruly and I've drawn blood making trees on more than one occasion!
I've thought about sculpting a tree and having it cast in resin, but I'm afraid I'd get locked into one shape and size fits all mindset if I did. I have huntseat saddle patterns in *eight* different sizes, plus four dressage saddle patterns and four saddleseat patterns! Can you imagine--That would be 16 different cast trees! Crazy!
That is a good point about casting something, then you open yourself up for getting stuck in a rut, hmm. Right now, I use the rio rondo tree with lots and lots of dremeling and resculpting, so every time it turns out different.
ReplyDeleteA side note - where would our hobby be without the internet!
OMG thats gorgeous Jenn!
ReplyDelete