Buckaroo John's Blog — Saddles

Evidence exists that the predecessor to the modern saddle was in use by the Assyrians in 700-800 BCE. It consisted of a simple cloth fastened onto the horse with a surcingle. These early saddles had neither a solid tree nor stirrups. By 300 BC, the Samaritans added a breastplate and girth to keep the saddle on. The development of the solid saddle tree was significant; it raised the rider above the horse's back, and distributed the rider's weight on the animal's spine. This change greatly increased the comfort of the horse and prolonged its useful life. The invention of the...

Alright folks, time for the million dollar question...who knows what these are for? If you ride a western saddle, there is most likely one of each side of your pommel. Some endurance saddles will have them as well.  These pieces of leather are called latigo keepers, off side cinch holders, and also flank cinch holders. The piece of the horse and rider's left hand side is used to hold the extra latigo after cinching up, like below. Now, the off side, or flank cinch holder isn't as commonly used. Nothing irks me more than to pull a saddle off the...

Many of us that ride in Western saddles, especially Wade saddles, have noticed a piece of leather wrapped around the horn. That piece of leather, or rubber, is called a horn wrap and it is used for roping.  J.M. Capriola describes the horn wrap beautifully: "Horn wraps made of mule hide or elk hide are used on saddle horns in the Great Basin’s “slick-horn” buckaroo country, as opposed to rubber or being tied on hard and fast as is done in the southwest.   Both of these types of horn wrap allow the dallies to slide as the roper demands, which...

We wanted to dust off this video back from 2008 and share with you how to rig your saddle's laitgo and off side billets. We all have a first time we've had to do this, and I'm sure each one of us has scratched our heads a time or two! Enjoy!  Head over to www.buckarooleather.com to view our selection of latigo and billets!

Evidence exists that the predecessor to the modern saddle was in use by the Assyrians in 700-800 BCE. It consisted of a simple cloth fastened onto the horse with a surcingle. These early saddles had neither a solid tree nor stirrups. By 300 BC, the Samaritans added a breastplate and girth to keep the saddle on. The development of the solid saddle tree was significant; it raised the rider above the horse's back, and distributed the rider's weight on the animal's spine. This change greatly increased the comfort of the horse and prolonged its useful life. The invention of the...