The Saddle Mechanic

14/05/2026

14/05/2026

Sadness and shock at what passes for rigging in a Billy Royal work/training saddle.

Watch the clip. See those Ringed panel nails? That's the sum total of the fixing to the tree.

21/04/2026

Not many pictures today.

I have come to the realisation I am now one of the old timers....who would have thought.

So I am mentoring a young chap as he rebuilds a saddle that had a cracked ground seat.

There is so much that has to be done, after someone arrives with a fully disassembled saddle.

Today he got to refit the fork cover and re-do the seat padding and get the cantle binding started. He has done really well.

I have just about completed one of two swinging fenders.

Pulled down and fought with an extraordinary glue in a Longhorn cutter.
Cleaning up the roughout. Ready to put on the new seat. Some jobs are simply harder than they look.

Snuck in some horse time too, was going to ride, but needed to trim. So now Suzi has nice neat feet again.

Forgot to take the befores....but here is one of them in a state of undress.

17/04/2026

Busy day in the workshop today. Getting my groove back in so I can finish a job I've been ducking from.

So it was stirrup leathers a-plenty. Try not to let yours get as bad as these ones were on a well used BW fender.

Today I had an enthusiastic student on board too. Joel Huggett was learning to do a groundseat replacement, and may I say he has done a great job so far.

Let me tell you though there are times when working on a saddle can break your heart. I have one in from a maker who shall for professional reasons stay nameless.

Another one in is a $5500 new aussie made fender. All the new screws were chewed out on their heads. Rear rigging inside out and merely a piece of webbing screwed on, and in the fraying end no less. Rear jockey glued on and coming unstuck. Stirrup leather that made me want to cry. This saddle has had four rides.
Oh and the decoration? Cheap sh*tty Taiwanese conchos with the centres drilled out and a cheap domestic screw put through.
The owner had waited their time to get this tub and to say they are disappointed is an understatement.

20/11/2025

Got her done.
Big big job
Hawksbury river trail saddle.
Replaced the tree. Getting the skirts to go back on was an interesting job thank goodness the rear pockets had room to strip them back
Cut and shut the skirts to repair the rigging
Stirrup leather
New fleece.

19/11/2025

Yearly reminder.

Stirrup leathers on fenders need to be replaced from time to time. They stretch, they tear, they get thin, and sometimes they do this....

Make sure you know the condition of your gear; your safety quite literally depends on it.

18/11/2025

Don't let anyone tell you a tree replacement is a straightforward job.
This one has so very many twists and turns as I go.
Goodness knows how it ever fit the original tree.

Anyway we are making progress now.
All the rot cut out and replaced with healthy leather. Stirrup leather replaced.
Pockets re-sewn and the rear pockets opened up the fit new tree.

Fleece tomorrow.

30/10/2025

Gorgeous Geoffrey Newton saddle vintage 95.
Refreshed and mildly modified (hope you dont mind Geoff) off to live a new life as April Harvey's saddle.

4th photo shows where we started. I was ever so surprised how far into the skirts the moths had gotten.

New skirt shape is to accommodate short backed young horses.

So work done:
Deep Cleaned
Shorten and Reshape skirts, blend double stitch lines
New fleece
Shorten rear jockey re-set frog
Correct stirrup leathers (re-trim from square and replace reinforcing web)
New strings
New Blevins
New fender hobbles
Trim fenders
Restitch rear cinch billets
Polish all the brass.

30/10/2025

I've been a bit busy.
Found a new thing I can do
Leather covering on swingle bars (for horse drawn gear)

24/10/2025

These makers are getting more and more technical. On a real saddle you will find the pocket of the seat.