Pad stacking
This is a common mistake we see in the roping and ranching worlds. Riders will take a nice three-fourths inch or one-inch contour pad, that is sufficient alone, and put a Navajo blanket under it. By doing that, it negates 100 percent of the pad’s benefits. There are two types of contour pads: a one-piece with no leather down the spine, or there’s a two-piece with leather sewn down the spine and over the withers, with a wither cutout. This type provides both wither relief and contour benefits. If we inspect these pads on a horse, from the side, we can tell if they were designed by a horseman —just by the pattern. The wither/front needs to be at least an inch higher than the back of the cutout; that’s one reason we prefer the one-piece contour pad, because the pattern is always correct.
When we set the saddle on the horse with no pad, you should be able to get your hand between the bars of the saddle and horse. If we can’t, the saddle is probably grossly too narrow. Now imagine adding a one-inch pad. In 2D perspective, it is like a pyramid. The saddle tree doesn’t change; all we did is get higher and higher off that horse which actually de-leverages the horse. Now imagine a horse that is going to take a jerk, like a roping horse; they often get really sore with a saddle that doesn’t fit and improper padding. Calf ropers and team ropers often worry about wither clearance. Most of our swells on our calf saddles are 7 ¼ vertically, and when we throw it on the horse without a pad, the withers will be about an inch from the swell and then a pad raises it that much more. So, wither clearance doesn’t bother us; we still focus on bar shape and flare and overall fit. Once we have ropers compare how they can get their hand between the saddle and bars with one of our saddles, versus their old saddle, they realize how good fit can be versus how bad it was. Our job is to show them how good it can be.
In contrast, if somebody shows up with a saddle that fits fairly decently, we may only suggest a contour pad with a different pattern allowing for a closer fit — and they are happy and on their way.
Dry/White spots
If you see white spots on the horse’s withers, those are dry spots from prolonged excessive pressure of an ill-fitting saddle. It means the sweat glands have died, and the horse can no longer sweat in that area. The condition of the skin is changed, and that isn’t reversible, but we can sure make it feel better and prevent additional damage moving forward with proper fit.
Rawhide vs. fiber/polycarbonate
There exist long-standing myths about which makes a better tree, but a lot of saddle makers have moved away from rawhide covered trees to fiberglass or polycarbonate; fiberglass is predominate. Here at South Texas Tack, we have the ground seat made in our trees. Since many outfits buy multiple saddles from us, they need to feel and ride identical—the only difference being the hides are from different cows. If the ground seat is made by hand, there will be variations.
