It feels great, awesome! Everything feels like perfection! It amazes me that this saddle, and the Cruiser, can feel so amazingly comfortable after riding in a saddle with a padded seat for many years. Reminiscent of the island of Catalina in California, it has simple tooling with cut line borders and datura blossoms, and custom conchos made from abalone shell. It's a classic vaquero-style 3B with a 3/4 spider rig and all bronze/brass hardware. Ignore the heavy cast aluminum stirrups - they don't match the saddle's brass theme, but they are very functional for arena work.ДЄnd if you're wondering, her tree was fitted and built before she was pregnant after two pregancies, the tree still fit her like a glove.ДЄnother saddle built for customer Lydee, this one for her beloved Queenie. It's a classical Visalia-style 3B, with a 3-1/2' fork and a tall cantle. The horn is a fully-exposed high-polished bronze horn from the Bork Foundry I always wanted to try making a saddle with a polished bronze horn, and I like it! The tooling is my favorite cut lines, and it has a wonderful ruby in the cantle back (and a matching smaller ruby on the horn cap). She's been pregnant and having foals for the last three years, so I figured I had plenty of time, but this spring it's riding time again and she needs her own saddle. This saddle was built for my mare, Maggie, and it took me a long time to get around to it. That's a 'mule hide' horn wrap under the rope strap. It's got simple tooling (just a twisted wire border), and lots of extras like rifle scabbard dees, a crupper dee, buck rolls, rope strap, and a small Cheyenne roll. This saddle was built for Dottie, a sturdy Missouri Foxtrotter in New Hampshire who does a lot of trail riding. Her new saddle, built on a custom tree, will fit her back and not slip around in addition, it will fit her rider (better than her original factory saddle with its chair seat). This saddle was built for Trixie in Oregon, another round mare whose saddle tends to slip around. Her owner wanted a secure, comfortable, lightweight saddle, and a classic vaquero-style 3B was perfect. This saddle was built for a Missouri Foxtrotter in New Hampshire who goes on long trail rides and hunting trips. To ask more questions about or to order a custom saddle, send a message to saddle info You can learn more on the Custom Saddles page. Because my trees are completely handmade to fit the individual horse and rider, all parts of the tree are customizable. The bars in a 3B are what my treemaker calls 'regular', as opposed to Wade bars which are slightly wider.

Many of my 3Bs end up being 'modified 3Bs', halfway between a 3B and a Wade, because the horn cap needs to be larger to accomodate a special custom horn cap concho or a special horn style. I also make Wade saddles when requested the difference between a Wade and a 3B is mostly in the fork and a little in the bars. I specialize in the 3B, the California vaquero old-time all-day saddle, small round skirts with a 3/4 or 5/8 ring rig, all-leather ground seat, narrow slick fork, half-leathers for the fenders, and medium weight leather, all of which make a lighter saddle built on a very sturdy wood/rawhide tree that will last more than a lifetime. After that, the 'upholstery' is all icing on the cake. My philosophy is that a saddle must first-and-foremost fit the horse (the right tree), and secondly fit the rider (a correct and comfortable seat).

Visalia stock saddle compa