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Nichole's New Chair (Additional Pics Added)

Horsewright

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
13,479
Ok chair is cowboy slang for saddle. Also sometimes referred to as an office and old timers will even use the word kack but chair is pretty common. So Nichole has one horse, Lil Man, that has a wide back. Normal saddles don't fit him well and in fact can sore him. Our saddlemaker didn't want to make a saddle just for a wide backed horse he wanted to make something Nichole could use on everything. So he made up one. It fit all the horses great. Just didn't fit Nichole, too loose. It was the right size seat wise for her (15") if ya measured it with a tape but it rode like a bigger saddle. She muddled around with it for a year or so and then ordered another. She explained the problem to the saddle maker he made some adjustments to the tree and particularly the height and angle of the cantle and here we are. Waited about 18 months for it, which isn't too bad. Saddles of this quality hold their value and we sold the old one used for what we paid for it. Thought ya might like to see some pics of some quality leatherwork with exceptional tooling. John Willamsma is the maker and this is the 4th saddle we've had him build for us.

Here it is on Josie. Her full name is "Josephine Marcus Yes Everyone Knows" if ya a Tombstone fan. We've had incredible amounts of rain and consequently this adobe clay country is down right dangerous to ride in for the most part. So Nichole was working Josie in our sand roundpen, doing some groundwork with her. Just being more interesting to the horse than what interests the horse. We traded for the sand. Two truckloads cost me some spur straps and a pair of leggings.

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Little closer shot after Josie came on in to Nichole. This is what is known as a Halfbreed saddle. Some parts are rough out and some parts are smooth out. Most of our saddles are Halfbreeds although I'm currently riding a full rough out by John.

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Asking the mare to step over with her hind feet:

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Some of the carving. John' wife is from Hawaii and so he carves a more tropical flower in her honor than your normal California flower or Sheridan flower seen on most saddles. This makes his work truly unique and recognizable.

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The in laid bicycle seat. Unusual for it to be roughout too:

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Rawhide covered hobble ring:

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Tooling on the fender:

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And on the fork cover:

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Right side:

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Well thats pretty much it. Thought some of ya might be interested in seeing some leather work outside the sheath realm. A new chair definitely falls into the such category. Questions and comments always welcome.
 
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Absolutely Stunning! Lucky lady! :D
 
The turquoise swells are very neat. The tooling is amazing. I really like the rope as well. It looks like more than just a feedstore stock rope. Very beautiful work.

Todd
 
Beautiful! I've worked around horses for about 5 yrs and that is one wide horse!

Daniel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks guys! Todd we already had the turq bucking rolls from one of her old saddles, so we added them to this one. They were made by Granite Station Saddlery in Bakersfield. Thats one of the poly ropes we sell. I really like em. What I use in competition myself.

Knife freaky here's Lil Man the hard to fit guy. He's coming for a shop visit.

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Josie has a pretty standard back and is easy to fit. Here she is this past summer. Hobbled and chilling....

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Kinda amazing how much a roan horse will change colors due to the season.
 
That is one gorgeous saddle. I miss the days living in New Mexico riding the mountain range with a local friend out there. I love seeing your posts with pics of the country.
 
Thanks guys. Marc I just spent a week around Columbia/Ft Jackson in SC. Wasn't exactly ugly countryside at all!
 
No Ken although I've made quite a few. I like to use horsehide when I make em. Those were made by Robert Chavez a saddlemaker that lives a couple of blocks north of us if we had blocks where we live. He also made that roughout saddle in that same pic where Josie is hobbled. An excellent craftsman, he sandwiches nylon webbing in his hobbles to help prevent the tongue holes from tearing out. Don't see him much anymore, long story I'll leave it at that.
 
Thanks guys. Marc I just spent a week around Columbia/Ft Jackson in SC. Wasn't exactly ugly countryside at all!

No I love it out here, but it's not wide open county like what I see in your posts. I used to live way down in Columbus, NM. 1/2 tank country.
 
Well definitely more trees thats for sure. It was pretty wooded where we were. Here's NIchole on Josie back in Aug. Pretty much not wooded.

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