Need comments/info on saddle

[LeAnn]

Anyone ever owned, rode, seen one of these.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/fantasma111/jt1625.jpg

[Terry Wallace]

Never heard of it...But, why is the tree so far forward? Is it a gaited-horse tree made for avoiding shoulder interference?

[SandyMM]

Here's a link to the website:
http://fourwinds.net/westcat/jtrk1725.html

[Terry Wallace]

Interesting concept. Looks like the wider the horse's back, the more likely the saddle will "perch" you... the narrower the back, the more likely it will fit well....

[LeAnn]

I seen one on ebay was thinking of bidding on it so wondered if anyone had used one. Supposed to fit short backed horses well. I need something for a couple small framed pasos.

[Terry Wallace]

Yes, I'd say a western saddle don't get much shorter than those!
I would *think* it would fit smaller framed horses better than large, wide-backed horses.

[CarolU]

How much does it weigh? That is my biggest problem with most western saddles, they can run upwards of 40 lbs! Besides the pain of getting them on the horse, when you add that weight to my weight, you're exceeding 20% on some of my horses.

It is a pretty saddle though!

[SarahR]

Are these saddle like an Orthoflex or Timberline? It looks like it, but there wasn't alot of info on the website. I wonder how they can sell them so affordably, since Timberline and Orthoflex saddles are around $2,200.00-$3,000.00?

[SarahR]

How much does it weigh? That is my biggest problem with most western saddles, they can run upwards of 40 lbs! Besides the pain of getting them on the horse, when you add that weight to my weight, you're exceeding 20% on some of my horses.

It is a pretty saddle though!


No kidding! I was looking through a catalog the other day and saw a gorgeous western saddle, read the description and was shocked to see it weighed 48 lbs! What do they make them out of, lead? Ha ha!

[Trail Rider]

The rear billet with hoof pick holder looks like a RL Waston saddle. He used to have the Rocking R brand but now he makes saddls for High Gait I think.

[SarahR]

The rear billet with hoof pick holder looks like a RL Waston saddle. He used to have the Rocking R brand but now he makes saddls for High Gait I think.

I can't keep all these flex panel saddle companies straight. I heard Orthoflex is no longer in business, but I don't know if that's true or not. I heard this Watson guy took over the designs and was selling them under both the Timberline and Rocking R brand. The flex panel companies seem so turbulent to me, as an outside consumer.

[Trail Rider]

Richard L Watson had a booth at the Grand Nationals in Perry. I bought 2 saddles from him. I brought my wife's home and she has used it several times and likes it. I used it once on my more narrow backed horse (he hasn't filled out yet, and it seemed to fit him fine also. I am still waiting on the other one to be shipped. He had 17 orders for the saddle and is still building them he said.

He is on the Web under RL Watson Saddles. He said that he used to make the Rocking R but did not get a copyright or something and another company started using the brand. I do not know if that story is true or not, only repeating what I understood him to say.

[SarahR]

See, this is what confuses me. If you do a search under his name, you come up with a few distributors of Rocking R saddles. There's a distributor with two totally separate websites sellig the same saddles with different prices. I really like to be abel to buy direct from the saddle maker if possbile (I know, that's rare) as using a 'go between' seems to result in way too much miscommunication (for me anyhow)

[Trail Rider]

I will put a link here for his site. I just checked it and it says closed for maintainance. http://www.rlwatsonsaddles.net/

I can only tell you what I said in my earlier post. I am not endorsing him or failing to endorse him. Just providing information.

[SarahR]

Thank you! I'm sorry, I thought you meant to do a websearch....sorry!