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Cactus Brand Saddles??

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Chickshunt2

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Anyone know anything about them? I had never heard of them and I saw one that I just love, but it has a steep price tag, so I'm wondering if they are worth it? Anyone have one? what do you like/dislike about it? Thanks everyone for any info about them.
 
I saw a deal on RFD where they were the trophy saddles and the guy said that they were all hand made, hand stamped. Looked like a nice saddle, but if you want a good fit for your horse sad but true(only cuz they are expensive) you need to go to a good saddle maker.
 
hello
a fellow that works on a place next to us has one that is about a year old and he rides it every day all day and ropes and doctors lots of cattle
he loves his and it seems to be holing up real well
they are pricy i thought about getting one but i found another company that is comparible and bout one from them instead
the one i bought is from tesky's in weatheford tx.
they have a web site but the only way i know to find it is to do a search
hope this helps
until later
jerry
by the way welcome to the boards
 
Thanks for the info on the saddles. I do believe in having a saddle made to a horse but to be honest, I just spent way to much on a custom saddle for MY horse.( the other horses here just get rode in whatever saddle fits em) I was looking at this brand of saddle for a spare for when friends come over or just to have around as a back up. And as much as I like my friends NO one is riding in MY new saddle, not only was a mold taken of my horses back, one was also taken of my rear end! It's 100% custom, I just couldn't stand to see one of my unhorsey friends scuff the crap out of it getting on or off,or in any other way mess it up...I know, I'm spoiled I don't like to share, Comes from being the only girl in a house of 5 boys! L.O.L.
 
So do tell who made it and what are the specs. and if you are feeling brave can we know how much it was. I know that is not a polite question so don't answer if you don't want to. Post some pictures, I love to see what everyone else is ridding and I am gathering info myself for a custom saddle. Right now I ride a Colorado and I do really like it.
 
Well you'll get pics as soon as it gets here...should be this coming week or so. WOOOO HOOOO, sorry I have been waiting on this saddle for umm 5 months now, I'll calm down until it gets here...hehehehe the price of it is 3700.00 I know, I know am I nuts! Naww not really I'm young still and This will be the saddle I'll ride until im dead and gone...if I can still lift it in my old age. I know I'll take some **** here but I have ridden mostly english for the last 15 years, I'm just getting back into western. Fully rigged my english saddle weighs 17lbs(with my cinch and pad)...this new saddle weighs 47 without a cinch or pad. Thank goodness I only plan to use it on my short 15 hh QH and my even shorter 14.2 paint. I don't think I could get it on my 18.2 percheron,but I have been tossing around the idea of getting a lady wade for him. I guess they are lighter?
 
Chickshunt2 said:
Well you'll get pics as soon as it gets here...should be this coming week or so. WOOOO HOOOO, sorry I have been waiting on this saddle for umm 5 months now, I'll calm down until it gets here...hehehehe the price of it is 3700.00 I know, I know am I nuts! Naww not really I'm young still and This will be the saddle I'll ride until im dead and gone...if I can still lift it in my old age. I know I'll take some s*** here but I have ridden mostly english for the last 15 years, I'm just getting back into western. Fully rigged my english saddle weighs 17lbs(with my cinch and pad)...this new saddle weighs 47 without a cinch or pad. Thank goodness I only plan to use it on my short 15 hh QH and my even shorter 14.2 paint. I don't think I could get it on my 18.2 percheron,but I have been tossing around the idea of getting a lady wade for him. I guess they are lighter?
Click to expand...

Yes a Lady Wade is some lighter. Less leather equals less weight.

Had a neighbor try one out but didn't seem to like how it fit him, tho' others I've talked to seem to like their saddles, made by the same company.

The company that makes them has about 5 or 6 guys working there, who all do what they do best. One stamps, one does the ground seat, etc...

When I make a saddle on a foam tree wiyth a cable rigging, the tree is guarenteed for life and they will weigh around 30 pounds, with smaller skirts. I never put a peice of leather on that I don't have to, so as to make a lighter weight saddle. Why make your horse and you pack all that extra weight? :)

Oh, I sure hope that new one is full flower carved, for that price. :wink:

Tho', that is about average for most custom made saddles. I try to keep mine cheaper than that. By quite a bit. :D

But then I don't have the costs, many do. And I only build them them pretty much when I don't have stocker cattle in, to take care of. :)

Check out the website if you'd like to see some. www.dennisranch.com
 
Thank You for the info! I'll have to look up your site. The saddle is fully carved just not flowers lol I might be a girl but I'm not that girlie...I'm going to be looking into another saddle within a year to fit my big guy. I know I would like something western and with a wade type seat,deep,centered,etc. I just need to drop as much weight off of it as I can. I would like to do LD rides with him and as you said why make him carry that much more weight? The thing I find hard with him is that he is a percheron so he has a wide, short back when you start taking away skirting I loose weight distribution. I'm still waiting on him to stop growing for now and once he does I can't wait to mold his back. It will be fun finding something to fit him I'm sure.
 
Chickshunt2 said:
Thank You for the info! I'll have to look up your site. The saddle it fully carved just not flowers lol I might be a girl but I'm not that girlie...I'm going to be looking into another saddle within a year to fit my big guy. I know I would like something western and with a wade type seat,deep,centered,etc. I just need to drop as much weight off of it as I can. I would like to do LD rides with him and as you said why make him carry that much more weight? The thing I find hard with him is that he is a percheron so he has a wide, short back when you start taking away skirting I loose weight distribution. I'm still waiting on him to stop growing for now and once he does I can't wait to mold his back. It will be fun finding something to fit him I'm sure.
Click to expand...

The bars of the tree are going to carry 99% of the weight, so unless you get bars that are wider or longer or both, you really aren't going to change anything, in my opinion. And if the bars are wider, then they will "spread" you out more and not be comfortable to ride.

By the way, unless you want to be right up against the fork of a swellfork saddle, there is no difference between the feel of a slickfork and a swellfork. What makes a saddle feel narrower is a good job on the ground seat to match a certain body type.

When you buy one off the rack, your getting one that is supposed to fit the average person, or at least what that company thinks is the average person. When you get a custom built one, your getting one made just for you.

When you get the back mold on your horsae, is he going to stay the same weight for the rest of his life? If not, then your saddle is only going to match his back when he is at that exact same weight and size.

My horses backs change quite a bit from when they are soft in the spring to rode down hard in the fall. And also as they age. Make a match when they are fat and young and it's ain't going to be the same when they are old and thinner.

We just have to shoot at averages and then pad accordingly.

That's why I like the foam trees, tho' I build them on wood and rawhide also, but the great thing about these "foam" trees is that they have a bit more give and seem to almost custom fit a wide variety of backs.

I built one for a young feller who was worried about the crap he was going to get from his friends about his "plastic" tree. I told him to ask them what they use to rope with. If they aren't using a rawhide reata, then he should tell them to stick it!

I like "traditonal" but most people aren't as traditonal as they really think. If we all stayed treaditional, we'd still be riding saddles like the very first ones invented and there wouldn't be any stirrups. :wink:

And we'd still be riding the horses that were built like they were hundreds of years ago. :)
 
that was very welll put jb
i don't think i would ever have a saddle made to fit just one horse as i ride alot of different horses and could not afford to have a saddle for every one of them so i'm with you fit your saddles as close as you can and pad the horses up as needed
i just got the new saddle from tesky's last night and rode it today for the first time i like the way it fit the horse i rode today and i roped some to doctor out of it and i shure liked the way it sits on a horse didn't have to cich it up as tight as the saddle ive been ridin latly
until later
jerry
 
Jerry H said:
that was very welll put jb
i don't think i would ever have a saddle made to fit just one horse as i ride alot of different horses and could not afford to have a saddle for every one of them so i'm with you fit your saddles as close as you can and pad the horses up as needed
i just got the new saddle from tesky's last night and rode it today for the first time i like the way it fit the horse i rode today and i roped some to doctor out of it and i shure liked the way it sits on a horse didn't have to cich it up as tight as the saddle ive been ridin latly
until later
jerry
Click to expand...

Thank you. Great minds think alike. :wink:
 
I'll agree with that, I want a saddle that'll fit a variety of horses/mules, I ride so many different animals to make it pointless to have a saddle made for one. Also, Robert, what you're saying about slick vs swell & which is narrower- I agree completely, it's all to do with how built up the seat is and not the fork. Grandma loves the saddle I bought a year or so ago so Grandpa set about finding her a slick fork saddle... I tried explaining it has nothing to do with not having swells but is the seat but I'm not sure he's got this figured out yet, he just bought a fourth saddle to try yesterday since she's uncomfortable in the first three. Heck, I didn't like the first three either and I don't think the next wade that's coming is any different. For the money he's spent on all these saddles he could have had the company mine came from make him a brand new one. I bought mine used for ridiculously cheap and he thinks he's going to find the same deal somewhere...
 
I understand that I don't want the saddle to fit him like a glove, as you have said then it will only fit him for a short time. The mold just gives someone an idea of his genral back shape. From that they can make a saddle the will fit that back type. Most people tend to buy a type of horse, even within a breed there are many types, a saddle that will fit a bulldog qh most likely wouldnt do to well on one of them slick TB looking qh from out east. So if you like wide backed horses, you buy a saddle to fit wide backed horses, then you will most likely get a saddle that fit most of your horses. Could just be me but most of my horses look a lot a like, or have the same build/body type.

I had to add..........Spread out....have you ever tried to ride a full grown percheron? your riding your dinning table so whats a few more inches? lol
 
Chickshunt2 said:
I understand that I don't want the saddle to fit him like a glove, as you have said then it will only fit him for a short time. The mold just gives someone an idea of his genral back shape. From that they can make a saddle the will fit that back type. Most people tend to buy a type of horse, even within a breed there are many types, a saddle that will fit a bulldog qh most likely wouldnt do to well on one of them slick TB looking qh from out east. So if you like wide backed horses, you buy a saddle to fit wide backed horses, then you will most likely get a saddle that fit most of your horses. Could just be me but most of my horses look a lot a like, or have the same build/body type.

I had to add..........Spread out....have you ever tried to ride a full grown percheron? your riding your dinning table so whats a few more inches? lol
Click to expand...

I've notice the same thing about people getting horse with similer back types. I agree.

As to the mold, Superior Tree Company, I think, used to have you take a peice of soft wire and bend it to match your horses back in several spots. Then you were supposed to draw these onto a paper and send them in and then they would know which bar measurements would work best for you.

The guys at Timberline, know a lot about different types and I never had a problem with any of their trees, not fitting good, if I told them what type horse was going to be used.

The foam trees have the same bar pattern as the original Wade. They have one of the 2 original trees that were made, supposedly. They have made some slight modifications to better fit the more modern horses. We seem to have horses of every proportion and size and they fit them all, very well. I just took a bare tree and set it on my favorite younger horses back, and it fit as good as anything I could come up with.

Did I mention, I am really impressed with the fit of these trees? :lol:

And I make a very narrow feeling saddle as I grew up riding a couple of fat, round horses. I like to feel like I'm setting astraddle a fence, instead of a barrel, so I tend to make my saddles fit that way. Unless the customer wants something different.

Nawww, on second thought, I know they are going to want it to feel narrow. So far, everyone does! :lol:

Bring your "Perch" out, and we'll figure out how to make him feel less wide. Might have to just get you up higher off his back, or farther up his neck. :wink:
 
That 'narrow' deal is real important, as you said, JB.

Ever noticed many factory sadddles that are narrow?
Nooooooooooooooooooo.
Must take more work to get them narrow as opposed
to wide and flat. :wink:

That is one thing a saddle maker can do for you (among others)
is get the seat right.
And really, most of the time it costs as much for a real
good factory saddle as base price on a custom saddle.
There are those others out there that people get by with.
But if you're serious, a custom made saddle is the only way
to go. JMHO

My saddle was an Earl Twist and I loved the seat in it.
I bought it used a long time ago and was always so happy
with it. It is outdated now, the cantle is pretty low, but it
worked for me for a long time.

Mr. FH rides a Gale Jerome saddle. He had it made new in the 80's.
It's still his favorite saddle, but man, is it heavy. Ridiculous
to have a saddle that heavy. We've had it worked on
to get rid of some of the extra leather which helped, but it
is still heavy. Not a ladies or an old man's saddle, that's for
sure. Gale made a lot of saddles for cowboys and he made them
hell for stout.
 
I use a EQUImeasure Kit to mold my horses backs, I have the western add on to make it longer as well. Here is a link to the thing if you don't know what they are. http://www.equimeasure.com/html/kit.html Many of the saddle makers today are sending them out to people when they place an order. They are so easy to use and the horses stand well for it as I think they like the warmth...must be like a big heating pad. I like that I can mold it more then once. I was thinking about picking up another one just so I could mold a horses back before training and then mold it again after to see how much it has changed and where. I think it would be neat to see where each horse puts on or looses weight. I also like that I can mold a horse and then set my saddle on the mold and see where it fits and how it fits it.( great way to do this is to sprinkle the mold with baby powder then spray the fleece/wool on the underside of your saddle with a light misting of water from a spray bottle. Set the saddle str8 down on the mold where the saddle should sit. give it a sec and lift str8 up and off look to see where the powder is missing and where its still there)
 
Chickshunt2 said:
I use a EQUImeasure Kit to mold my horses backs, I have the western add on to make it longer as well. Here is a link to the thing if you don't know what they are. http://www.equimeasure.com/html/kit.html Many of the saddle makers today are sending them out to people when they place an order. They are so easy to use and the horses stand well for it as I think they like the warmth...must be like a big heating pad. I like that I can mold it more then once. I was thinking about picking up another one just so I could mold a horses back before training and then mold it again after to see how much it has changed and where. I think it would be neat to see where each horse puts on or looses weight. I also like that I can mold a horse and then set my saddle on the mold and see where it fits and how it fits it.( great way to do this is to sprinkle the mold with baby powder then spray the fleece/wool on the underside of your saddle with a light misting of water from a spray bottle. Set the saddle str8 down on the mold where the saddle should sit. give it a sec and lift str8 up and off
look to see where the powder is missing and where its still there)
Click to expand...

Sounds pretty slick!

It says you can re-use it up to 5 times.

I guerss if I had a horse that was not "average" I sure would use one. It would be handy for clients that aren't close enough for me to check a saddles fit against their back. Only problem, how expensive would one be to ship after it was formed?

I'd like to get one and mess around with it. Guess I better start saving my pennies. :)
 
They are pretty light, you do get stuck paying a oversize fee to ship them but the last time I shipped mine I know it was under 20 bucks I'm thinking it was closer to 15.00. I guess my thinking there is if I'm going to spend that much money on a saddle like an extra 20.00 to send the mold is going to make or break the bank...I think not. The fact that I'm only 2000 miles away from the guy making my saddle was a big factor in using the kit, as you said it wasn't like he could see my horses back or could set a saddle on it.
 

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