Not sure yet whether I'll try the rawhide myself or have it done. I think I'll reconstruct the tree and strengthen it with a layer or two of bi-directional f-glass cloth, then reapply a rawhide cover. I can spread the pommel enough to get a 90 degree angle without too much bar width for the above-mentioned horse, so I may just do that and re-glue it with epoxy at that angle.

The tree currently has bars that have about a 88-89 degree angle, but the pommel was build with a joint in the middle, which is loose. It seems to fit, or can be adjusted easily to fit, so I decided to rebuild the tree and build an old-style saddle for that particular horse. Since he's only about 13.5 hands, I decided to just see whether it would fit him, since saddles with regular QH bars are a bit wide on him. I took the tree and set it on a small Quarter Horse I have. I took lots of photos, so I could remember what I saw. It was a great learning experience for me.

It was interesting to me how much leather was used in fairing the pommel to the bars and in the ground seat. The pommel cover has the remnants of nice basket-weave stamping and the horn has the remnants of a braided rawhide horn cover. I was surprised, as I removed the rawhide, to find a paper label on the cantle that says, 'Visalia'.ДЄpparently was a nice saddle in its day. It was obviously beyond help as a reasonable restoration candidate, so I used it as a learning project. The rawhide had been cut away in several places to effect the tree repairs.

The cantle had been broken and one bar had been reattached. It had obviously had several repairs to the rigging and tree before they finally gave up on the saddle. It was just an old saddle and was missing all the leather except the pommel cover. This evening I dissected an old saddle my dad has had for years in his workshop.

Visalia stock saddle lmages of carving