More saddle plate detail

The best way to answer questions raised by yesterday's post is to provide a few more pictures. I'm not sure that a picture is worth exactly a thousand words, however the principle is a good one.

The plate has a curve roughly conforming to the shape of the cantle as viewed from behind. The idea is that the straps fitting over the plate and over the seat of the saddle will roughly have the same form. The strap over the seat of the saddle sits beneath the rider's bottom (hence it will be made of thin supple leather, or nylon like car seat belt material. The plate is about the same length as the width of the seat of the saddle just behind the side flaps.

The plate was made by taking a pre-cut piece of mild steel and heating it in a farrier's gas forge, then bending it using a vice, hammer and tongs. Given its size, the left and right ends needed to be formed separately, and each end needed reheating since it cooled sufficiently to lose malleability before being finished. A final heating allowed fine tuning with anvil and hammer.

The plate is set to be horizontal when the saddle is on the horse. The seat of the saddle is lower than the plate, which means that the two straps linking the saddle bags need to have different lengths.

The brackets used to attach the plate to the saddle were also forged. They need to be twisted in order to attach cleanly to the plate (by welding) and sit flat on the back of the cantle whilst positioning the plate at the horizontal. Inevitably this part of the work requires a certain amount of trial and error.

The leather cover wraps around the plate (with slots for the brackets) and is sewn closed around the back and the ends. Hence there is very little shaping involved. I used a piece of supple leather from an old harness.

There is no one correct way to make a saddlebag carrying plate. Variations on the above general format will work. I've seen plates that screw onto the fins of the saddle rather than the cantle, and plates with three brackets rather than two. (However a central bracket can interfere with the fitting where a crupper attaches.) Plates can be narrower. A plate might even be made from aluminium (in which case it would be cold forged and the brackets might be rivetted on rather than welded) or made in one piece using fibreglass.

Comments

[funder]

Cool, thanks!

[jme]

ah, i see! thanks :-)

[Horseypants]

Hey, I just wanted to say I'm so glad I found you again, Transylvanian Horseman! When your old blog ended I lost touch. Looking forward to enjoying your posts again.