Racing Saddle Progress

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on creating a racing saddle. I’ve collected dozens of reference photos of racing saddles, and all of them seem to be different. Different sizes, different materials, different colors…
My pattern is kind of a blend of things I’ve seen.

I’m using red kangaroo leather, and the tree is from an aluminum can. I figured a lightweight metal that doesn’t need to hold it’s shape very well was appropriate here!

The saddle came together really quickly and I’m pretty happy with it.

Here’s how it looks underneath. The panels are just pieces of leather that have been skived a little on one end. Keeping things thin was the goal! I stitched the billet straps in place, and the black skiver squares are there to cover the knots. 😊

Here’s how it looks on my Cigar model, with a loop of elastic holding it in place:

It still needs the girth, overgirth, saddle cloth and pad… hopefully I can tackle those this week!