tree and the points at which it is commonly broken are discussed later in this section.
The contents of this part originally appeared as one of the sections in the first edition of my book on making a stock saddle. Special thanks are due to saddler Lew Haines of Townsville who taught me many of the techniques described here. SIMPLE SADDLE REPAIRS The important thing to understand about saddles is that no one ever thinks of getting them repaired until they are almost past the point of bein g repairable. Because of this it may be of some interest to note the common faults found in old saddles and some of the remedies. The first thing to look for is a broken tree. A badly broken tree can make an otherwise good saddle useless. The 220
Fig.l. Having established that the tree is sound the saddle can be examined for general damage. The most common damage points are shown in the sketch. The top of the knee pads get worn and the leather cover torn. The dees at the back of the saddle to hold the saddle bags become damaged or fall off and the inner and outer saddle flaps get torn at the back. The fore-part begins to come loose and tears appear along the edge of the seat. All these points can be repaired. Lifting the flap it may also be found that the girth straps are badly worn or damaged. The usual remedy is to cut them away entirely and use a Bates rig that goes over the top of the saddle. However it is not a hard job to replace the straps if they are required.