Saddling Up To Make a Living...

1)Don't cheap out on your saddle. I see people every day looking for cheap tack, and I just want to say that if you make your living horse back, then be darn sure you buy a good saddle. I have done it every way there is to do it, and take it from me...buying a good saddle or two, in this business, is a move you and your horses will be grateful you did. It will save a lot of grief in the long run...especially if you are a roper. 

2) If your horse is working under saddle all day, pad them up. A good pad, made of decent material with some cushion to it, can go a long way to keeping your horse working good. And cleaning it is an important habit to develop. Personally, I am 5 Star fan, and I brush them after I use them everyday, and pressure wash them as often as I can. At a glance, my saddle pads look wore out, but I assure you, they aren't. I keep them aired out, brushed up, and I never store them under a saddle where the pressure from the bars of the saddle crush the material that sits over a horse's wither. I am pretty picky about saddle pad storage.

3) Buy new cinches. Don't keep wearing the same cinch over and over. Washing and cleaning, and washing and cleaning. When the roller is sliding off to the side, when you can't get all the caked in dirt and hair off...buy a new one! Do not take a short cut on what seems like an inconsequential piece of equipment that is often over looked. Think about how it feels to your horse to be working with a grubby or ill fitting cinch. As a team roper, I buy the wide diamond cinches...love them. More area covered, more comfort, makes a head horse feel like they can pull a house down! (As is obvious in this picture, it is time to change my cinches out! Tack store time!! )

4) Check your billets, breast collar, and HOBBLE STRAPS!!  Hobble straps between front and back cinches....those things are unbelievably important. I am hung up on these little details. Anybody else ever been in the middle of some big hummer of a head horse, making a money run, and have that hobble strap between your cinches break, turning the back cinch in a flank strap? Well, me neither! Because I keep a keen eye on them. They need to stay oiled, strong and shortened up...don't do them up so long that the back cinch can ride too far back anyway, irritating your horse.

These are all good habits I adopted after I spent years doing it wrong...I learn best by trial and error. Mostly error. So I thought I'd put it out there and maybe save somebody a little time and mistakes made. It's just a bit of common sense advice I wish someone had given me when I was younger.      Have a good day folks!