Saddle Repair is Like a Box of Chocolates ...

... You never know what you're going to get.

I truly enjoy coming to work in the morning, because I never know exactly what will be waiting for me on my bench or in my office; I choose to look at it as a different version of a holiday stocking. Today, along with the Passier with the broken spring bar and the polo saddle I'm re-billeting, there were some saddle nails and nylon webbing from Frank Baines, a Black Country Equinox in need of a bump-up (flocking adjustment) and a racing saddle in need of some repairs. Well, honestly, it had already had some repairs done ...

The owner wasn't really happy about the aesthetics of the repairs, and was hoping I could improve things, maybe make the patches bigger, and just sort of ... you know ... repair the repairs?

After my adventure in re-sewing seat seams - which was ultimately successful, but very time consuming and difficult - I'm a tad more reserved about leaping into a complicated repair on a rather tired saddle. But there's this part of me that just can't walk away from a challenge ...

So I e-mailed these photos to my hero, Patty Barnett, and chatted with her about my ideas for patching and repairing. She made a couple recommendations, okayed my ideas, gave me her patented Saddle Repair Blessing, and left me to it.

First, I had to remove the existing patches. Whoever put them on had certainly not intended that they'd be coming off; they were stitched on tightly and with great enthusiasm for knots. Unfortunately, the needle used was very large gauge, so the stitching holes are quite large and will need to be covered up. My plan is to completely re-cover the bottom half (or so) of the flaps, and patch the tears on the panels. I'll need to trace the flaps and cut the patches, then glue and stitch them back in place.

More when I get the patches cut!