Elderly Stubbens

Dear Old Stubbens. Built in the 1970s, and going on and on and on ... these things never die. They are really not the best saddles - times have moved on and saddle design has improved over the past 40 years. However, for people first starting out, not sure what direction they are going to end up going, with all the up-front cost of a new horse, you know, there are worse choices. For example, a cheap 'starter set' for $300 complete with stirrups, leathers, saddle-pad, girth, bridle, horse, truck and trailer ... well, you can imagine what part of your $300 is spent on making the saddle - and of that, how much goes to 'quality control'. Not much, I assure you ! I have never seen one of those things that has a straight tree and even panels.

So there's a need for these elderly Stubbens, and you can buy them for $300 - $400. But here's the thing... they're nearly 40 years old and they dearly need a reflock. In order to reflock them, you have to unstitch the pommel, and unstitch the cantle. Having got the thing apart, you pull out the old flocking, and it's basically old sweepings from the floors of carpet factories - short, coloured fibres in all different shades. Then, ideally, you reflock and rebuild. But the kicker, of course, is you never know quite what you're going to find when you take it apart.

Today's shocker was the original Stubben nails. You can see the nailheads on the outside of the saddle, below the Ds at the pommel. They go through the treepoints and are then bent and hammered into place, so that the shank of the nail lies flush with the tree, and therefor harmless.

And not sticking out an inch into your horse's back.