Van Hargis on Selecting a Saddle

Now let's get to today's interview with aaster horseman and clinician from Texas, Mr. Van Hargis. On our last program, Van covered what he prefers in a bit. Now we ask him the question about saddles. So Van, what do you look for in a saddle? Is it fit or is it comfort for the horse? What is it?

 

Yes sir, what I'm looking for in a saddle of course, you hit the nail right on the head and I want to find a top quality saddle made by a very reputable and very top quality saddle manufacturer. And the reason why is that they're generally going to work a little bit harder with the saddle tree manufacturers to make sure that all points of that saddle to be even. In other words, it's like everything else and you've got to start with a great foundation. That saddle tree is the absolute most important thing there. After that we want to make sure we're using top quality materials. The best leather possible, those are things I look for. But really what I'm looking for outside of those things, I'm looking for something that fits my task. I really have to ask myself, what am I going to be doing in my horse the most? If all I do is race, barrels and the barrel racer, then by God it might just pay for me to go find me a barrel race in the saddle as opposed to a cut and saddle. So I want to match the saddle to the task that suits my need.

 

Master horseman and clinician Van Hargis; be sure to follow Van Hargis Horsemanship on Facebook.