Monday after Ike passed through

Before laminations of exotics and red oak

Re: Monday after Ike passed through

my guess on the English saddle wood is beach. Western stirups were probable cottonwood. Cottonwood was often used in things like doorposts in old cars, like my 1925 Cheverolet Sedan.

John

One is correct, cottonwood isn't.

Cottonwood is too punky. I have only one wood in mind for the stirrup but there are two. One usually carved and one bent.

I'm only guessing here...

Ya know, I should this one, but I don't, and I'm not at home so I can't go look at a saddle. Something tough, flexible, bendable, a wood Mr Gibbons might like the nuts of?

glc

I'm thinking

you're speaking of Ewell. I remember only two references and neither fits. He spoke for Grape Nuts and Pine nuts. Not either. Com'on you Western good ole boys. Think Southwest. Both woods have been used as answers on this site before but for different stuff.

Actually.,..

I was thinking of Wild Hickory nuts.

glc

Re: Monday after Ike passed through

Mesquite and or ironwood

Sorry, not what my source supports

but Hickory does possess some of the qualities of the non-carved type. It may actually be better but would have to be a laminate.

Re: You say SW

I think of Ponderosa pine. Bending woods, I think of ash or elm, don't think either of those species are SW woods. Maybe they used barrel cactus, : ' >. Thanks for the question.

Re: Monday answer

John and Ken both get gold stars for their forehead.

John�s answer of Beech for English saddle trees was quick and correct.

Ken got the Mesquite answer for the carved stirrup. It was a Mexican product adopted and improved upon in the Southwest and California.

The other answer I was searching for is willow. The same as used for other things including bats for cricket (remember that trivia question?). I did not accept cottonwood but after checking it may have been linked as sometimes, though different, the two are referred to in the same breath because they are often found in the same area. Cottonwood is much wetter and weaker however.

Willow

Salix humilis-marsh

Symbol SAHU2

Willows were used for making dye, furniture, mats, baskets, drums, stirrups, tipi pegs and pins, fox and fish traps, hunting lodge poles, and meat-drying racks (Kindscher 1992). Also, New Book of Saddlery and Tack, Carolyn Henderson, p97.

Support is also provided by Daniel E. Moerman �Native American Ethnobiology p508, and U.S. Ethnology bureau Annual Report 1908, p105.

If you have checked the web you might also know that mesquite and red oak have been used. Mesquite is often carved and the red oak bent in laminations using today�s manufacturing.

A western saddle was meant to be lived in for days and nights on end and an English saddle was for only a few hours in a day. One result of the difference was that out west wood was used for stirrups because it did not act as a heat sink to freeze or get as hot as to burn when the weather was as it is in the Western ranches.

The �clunky� Western saddle is a true marvel of evolution and application. The big Western saddle fits most any horse, has a flexible non-slip cinch, and will not cause sores as can an typically �custom� fitted--should be matched to the horse, English saddle.