Reader Question on my Saddle and Outfit

Jack from Tucson e-mailed to ask about my saddle and outfit and what I carry on the trail, and also had a question on Hackamores.

I’ll answer the question on hackamores in the near future. The outfit I use on the trail is a semi-custom saddle with semi-quarter horse bars and a medium swell. My saddle has a hard seat, 4 ½ inch cantle with a pencil roll. I only use a synthetic fleece cinch with a wide ropers rear cinch. The synthetic fleece cinch keeps from galling my horse’s belly during long rides. I have 3 inch aluminum stirrups.

I have a pulling type deep “V” breast collar that attaches using extension straps through the gullet off my saddle as this keeps the breast collar off my horse’s chest and away from his throat.

I am using a set of small saddlebags from Horse.com and in them I carry a folding nylon hoof boot, see the previous post on hoof boots, a small Fencing tool called a Plammer (can also use it to pull off bent horseshoes), a bottle of wound powder, a roll of vet wrap and the absorbent part of a tampon inside the vet wrap tube. Most of the cuts my horse gets on the trail are lateral cuts from cactus and other plants with thorns such as mesquite. I have stopped a pretty god bleeder using the tampon end and vet wrap.

In my saddle bags I also have a set of Leupold binoculars in my bags as well. I have a slicker rolled up and tied to square D rings screwed into the back of the cantle.

I carry a 48 foot long, extra soft ranch rope with a metal Honda. The metal Honda give me a little extra distance on a long throw and roping a cow to pull him out of a mud hole, and as the metal Honda swivels it helps me get clinks of the rope very quickly. I also carry an Army surplus plastic 2 quart canteen in a nylon canteen carrier.

The nose band you see on my horse is an old roper’s tie down that I converted to use as a Hackamore or Bosal type rig, using nylon flat split reins around the base of the nose band. The D ring on the converted tie-down allows me to hook a get down rope if and when I leading my horse in hand in case he throws shoe, get lames or what not. I carry a 12 foot, ¼ inch cotton rope with a splice in loop to use as a get down and lead line as I do not like leading my horse by the reins, especially if he is carrying a bit in his mouth – just not a good idea. This tie down converted to a Hackamore or Bosal is very lightweight and sits well on my horse on long rides.

I shot the below video helping to explain my outfit and will get back to you on the Hackamore question.