My first western saddle!!!

 This post is mainly going to be pictures of the finished saddle, because, as usual, I started taking progress photos and then got caught up in making it and stopped 😅. So… I really need to get better at that! Anyway, here are the progress photos that I took:

I made the pommel first, and as you can see, it’s not great, but now I know what to fix next time.

Next, I put the lower skirt together.

In case you’re wondering how the billets attach, I took a picture of that part of the instructions. 

After that, the stirrups! 

They are pretty simple. You glue two pieces of leather together, bend them into shape while the glue dries, then hammer the nail through. (You bend the metal to the side and then cut most of it off so it stays in on the other side) 

Attach them to the fenders.

And this is the last in-progress picture that I took 😂. The next saddle I make will definitely be more of a step by step… ummm  I don’t want to say guide, because it definitely won’t be a tutorial… just, uh,  step by step pictures and descriptions 🤣

Here is the bridle:

 

And now for the big reveal!!!
Tadaaaa!

Some glue is visible on the chamois which annoys my perfectionist self, but it’s not as visible irl as the picture.

It fits so many horses so nicely!!! It feels just like a real saddle in miniature! ( which is what it’s supposed to be… but I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be this realistic 😂)  It’s also super strong! I can pull in the billets to tighten it no problem!

I don’t have a pounce wheel but I wanted stitch marks for realism, so I did them all by hand with an X-acto knife! So exhausting!

And everything is completely adjustable! (Which I LOVE!)

Except… the stirrups. They are just a tad too long for the Breyer dolls. So I have to lean the doll towards whatever direction I’m taking the picture! 

The breast collar is really nice too 

Snowman looks so cute western!!!💕

Then of course, I had to take a bazillion  pictures! That will need to be a separate post, but I put one of each horse I put it on:

Well, two of snowman😉

I always say that Adamek looks good in EVERYTHING! He really does!

Well, that’s the conclusion to this very long post! I’ll have to do a post of all of the pictures I took with the saddle! And I’m planning another introducing some new herd members. Including some… unique ones.