WE REPAIR ALL SADDLES

We are famous for working on Australian stock saddles, but the fact is we repair and restore ALL saddles.  

Like cars or washing machines, each saddle has a life, the length of which is usually determined by how well it has been maintained. The quickest way to kill a leather saddle is don't oil it. Oil keeps the leather away from that final stage where the hide is actually dead. Once leather gets hard and dry it can never been restored. It has reached "'dust to dust!" The question must always be asked: is the saddle worth fixing or restoring?  Putting $600 into an old $400 saddle makes no sense, unless it is an heirloom, or was ridden by John Wayne. Better to make a bar stool out of it. But putting $600 into a $2,000 saddle that has already seen ten years of good service is always a good move. What we charge to repair a saddle, or restore it, always depends on how much time and materials are involved. We can give a ball park figure from a picture, but ultimately we have to see the saddle, and pull it apart, to find what is really needed. We can then give a more accurate quote. If we think it is not worth fixing, we will tell you so, and charge you time for making that discovery.

There is JACK THOMPSON in THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER riding a "breaker" saddle that inspired Colin to make the COLIN POLEY. Lower right is a fully rebuilt "breaker poley."

Fully restoring saddles.

This always requires pulling down the saddle to the bare tree, taking patterns off the old parts and cutting out new parts from leather selected. At this time trees are strengthened, if needed, and all hardware replaced. It is also an opportunity to perfectly re-shape the tree to fit the back of the horse it is going on. At this stage custom work can also be done with less hassle. Alterations can be made to accommodate new and different work demands, depending on if the saddle is going to be used for packing, sorting, or simply trail riding.

We also restore tack, harness, saddle bags -- or anything else made of leather. We can also build anything made of leather. Give us patterns, plans and descriptions and we will give you a price, and make your dreams come true. If you have an idea for an item you would like to make, and sell, we could build you a prototype -- AND find you a manufacturer. Call Colin personally, on his cell (818) 309-8125. He'll pick up if he's in range, even riding on top of a mountain-- but not when he's driving. Heck, that's dangerous, not to mention illegal!

This is an example of an entirely new Merino wool sheepskin fleece giving new plush life to a 30 year old wood and steel tree saddle. Cost $500.

We can completely replace seats on any English saddle: Cost $400. See photos below of new seat under construction. And we can also replace billets: Cost $350.

For reference, here are some current base prices:

Complete relining and restuffing of traditional Aussie saddles $600.

Replacing billets on Aussie saddles: $400

Replacing billets on English saddles: $500

Rebuild and recover knee pads (or poleys) $250 each or top them with a Poley Bra $99 the pair

Install or remove a horn $250

Weld cracked wood/steel tree $500

Restore shattered wood on tree $500

Fix and restore broken bull hide or fiberglass Western trees $700

Relining with merino sheepskin either Western or Australian saddles $500

Recondition and restoring Aussie saddles: $400

Install Big D Western rigging on any Aussie saddle $250 Get rid of the buckles!

Include new girthing and Latigos $400.

Re-Fitting saddles to new withers using pictures $300

Fitting new saddles to withers and pictures at time of purchase $200.

Repairing tack: per quote

Replacing four ties: $100

All other requests per quote

PLEASE NOTE: All saddles left here for six months will be charged a storage fee of $250. Saddles left over one year will become salvage property of ColinDangaard, Inc.

FREE SHIPPING DOES NOT INCLUDE REPAIRS.

An Australian stock saddle is unique

Because it comes from a country that is unique, and a bush that is as close to a foreign planet as you can get without climbing aboard a space ship! As Robert Mitchum commented while he was there making THE SUNDOWNERS, "In Australia, if it moves it bites, and if it bites, you're dead." 

No surprise that we ride in saddles that are hard to fall out of, because if you hit the ground out there, 400 miles from a hospital, you're in deep trouble. You have to ask permission to fall out of a Breaker Poley. Note: This was the saddle the character called "The Breaker" used in the movie THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER.

A steel horn is added to a wood and steel tree saddle. The horn is welded to a steel brace that is bolted through the wood to the metal gullet and then welded to available steel on top of the stirrup suspension bar. THIS HORN WILL NEVER PULL OFF!!

To read a testimonial about a saddle Colin rebuilt click HERE.