Though it is hard to see, from these photos; before restoration this Circle Y - Flex Lite appeared to be smooth leather and the seat appeared to be a greyish-green sort of color.  When we got well into this restoration we were surprised to find out that this beauty was actually a rough-out saddle (suede) and that the seat was a brilliant blue. 

This King Series Saddle came into the shop looking extremely rough.  After restoration, the simplistic beauty of silver on black was astounding! 

The customer that brought this in wasn't sure if it was even worth restoring because the leather was so dry and brittle.  After restoration the leather was pliable and supple and the tooling was much more vibrant.  The seat is suede and remained original, it was not replaced.  With the addition of the matching saddle bags this 1915 saddle is still being used, today.  To quote this (more than satisfied) owner who had trouble picking out her saddle when it was finished,
"I brought you in a turd and you gave me back a comfortable Cadillac."

This Longhorn Pleasure saddle was brought to us in fine condition.  However, the owner was looking to make a custom Show Saddle out of it and well, we just had to oblige.  We started by doing an intensive off-tree stripping of all the parts to raw leather.  For the main body (pommel, cantle, skirt, fender) we went with an oxblood red.  The pommel and cantle were edged in  Marine Corp black, as was the tooling background on the fenders and skirt.  Change the seat color to black and add some black tie-downs, wax and buff, and the colors just flow together, beautifully!  The final addition was the Montana Silversmith antique silver package,
for that special "bling in the ring", and "Voila!" a masterpiece is born!

Here, at Holdridge Leather we build custom sadles, restore old saddles into treasured heirlooms, customize saddles with tooling, color changes, and creating matching accessories,
and repair saddles and their components.
Give us a call!  You'll be so glad you found us!