We recently received this great question on one of our eBay listings:
Dear coolhorse04,
Would you need to re-build up the horn on this saddle if you wanted to actively rope (Heel?) . Just curious as to what would be needed to build up the horn. thanks!
eBay User
Our saddle expert, Troy McDonald, had this answer:
Hello,
You would not have to fix this horn to rope out of it on a consistent basis. I have two saddle that are just like this and I use them all the time. As long as you put a full horn of rubber it should never bother you. If you wanted to fix this you would have to take it to a saddle repair store and they will re-wrap the whole horn and that usually cost close to 100 but like I said you can take this saddle today and go rope out of it. Thanks
Troy
I liked this question for two reasons. At Coolhorse, we are pretty particular about the saddles we sell. Usually when we hear that people don't mean it as good thing, but if we don't consider a saddle safe enough for us to ride and use as intended ourselves, we won't sell it or represent it. This is a great example of that. Yeah, this saddle is not perfect, and yes, it could be repaired and made to 'look' better, but it is completely functional and safe to use as it is.
I also like Troy's practical answer for the potential customer. His experience as a roper can assure you that he is not just making up an answer for you. He's really been there - done that. For that reason I have a lot of confidence in our saddle team and I hope you do to. From the time we first look at saddle as a potential trade in, to the person who cleans the saddle, on to the person taking the pictures, and finally the person who lists it on our website - everyone working on that saddle has experience with horses and riding and knows what to look for as far potential problems, damage, or needed repairs. I know we are all still human and something could get missed, and that's one of the reasons behind our 100% guarantee. If any of our saddles have a damaged or worn spot we do our best to get good pictures showing the area and note it in the description. If you ever see something that you are not 100% sure of on our saddles (or any of our items) we would love to take and send you some extra pictures or different views.
