# saddle questions???



## ohiogoatgirl (Jan 31, 2010)

what do i change in the link's directions to make it for a goat?

http://www.ehow.com/how_6245362_build-s ... addle.html


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I wish I could help you.... with your question.... but ....I don't know... hope someone can answer it for you soon.... :wink:


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## naturalgoats (Jan 3, 2011)

OK. I'll what I can do to help.
I recently made my goats a pack saddle which I think worked pretty well in the end. I haven't used it enough to refine it completely because I mostly work in harness, but it makes sense and seemed to work when I have used it.

Firstly. Think about the point of the saddle. It is to keep the weight off the spine and spread it on the ribs.
Therefore you don't want the side boards any longer than the ribs from about two inches behind the shoulder blade to where the drop of into nothingness. which is surprisingly short. like, around 6 in. Here are some drawing.

http://www.goat-link.com/AngelGoats-For ... eleton.gif

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... eleton.jpg

The second one is of a cow but the spines are similar.
This is yet another reason not to extend past the end of the ribs because as you can see (and feel) the spine gets a lot wider very fast.
I'd say, looking at the cow skeleton, that you'd start between the second and third rib from the shoulder blade. You just want to be sure to give the shoulder blade room to rotate.

Look at the saddle on this website

http://www.getyourgoatgear.com/targhee% ... addle.html

This'll give you the basic sideboard shape. Cut them to the length you determined and a proportionate width. I smoothed the edges on mine but you could probably get away without.

Now for the cross bucks.

I'd make them as the link you posted said. Just guessing, I don't have mine here at the mo' I'd make them about 12 in long... ish. I'll try and get you more exact measures if you want. make the angle a bit less than 90° but you dont have to be too exact as you are about to see.

Now to connect the crossbucks to the sideboards

I like photos so when I was origionally getting ready to make my saddle I googled packsaddle and found this..

http://horseandmulegear.com/products/fu ... 07_IMG.jpg

Which gave me my idea. As you can see it is very adjustable and the sideboards swivel where they attach to the crossbucks. This means that whatever the angle of the back, as long as it is bigger than your cross buck angle, it will adjust.

I just used some hinges kind of like these. http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/prod ... ont200.jpg

I attached one end on top of the sideboard and the other under the crossbuck edge. Te one downside of this manner of attachment is that you can't offset the crossbucks (if you did the hinges couldn't swivel... actually that is not true. You could totaly offset them it just might be a tad more complex...)

Then you just attach rigging to fit the goat making sure that no nails stick through,. Make sure you have two girths and breeching. Probably good to have breast strap as well.

I'd just look at a lot of photos to give you a good idea of the general proportions of all the bits compared to each other and the goat.

Hope this was some help.... ask me any other questions you have.
and anyone else reading this please leave comments. I'd love to hear what people think of my attempted design 

Enjoy :thumbup:,
Miranda


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