Schürer Saddlery

Instructions for Tracings and Photos

Have you never made tracings before?

Many people use a piece of coat hanger wire--something that will hold its shape. Take a piece about two feet long and bend it over the horse's spine from side to side.

Then, take time and patience to bend and fit the wire to the horse's back so that you have good representation of the back. You will then lift the wire off of the back and lay it on paper. Trace the inside of the wire onto the paper.

The important thing is to do this at the right location on the back. We want the tracing DIRECTLY behind the shoulder. So, place your hand on your horse's shoulder and then SLOWLY slide your hand toward your horse's middle. The point at which your fingers "fall off" is the point to make the tracing.

For the spine, lay the wire onto the spine, mark where the other tracing was made with a piece of tape, and then bend the wire to conform with the spine. Again, trace onto paper and do not forget to mark where the other tracings was done.

To do a proper job on your saddle tree and/or flocking the panels, we will need tracings and photos of your horse’s back.

Two tracings:

One right behind the shoulder (then put a little piece of white or blue tape on that spot).
One of the spine, mark this one to show me where the first tracing was made and where the deepest point of the back is.

Additionally, we need photos of your horse's back taken directly from the side (a ninety degree angle to the horse’s spine; as if the back were a landscape) with the tape mentioned above still in place, making sure that the horse is on level ground.

We like to have one photo from about six feet away and one from about twelve feet away so that we can see the whole horse. Finally, a photo, if you can manage it, of your horse's back looking down onto the back at the shoulder area. This will help us determine whether the shoulders are the same size. It is possible to stand on a mounting block behind your horse to do this-- but safety first! If you do not trust your horse for this operation, have a friend hold the horse in a stall and you can stand on the mounting block outside of the stall and look through the bars. Much safer.

All of this information helps us to get the tree and reflocking right.