I just aquired an beautiful old saddle at a sale for cheap. I cleaned it up and the tooling on it is really eye catching. I love it! Unfortunatly its unusable because the front right panel of the tree is about broken all the way in half lenghth wise. Is it possible to have a new tree put in a an old saddle or would it be cheaper to buy a diff saddle? Any value in a this saddle with the tree broken?

I have found repairing a Saddle can be 50/50. If the Leather is in great shape and it has a lot of Hand Engraved Details, then it might be worth the repair. The main problem with repair is Cost and the possibility of damage to leather parts when removing and re-installing. Most people only spend the money when a Saddle has Sentimental Value. We do not repair Saddles here, we would refer you to a shop in FL, if you are interested in calling him, send me a note.
Southern Trails Saddle

Bayappaloosa,

keep in mind that replacing a tree is labor intensive. Beyond the cost of materials which can easily cost $600 or more depending on the quality of tree and leather, replacing a tree requires the entire saddle to be rebuilt. Very rarely will a new tree ever fit the old leathers as well as the original tree did so this may require new leather parts to be cut, fitted, and carved to match the old parts. You will then finish with a saddle that shows obvious signs of being rebuilt (leather colors will never match). Any time you replace parts on an old saddle you will affect it's collector value (assuming it had some to start with) in a negative way.

I would say that unless you really love that saddle, you might find it a better investment to find one in better condition.

Darc

yeah...I guess a new saddle would be cheaper. This one will just hafta be for decoration.