Dakota Saddles

A real hunting saddle! Whether your critter is raccoon, or possum, according to the Wetzel family, seems a mule can follow hounds to wild places when a good horse just can't. The matching Pulling Collar & a crupper can help when jumping fences! So you need a real saddle to take yourself behind the dogs. Shown here with a Rough-Out one piece seat, you can choose smooth out as seen on the other Dakota 800 page. 

The fit of the seat of this saddle, with a gentle rise in front, usually makes a great pleasure saddle for trail riding. This mule saddle is available with front and rear dees to tie things on, and a holder for your crouper. Leather conchos support strings strung through the tree, front & rear. (Dees under the conchos are available.) Add some front breast collar dees for double tug breast collars, and a roping pommel dee and strap to hold that extra rope, or water bottle. Cultured Cowboy has arranged with Dakota to provide an optional extra heavy synthetic fleece (shown here), or natural sheepskin fleece or a high quality felt bottom to better fit your saddle and horse. Choose a hoofpick holder on the flank billet, or any of the other breeching options. Choose your color of leather. You can even change to a tooling pattern if you prefer! The saddle comes with a nice bell stirrup, but you can choose deep ropers or oversized snowshoe ropers. If interested, please give us your true inseam measurements and we can have the saddle fitted for you. This is especially handy for youth, ladies, or tall cowboys! Choose between full or regular Quarterhorse bars. Cultured Cowboy works hard to make an ordinary saddle, offered from another store, into an extraordinary value for you! We live in South Carolina, where you have to be the best to survive! 

Note:  This look of saddle can be made with Quarterhorse, Haflinger or other trees for great trailriding saddles too. 

No. DAK-800RO Mule

• TREE:  Fiberglass covered  Mule Bars with 5 Year Warranty.
• HORN: Standard post roper 3¾" high, 2¼" cap.
• RIGGING: Double dees, 7/8" position.
• CANTLE: 5" leather standing.
• STIRRUP LEATHERS: 3" with leather covered buckles. Choice of Aluminum contest or bell or roper stirrups. 
• FINISH: Plain.
• COLOR: Dark Golden Brown.
  You're going to see the color/oiling process below, to preserve you saddle! 

NOTE: The reasons actual Pricing is left off most our saddles:  1) Dakota  asked us not to advertise our low pricing.  2) Almost all of these saddles are customized for you, and the Low Pricing must be figured depending on the many options chosen.  Thanks!  The chart has base Dakota pricing. This 16 inch seat saddle with all the options & conditioning sold for Under $1400.00  
Fully outfitted with Reinsman thick long fiber wool pad, BigHorn Trail girth, & Best Nylon Girth tie straps,  Puller Breast Collar, extra labor and all, with shipping, Insurance, etc at an ridiculously too low price of about $2030.00 ! (Fall 2022)

3 Liters of  Lexol Conditioner is the beginning. Several coats. First coat barely tells anything has been absorbed, but it has!  By the third or forth coating you can see the residue of the lanolin (sheep fat) covering the surface of the leather.  We just made your saddle really ugly! 

HOld on!  NOw we begin a process of hand rubbing Extra Virgin Olive Oil into the leather. This seems to drive the excess lanolin back into the leather while softening & further conditioning your leather.

Several coats are applied here too. As it all settles we continue to add oil to the lighter areas until it all looks great.   ( Luke here says I'm not emphasizing how many coats & how much rubbing!)       See more below. 

Saddle to left has no conditioning begun - raw leather. We ask Dakota not to apply their "tancoat" when we know we will condition your saddle. This allows a deeper penetration than can be absorbed with that "tankote".  (We apply that protection when we finish our conditioning.) 

As we condition, we are careful to apply just enough, without so much that the leather will stretch. We don't want this part as soft as the fenders. It takes a lot of downward pressure.

We ask Dakota , and they do, to use some of their best leather density on the stirrup leathers.  (I've had the mounting side stretch more than the off side on some of the "bargain brands", and it really throws your balance and the horse way off base. 

THIS IS NOT A PLACE TO CUT COSTS!

The innerds of the sprayer need to be of materials which withstand the most rigorous use.  I can shut down a "Dollar store variety" with one or two sprays. 

OK, Dakota does an edge dye of black which helps seat that edge which is very absorbent.  When applying these coats, be careful to keep as much of the edging away from areas that you don't want a little "black" added.  You can't really help a little slop over, but you don't want the whole thing to look "tacky" - "ugly" after all your work. 

The olive oil is good about blending in most of this edging dye into the saddle.  

We don't fear getting this stuff all over our hands. Cleopatra used olive oil, sheep fat, goat's mIlk & honey  natural softening conditioners on her skin. 

(She attracted all the powerful Romans with her soft touch!) 

These natural conditioners work great!  (nO PERFUMEY SMELLS. No added colors or bleaches. 

We loosen the stirrup leathers, pull the things way out. Get to everything!  Sometimes there will develop a "green" as the conditioners react with the copper or brass elements. It'll rub off.  No worries. But do rub it off on a piece of old cotton T-shirt  2 X 2 square you cut. You'll use several of these squares as you apply.  I also like a toothbrush, and a good nylon medium stiff BBQ brush is helpful to get into tight places. 

When we condition your saddle, we condition breast collars, headstalls, etc with the saddle. Here you see the excess that spilled onto the fender from conditioning all the smaller accessory parts. (No need to waste good stuff!)

We layer a lot of cardboard under the saddle as we condition the bottom. This way the saddle is padded against any abrasions.

Get inside those folds that hold the tie rings in place too. 

When upside down, like this, You can really get to that tree to condition it.  We also aim deep from front & rear sides too. 

As multiple layers of conditioner are applied, the color gets really uneven due to the properties of the leather. 

 It'll be OK as we continue. Don't rush! Let the Lexol soak in before deciding to add the next layer. 

The colors will even out. Conditioners travel laterally through the layers of leather. 

Be sure to catch all the under edges in the pommel area.

We like to use a very light color denim cloth to apply this stage. (No dark dyes, No acid washed dyes.) Go get some from Hobby Lobby or other fabric stores if yer not ready to cut additional fashion statement into yer fav jeans! 

This is about 3 to 4 coats into the olive oil process. Cultured Cowboy does not "dip" your saddle into tub vats.  We hand rub! You do the same.

I have a friend - Joe Brown. For years he has purchased saddles from Cultured Cowboy.  He takes a new saddle and ties his rope to the horn, throws it into the most algae infested pond he can find for 3 days. Pulls it out and rides it till dry, then conditions.  With Lexol! 

We've argued about this for decades. Works for him. But it swells the tree, takes some life out of the leather, etc.  Joe says it's just ready to ride as he saddles up on the 3 day pond soaked saddle.

Joe' saddles are always "top of the line" because his life, his horse and those helping him depend on best equipment,  Joe also knows when to trade in those saddles for newer models and pass the older ones to calf herds. 

Moral - You might have a way that works for you. We're going by our 50 + years of experiences. (Yes he uses worn out ropes to anchor the saddle in his pond.)    (LOve Ya Joe, So does Fran - his wife) 

 Getting just about right!  Time to turn stirrups, rub out those tight places, let the sun help draw the conditioners into the leathers.  

Think about a favorite song, or the fun yer gonna have riding, or memorize the spelling words on your Friday test, Or whatever brings you joy during otherwise tedious work! 

Can't do the cell phone. You'll mess it up!  Screen & buttons. Oil & electronics don mix!    Be careful about which multi-tasking you're doing. 

On real sheep bottoms, we have to condition through the skirt's top leathers enough to notice the moisture reaching the sheep "skin".  All leather needs the care! 

Should the seats be suede, we use suede conditioners and carefully brush up the knap as we go - several light layers - not any of them heavy. 

This turning begins with the last steps of Lexol and continues thru the entire process. 

This is a good heavy duty synthetic fleece.  Dakota tells me the price of this fleece has skyrocketed - Thank you US Gov't for devaluing $1.00 to $.70 lately! 

(OK enough politics) (I still don't want to leave the USA) 

Once this deep conditioning is done, all you need to do is wipe off dust, & clean grime, then apply another light coat as needed!  DO NOT wait a year!  Or 5! 

Take care of your investment with proper maintenance.  It'll last for decades.

Are you ready for a better investment than your pickup truck?  And a fraction of the cost?  

Call Us & let's discuss your dreams! 

Proud to help you all !    

Our Price:  

Our CC Prices are Too Low To Advertise.  Dakota requested that we not post our actual delivered prices.   We will deliver more saddle value for the buck than anyone; because, we know more about riding, and fitting saddles than most! (No brag, just fact!)

Really, with all the many options available, these saddles are hard to price without a conversation anyway.   Thanks, Chuck

And don't forget about a matching breast collar with your saddle! Cultured Cowboy carries a full complement of tack and accessories for you and your horse.

 Please e-mail or call us for a friendly quote on your “Dream Saddle”. 

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