New pack saddle

[Nanno]

I'm holding out in the hopes that he simplifies the straps, and most of all I want to see a design where the pad is not attached to the saddle tree. I don't like saddle/pad combos because the padding is always the first thing that needs to be replaced (lots of experience in this on horse saddles--there's a reason military and pack saddles never incorporate the padding). Straps and buckles can be replaced yourself, but a saddle with incorporated padding will have to be sent back to the manufacturer every time that padding wears down, gets torn, compresses, etc. Even the best pads compress over time, which is another reason they should not be attached permanently to the saddle in my opinion. It's one of the basic problems with the Sopris saddle--the tree is nothing more than a large, firm roll of padding. It breaks down much faster than a wooden tree and the saddle will have to be replaced entirely when that padding deteriorates. I smell the same problem with the current Warnke design. I've already asked Marc to think about changing his saddle to use a generic pad that can be replaced by the user. If he can do that, then his saddles will outlive him and I'll be ready to try one.

We did try one of Marc's saddles on Finn at the Rendy. It fit Finn very well. It did not fit Sputnik. I think Sputnik is stuck with a Sopris saddle until someone designs a rigid tree with some sway in it like a horse saddle.