A barrel racing saddle should have closely cropped skirts, and should be crisp and sharp looking and should be lightweight and properly fitted as well. When deciding on the perfect racing saddle, there is room for personal taste in the selection of a barrel racing saddles.
Tex Tan Saddles come in a variety of price categories, colors, styles, sizes, and levels of fanciness. Barrel racing stirrups can be made in lightweight aluminum, and the seats can be plain, or made to resemble exotic animal skins.
The Tex Tan Fortune Maker II, for example, has hand tooled leather, aluminum stirrups, a suede seat with stainless steel hardware, a cantle that is wrapped in silver laced suede and stainless steel spots. It comes in either a 14 or 15 inch seat size with an Equi-Tex tree. With a natural antique color and hand engraved sterling silver plated trim. It is one of Tex Tan’s higher end barrel racing saddles and retails for around $1,600, with matching tack available.
The Tex Tan Rapid Rider Tex-Flex Tree saddle is available in a 15 inch seat size. It has stainless steel hardware, a suede seat, and is built around the Tex-Flex tree design. The cantle measures 5 inches, and the swell is 13 inches wide. It, too features a hand-engraved sterling silver plated trim, and is quite light, at 20 lbs. This barrel racing saddle sell for over $1,200, with matching tack available.
For those whose budget doesn’t run to four digits, the Tex Tan Light Speed saddle. It has stainless steel hardware and a suede seat, with a rawhide braided horn. It comes in a 15 inch seat size and is built around a Ralide tree with a 5 inch cantle and a 13 inch swell width. In a gorgeous pecan color it retails for just over $800, with matching tack available.