A Horseman's Holster

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hanks Vern
I enjoyed the pics.
Not the best picture of your Colts.
Pants & coats must have been made with Man Sized Pockets in 1849.
Special bonus looking at all the neat pictures everyone else shared in that thread.
You have packed the dickens out of that little detective special.
In the 19th Century, there was no air conditioning or central heating. People wore heavy coats in cold weather, with big pockets and often carried their coats rolled up behind the cantle of the saddle in hot weather. At the OK Corral, Wyatt Earp said he took his Colt Single Action out of the holster and put it in his pocket -- and that's a lot bigger gun than an 1849 pocket revolver.
 
I have really enjoyed this thread and some great pictures, but there's something very odd indeed going on. In my experience, horsemen are bigger liars (although we would prefer "tellers of tall tales") than even fishermen. Yet, throughout this thread there are significant admissions that at times horse and rider are not "one", hell, sometimes not even two.:eek:

These must be pitiful horsemen indeed. Why it's almost impossible for even the most uncouth dudes to be thrown. The times that I broke my back, both collar bones, ribs and wrist in inexplicable departures from my seat were all freak aberrations, in no way the result of differences of opinion between horse and rider, almost always caused by the poor situation of a fence by some anti-equine sadist, an unbeknownst secret rainfall only on the downhill side of a stone wall or due to the reckless and malicious inattention of a tree...and most certainly not anything to do with poor judgment or communication on my part. :rolleyes: :D

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk 2
 
Amen RPRY I have left the saddle involuntarily a bunch, of course it was never my fault. If I were to fire when in the saddle I probably would end on the ground. Years ago I did quail hunt in GA from horse back but those horses were trained much better than mine. I carry in a cross draw or in a saddle bag and fortunately have never left the horse when I was carrying.
 
What I do is take a .22 pistol when I feed the horses and shoot it while they're eating. Once they get used to that, I will stand beside the horse, and run my shooting arm over his back and fire. Finally, I get in the saddle and shoot a bit.

They soon understand, "Oh, that's just a noise he makes."

Mind you, I don't do any serious shooting from the saddle -- when I was on the ranch, when I jumped deer, I'd be out of the saddle with my .30-30 in my hand and shoot from under the horse's neck.
 
missouri

I would like to post a respectful response regarding the issue of covered trigger guard type holster and riding a horse. Here is a fact, - the Threepersons design, and the Austin Brill design, were both invented by two men who new each other and were Texas Rangers. Both designs were invented between the World Wars when roads were few in the West, but cars were common. They wanted a design which did NOT lay horizontally along their legs, when sitting in an auto. That, and presenting the gun quickly for law enforcement purposes, and protecting the gun were the reasons for their design.

Prior to that, most holsters to retain guns were pouch types which did, per our corresspondent, wisely, swallow the gun. The thong over the hammer was to retain the gun when the horse bucked, may hve thrown you, etc. For those who dont know, or who ride on bridal trails or city parks, heavy brush WILL sooner or later pull the gun from your holster, even more quickly than when walking. The covered d trigger guard is a result of using a swallowing type holster.

Old time lawmen and gunfighters were not interested in a fast draw, they already had the gun in hand. Elmer Keith wrote of twice pulling his colt to shoot a runaway bronc thru the heart as he was being dragged across the landscape with foot caught in stirrup. Thanks to that retaining rawhide loop. You can believe Elmer was telling the truth. When reliable metal snaps came into being, they used those.

Modern police WERE interested in fast draw, did not care about law suits or liberal prosecutors because there were none. Hence, first the Threepersons then later the Jordan, followed by the steel lined Jordan. Even today there is no faster holster for revolver use. Jordan claimed he used the retaining strap when he saw a physical altercation coming but kept it otherwise unsnapped 99 percent of the time.

I followed his advice until a nut case insane woman sitting behind me, supposed to be restrained by my female partner, grabbed my model 58 in the holster, got her finger in the trigger and, pulling on the trigger,
got the hammer half way back with gun still in holster. At that point I knocked her senseless with an elbow in the face. I aged a few years in those seconds but learned my lesson. USE A RETAINER TYPE HOLSTER WHETHER AFOOT, HORSEBACK, OR IN AUTO. YOU WONT BE SORRY.
 
Talk about thread revival...

Good input though. Thanks!

Since this Thread started I picked up an El Paso Saddlery Holster for my 5.5 SAA for riding up in the mountains. You can see this rig in some of my videos on Youtube as well:
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Its been a good holster so far.
 
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