The Weaver Smart Cinch

The Weaver Leather company says its Smart cinch is "smart" because of the design of the near-side (left-hand side of the horse) design of the buckle.

The buckle has a unique two-bar design (as opposed to most other cinches that just have one bar) with rollers on each bar. According to Weaver, and many product reviews we've read, this design allows for the cinch to be pulled snug more smoothly and easily.

For more information on the Weaver Smart cinch, including instructions and our own brief review, please scroll down lower on this page beneath the cinches for sale.

Below: The Weaver Smart cinch buckle.

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About The Weaver Smart Cinch Design

The Weaver Smart cinch has a unique two-bar design to its buckle, as opposed to the one-bar design on most other cinches. When pulling a cinch snug the two-bar design eliminates the latigo from rubbing on itself across the cinch buckle (more on this below), eliminating a potential source of friction that may cause a cinch to be difficult to snug. In addition, the Weaver Smart cinch has rollers across each bar to further contribute to the ease of snugging the cinch. The Weaver Smart cinch buckle is also narrower and straighter than most other cinch buckles, a design, according to Weaver, that allows for less "play" when snugging a cinch and helps to ensure a straight pull.

Below: A "regular" cinch buckle. The latigo is passed through this type of buckle twice during the saddling process, allowing the latigo to rub over itself where it passes through the cinch ring.

 

Below: The Weaver Smart cinch buckle. With the Smart cinch design the latigo first passes under the top bar, then under the lower bar, eliminating the latigo from rubbing against itself. In addition, there are rollers on each bar to help the latigo roll smoothly. Lastly, the straight-across design helps the latigo to stay straight.

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Weaver Smart Cinch Instructions

Cinching a horse with a Weaver Smart cinch is a little different than with other cinches, but only a little.

Step One

Take the latigo under the top cinch bar. See the yellow arrow.

 

Step Two

Take the latigo back up through the D-ring on the saddle. See the white arrow.

 

Step Three

Last, take the latigo down and under the lower cinch bar. See the green arrow.

 

That's it. Pull the cinch snug as usual.

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The Weaver Smart Cinch: Our Brief Review

Here at CowboyWay we've had a couple of felt Weaver Smart Cinches and we like them. We wrote a review that you can see here: Weaver Smart Cinch Review (<<< this link will open in a new window). If you don't want to read the full review, here's the short version:

We like the Smart cinch. We have had a couple of the felt Smart cinches (they also come in neoprene and mohair). They have been good quality, both the buckles and the felt, and held up well. We also consider them to be a good value for the reasonable price you can usually find them for. We would definitely buy one again.

We have to say, though, that in our opinion the Smart cinch is only slightly easier to snug up during the saddling process than a "regular" cinch. We have read several online reviews where the reviewers thought the Smart cinch was noticeably easier to tighten, but for us the difference wasn't dramatic. This might be because we're using well-broken in leather latigos that are smooth and easy to slide, or maybe it's because our hands don't have any injuries or conditions that make tightening a cinch difficult. We definitely agree the Smart cinch is a little easier to tighten, but the difference didn't blow us away. (By the way, regardless of the type of cinch you're using if your leather latigo is a little sticky and won't slide try putting baby powder on it. That often un-sticks a leather latigo in a hurry.)

There is one thing we don't like about the Smart cinch, though: When it's new the rollers are noisy. They rattle and clank, softly, all during the saddling and unsaddling process. After we use the cinch a while we don't hardly notice it anymore. We can't say if this is because we've gotten used to it, or if it's because the rollers quiet down with use. We don't consider it to be a big deal, but thought we would mention it.

There's one more thing we'd like to mention: The buckle tongue on the Smart cinch is thicker and wider than on other cinches we've used. It's really not all that noticeable just looking at it, but when you saddle up for the first time you might notice the buckle tongue takes a little extra push to get it through the holes in the latigo. After the first ride or two our leather latigos were re-shaped to the new tongue and we didn't notice it anymore when saddling.