I looked through the various other issues that involved saddles and making them and saw that they were "resolved" and most were labeled as "duplicate." I've created a new game about four times now and the saddle bugs still have not been resolved. I still cannot make regular saddles or convert saddles that I find into horse saddles.
MC-26662
Horse saddle/saddle bug was still not resolved
Resolved
Duplicate
0
Next time, try reading the tickets instead of just the resolution status.
MC-15097
Horse saddles no longer exist, use a normal saddle and it will work. Saddles do not have crafting recipes, they never have, they are dungeon loot.