Appreciating The Wide Variety Of Saddles Available Today

A quick look at different types of saddles will reveal not only a number of such

devices intended to make horseback riding easier but also a generally-interesting history of development and use. At its most basic, a saddle supports a rider on the back of a horse. Generally, a saddle is fastened to the back of the animal by means of what's known as a girth.

Nowadays, a particularly-ubiquitous kind of saddle seen on most horses is the one intended for use in equestrian horse riding competitions. It's also called an equestrian saddle, by the way. There are other types made for other kinds of animals, including camels, which means that a saddle -- while fairly simple and construction and design -- is extremely versatile and quite common everywhere.

In history, many experts maintain that the saddle first made an appearance about 800 BC, though they were fairly crude and usually just made up of one or two padded blankets and a cinch -- called a surcingle -- that kept the pads attached to the back of a horse. Gradually, the saddle began to improve and by 200 BC a special saddle tree was added to it. By 380, stirrups made their first appearance as well.

Generally speaking, almost all of the various kinds of saddle available today date their genesis to the 1700s and 1800s. Today, most such riding tools have been built specifically for one sort of equestrian or horse riding discipline or another. These include the classic cowboy, or Western, saddle as well as the sleek and minimal equestrian riding tool used in Olympic or other competitions.

With the right maintenance and care, a well-made saddle can last for years or even decades. Many people living in the American West or Southwest have saddles that have been handed down to them from grandfathers or great-grandfathers, as a matter of fact. As a technology, they're not that much different from those saddles of the 19th century, to be honest.

The modern saddle of today is a result of a segmentation of two different versions; the Western and the English. Within the English family there are several variants, including one for the equestrian discipline known as dressage. The Western, or cowboy, saddle is a progenitor of the famous Army cavalry saddle called the McClellan.

Saddles have a long history among riders of the American Southwest and West, and they're as common in a cowboy movie as John Wayne or Roy Rogers or even the Lone Ranger and his famous horse, Silver. These extremely versatile horse riding tools have been with people as long as they've ridden horses, in fact, and are also seen on the backs of many a famous Kentucky Derby or Olympic competitor as well.

by: Peter Gitundu

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