Historic Saddles: Part 4

The term "historic" has several meanings. In the case of the sidesaddles, it meant something that was truly a part of history and thus important to preserve and keep.

Today's saddle is not important historically like the sidesaddles are, but it is important to me and my own personal history. It comes from a time when I was having children and was a stay at home mom. I thought my horse-owning days were over, but a highly lucrative early morning job filling newspaper vending boxes changed all that.

I bought and boarded Indy, a sweet half-Arab, with the money I earned from that job. I also bought this English saddle.

Indy's English Saddle, 1970s

After Abby died, Tim told me I could keep my saddles and tack trunk at the barn if I wished. Both of my saddles are still there on a saddle rack in Tim's barn office.

Indy and me, Champaign, Illinois, 1984.

Shortly after I got Abby, I wrote a blog post about this saddle.

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Leather, May 7, 2012

I love the smell and sound of leather. It evokes happy memories of rides on Amy and Cee and quiet times spent cleaning tack. Now that I have Abby, I have gotten my saddles out of the garage, had them checked for safety, and taken them out to the barn.

Today the pasture was really muddy when I went out to check on Abby, and so I decided to clean my English saddle.

It looks pretty good despite being at at least twenty five to thirty years old.

 It's a German saddle made by Theo Sommer. I bought it from Linda Duesterhaus and used it for Indy.

 The leather is still very supple and soft.

 A little bit of history - Indy was used as a therapy horse for disabled riders. You can tell by the extra holes punched in the stirrup leathers that we had to shorten the stirrups for children who rode him!

 The leather billets under the panel are in great shape.

 Finished! All clean and oiled.

Next up is my western saddle. I bought it in 1970 with money I earned babysitting. Like the English saddle, I have kept it cleaned and oiled over the years. It will take a lot longer to clean, so maybe I will wait until the weekend.

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I'd estimate that Indy's saddle is pushing 45 to 50 years old. Theo Sommer began making saddles in Munich in 1965, so the oldest it could be would be 60 years.

It is a very comfortable saddle and puts your backside right where it needs to be.

Mountain Mama Jessica riding Indy in my Sommer English saddle. (1987 or so.)

Now that the weather is warming up, I plan to go out to the barn and give my saddles a good cleaning. But I'm not quite ready for that emotionally, yet. Abby's loss is still too present for me.

But it's a good saddle and I'd like to keep it in good shape, so hopefully soon I'll be ready to tackle that task

One more historic saddle to share - stay 'tooned!

Historic Saddles: Part 1

Second Post of the Day

I came across some pictures a while back of several historic saddles that are in our family's possession. I thought it might be fun to take a look at two of them today.

My sister Leslie had a time in her life when she was riding side saddle with friends fairly often. And during that time, these two historic side saddles came into her possession. 

Aside from the time period they came from, I know very little about them. Still, they are a neat look into the past and I can't help but wonder about the women who sat in these saddles and went for a gallop hundreds of years ago.

18th Century (1700s)

This one is from the time period of The Feast of the Hunters' Moon so I find it especially interesting.

The protrusion on the top far right is the fixed head (also called the top pommel.)  Look at the beautiful leather tooling! And the seat is padded - maybe with horsehair?

The protrusion on the top far left is the leaping head or lower pommel. More lovely tooling. This saddle is truly a thing of beauty.

The 18th century stirrup iron.

19th Century (1800s)

The seat appears to be a heavy fabric, almost like what was used for carpets during that time period. You can clearly see both pommels. There is tooling - I wish I could see it better.

This close-up of the stirrup gives us a better view of the tacks used (they look decorative to me) and some tiny tooling below that.

The stirrup iron has a heart cut out of it - I would imagine that many female riders would have enjoyed that touch of whimsy. I know I would!

The Fort Ouiatenon Stirrup Iron

Now here is something interesting. Take a look at this stirrup iron that was found when the Fort Ouiatenon site was being excavated in the 1960s.

Scroll back up and take another look at the stirrup iron on the 18th century sidesaddle. See the similarities?

Gives me shivers to see the similarities of the one taken from the site of Fort Ouiatenon when compared to the one on Leslie's 18th century sidesaddle.

Tomorrow I will show a couple more saddles - stay 'tooned!