Please note: This complete article with far more color photos can be found in my book, AMERICAN RIDING & WORK SADDLES (and Horse Culture), 1790-1920.
See the Store to order yours now!
England had far-reaching influence on American saddlery from the very first European settlement in the New World until the Revolutionary War – as has been noted in the first chapter. Though there were some French and even a bit of Dutch influences as well, most of the common saddle patterns and saddlery fashion in colonial America were largely of English origins. The majority of saddles used on both sides during the Revolutionary War included British military saddles, “Common” English hunt saddles and, their “Americanized” variations. All of these had variable high or low (and sometimes spoon) cantles and wide adaptations of skirts, leather seats and decorative embellishments. The war gave America its governing independence but also its freedom to make their own indelible mark upon the world, which would come to include saddlery. Despite being built on the basic English tree, the most identifiable domestic-manufactured riding saddle that emerged after the war are those that we today collectively but erroneously call “English” saddles. True, they were British in origins and the first American-made saddles however; they were not English any longer but uniquely American.
By 1800, with the War for Independence behind them American civilian riding saddles from Georgia to New England would increasingly include the aptly named “American” saddles. Built on the standard three to five piece English tree, the Americans had come to modify the common English Hunt Saddle to suit their growing desire for a deeper seat. This included raising the back arch (cantle) sometimes significantly to almost a right angle. It also often included elevating the front pommel too. The result of this was a new “American” tree that differed significantly from the monolithic English tree. In finish, the skirts varied but were usually lengthened as well. In summary, these alterations had the effect of a very different appearance than the common English hunt saddle. Even as civilization expanded west in the first quarter of the century, frontiersman and trappers roaming from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River and beyond rode these English tree “American” saddles often with blankets or fur robes thrown over and held in place by surcingles or straps.1
Other saddles employing the English tree were in use in America at this time too. The Spring Seat saddle came in many configurations and was a quite common pattern. Though often made identical to other prevalent American patterns its primary difference was the inclusion of various materials built into the seat to give it extra cushion or spring.
The Somerset, another English tree saddle that emerged about the 1840’s proved tremendously popular in America yet was actually English by origins. Deriving its name from a family of English noblemen it originated in England with variable leather seat and skirt padding addendums to provide a more secure seat for elderly or inexperienced riders. Americans were blissfully unaware or ignored its stigma and adopted the padding features adding them to the deep seat saddles to create their own stylish version of the Somerset. Both the Spring Seat and the Somerset still employed English trees but with Americanized alterations. Although as the century unfolded Americans increasingly moved to Spanish influenced horned saddles, their evolving concepts of English saddles remained popular particularly in the more densely populated east and in the south.
Outside the United States, English saddlery and manufacture remained important with its influence actually spreading worldwide. In the late 18th and throughout the 19th century, the British Empire was a major source of innovation and change at many levels. First as a world military power but also as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and the concept of taking manufacture from small shop artisans to mass production. This was certainly true for military weapons and equipment but equally as important for common domestic clothing and leather items as well such as shoes and of course, horse equipment. In the equine related pursuits, English industrial output and skilled tradesman were second to none. Their saddles and varying patterns of bits, stirrups, saddle hardware, curry combs and other horse equipment was considered the finest and best quality in the equine industry. For over one hundred years, from the late 18th century until the turn of the 20th century the British led the entire world in manufacturing horse equipment.
In America, as the nineteenth century began to unfold the emerging popularity of other saddle patterns most notably Spanish influenced saddles began to assert influence. The basic English saddle continued to be popular however, demand was shrinking fast. English-made trees, hardware, bits and leather remained particularly important to American manufacturers but finished saddles were imported only in very small numbers. More common for many American riders throughout the first half of the 19th century were the deep-seat American-made hybrids of English or Somerset saddles and increasingly, horned saddles.
By 1860, the importation of English riding saddles were almost non-existent however, the Civil War peculiarly altered this scenario if only temporarily. The immediate and overwhelming need or military saddles, bridles, bits, stirrups, hardware and leather forced both the Federal and Confederate authorities to look beyond their own borders for a source of supply. The obvious answer was England. Soon after the first shots were fired, both sides sent agents to London to seek out contracts from the horse equipment manufacturing centers of Walsall and North Hampton.
The North imported primarily manufacturing resources such as leather and hardware. The South did as well but also great quantities of bridles, bits, civilian and military pattern stirrups, saddle blankets and two distinct patterns of military saddles for their officers; The Crimean War era Hussar’s saddle and the M1856 Universal Pattern. It appears a few English civilian hunt seat pattern saddles were also imported but in fractional quantities. After the war, imported English saddles resumed their lonely place at the bottom of popular American saddles. Even American-English hybrids were falling behind in sales to the increasingly better known and attractive horned varieties, new patterns and now, even McClellan saddles.
About 1870, as manufacturing and sales expanded in the post-war boom, American English type saddles found a new niche in the pleasure riding trade of saddlery known as “park riding”. This genre of “Gentlemen’s Riding saddle” was immensely popular in the 1880’s through 1920 particularly in the east and larger cities everywhere. Many American catalog companies offered significant lines of “Spring Seat”, “Somerset”, “Park”, “Police” and other pleasure riding saddles finished with huge varieties of “Americanized” patterns, appendages and names but many, generally still built upon the basic English tree and configuration. Racing and Polo saddles offered still more options of English-based saddles.
COMPARISON OF AMERICAN VERSUS ENGLAND’S “ENGLISH” SADDLES:
It is quite interesting to note the differences in this influential period between American-English saddle manufacturing from contemporary British-made saddles. An 1880’s catalog from one of the largest saddle firms in England, D. Mason & Son’s, displays their saddles with differing features usually named for their intended usage including, “Gentlemen’s Riding” saddles, “Exercising” saddles, “Pony” saddles, “Polo” saddles, “Racing” saddles, “Fancy” and “Traveling” saddles, etc.
While American catalog companies were always quick to apply colorful names to their unique and rapidly expanding varieties of saddle finish configurations, British saddleries apparently embraced a much more dispassionate approach to marketing their pattern varieties generally noting only options for size, leather quality and color, cantle and knee rolls or the addition of panels. Even their “Fancy” saddles offer only variances in leather, color and stamping to otherwise essentially the same pattern. Indeed, while the D. Mason catalog shows hundreds of saddles, all were built on the basic English tree with little significant change to the primary configuration. Moreover, this “sameness” prevailed in civilian English saddlery for decades. By the turn of the century leading British firms now employed photographs of their product lines but the patterns remained largely redundent.2 Perhaps most interesting is that since gaining Independence Americans never embraced true English pattern saddles. Sales of imported saddles were miniscule in 19th century America and remain so today.
THE FORWARD SEAT SADDLE:
The most dramatic change in 19th century English pattern saddlery occurred near the end of the century; an alteration in riding style so significant that it affected the fundamental appearance of the English saddle. About 1890, an Italian cavalry officer by the name of Frederico Caprilli introduced to the world the art of forward seat riding. Up until this time, the approach to jumping a horse had the rider using long stirrups, keeping his legs extended out in front of him, and leaning his body back, pulling on the reins, as the animal took the fence. This unnatural position (sometimes called the “backward seat”) was adopted because it was believed at the time that the horse’s hindquarters and hocks were more flexible and better shock absorbers than the more fragile front legs. By leaning back and pulling the horse’s head up, the riders tried to encourage the horse to land with hind legs first (or at least with all four legs), to decrease the impact upon the front legs. In reality however, the pulling on the horse’s mouth and the awkward landings inflicted pain, and therefore a negative cue. Caprilli understood that a horse should be allowed to jump as they do naturally, unfettered by the rider. Under his revolutionary method, the rider does not lean back nor pull on the bit but he leans forward moving in balance with the transitioning weight of the horse’s body. The rider’s knees are bent and thighs positioned so that his seat remains off the saddle during the jump.
Ironically, Caprilli’s concept was initially met with such tremendous skepticism and even hostility by his superiors in the Italian army, he was demoted in rank and transferred. However, many outside the military including English foxhunters immediately recognized the tremendous advantages of his method so it quickly gained widespread favor. In time, Caprilli was vindicated. What developed from this is known today as the “forward seat,” in which riders use shorter stirrups, keep their legs under their body and knees bent as they take a jump.3
The change in riding style required substantial changes to the saddle too. Evolving from Caprilli’s ideas was the “forward seat saddle” which makes it easier for the rider to lean forward into the jump, flexibly coordinating with that of the horse’s natural body movement. The new saddle had a shorter stirrup and a more forward flap, to match the greater bend of the rider’s knee. For extra security, padding or knee rolls were added at the front of the flap. The stirrup bars were also moved a bit and the waist of the saddle was made narrower to keep from restricting the movement of the horse’s withers during a jump.
THE ENGLISH SADDLE’S IMPACT ON THE WORLD:
Over time, inventors in many countries have developed their own versions of military and commercial saddle patterns with varying and arguable degrees of success. It is interesting that the most successful seem to have an ironic resemblance to the simple but timeless English saddle. Perhaps it is not so ironic. The English saddle tree is hard to improve upon. Even today, in England as in the United States, three slightly different appearing but basic English pattern saddles have evolved and remain dominant. One is the Hunt saddle, another the English Jumping saddle and finally, the Dressage saddle. It may not be surprising then that excepting manufacturing materials, today’s “English” riding saddles are strikingly similar to their 19th century ancestors.4