Side saddles come in many shapes and sizes.  Originally each saddle would have been made to measure for a particular client, but now they mostly come to light in auction rooms or clearing sales. 

Sometimes a side saddle is advertised through the Association by someone who is no longer riding and is keen to see it go on to another rider.

The more modern, flatter style of seat is considered better compared to the older ‘soup-plate’ style, which has a large dip in the seat.  These days we aim to sit upright, with a good straight back and a long left leg, able to give similar leg aids to those used when riding astride.  This is much harder to manage when mounted on an old-fashioned dip-seat saddle.

Some Different Types of Side Saddles:
 

Classic English Champion & Wilton side saddle
with cut back head, in excellent condition

English side saddle of about 1870, with solid tree and dipped seat,
in good, useable condition. 

Western side saddle by Lillian Chaudhary, 
Heritage Tack & Saddlery,
Willows, CA, USA
 

Western side saddle by Ray Laviolette, 
Circle R Saddlery, Rockland, Ontario, Canada
 

Modern Western Parade Side Saddles, beautifully tooled with silver trim

Traditional Seville Vaquero side saddle
 

Single pommel 19th Century Mexican Side Saddle with
elaborate embroidery and a side-rail
 

Special Saddles, new and old...

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Some Pitfalls in Restoring an Old Side Saddle:

 A frequent problem with old saddles is that they are sometimes in quite poor condition: the serge lining may be rotten and moth-eaten, and the wooden tree may be full of woodworm. 

 The leatherwork and strapping can also be brittle from neglect, which is dangerous if you are planning on using the saddle for riding. 

Newcomers should be wary, as restoring an old saddle in poor condition may be an expensive and time-consuming job.

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Modern Owen type Side Saddle Tree
Left side view  Top view

Right side view

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Safety Stirrups & Fittings:

Older saddles were fitted with a fixed roller type of stirrup bar, to which a normal stirrup leather was attached. 

 These originally had a slipper or safety iron designed to break open and release the rider’s foot in the event of a fall.  Most older saddles have lost their original safety irons.

It can be very dangerous to attach an ordinary stirrup iron to a sidesaddle which has no safety bar fitted.  Always use a safety iron on saddles of this type.  Traditionally this was a breakaway iron such as the Cope pattern iron shown below.  These are still available but many riders today use elastic-sided Peacock irons instead.

Roller Bar often found on older saddles

Cope Pattern Safety Iron

(a) Closed                                  (b) Open

19th Century Brazilian Brass Slipper Stirrup

Most modern English style saddles have some type of safety bar fitted which allows the stirrup leather to come completely off the saddle if the rider should fall.  The three most common types are:

Champion & Wilton 

Mayhew
(also used on Whippy side saddles)

Owen

(Photos courtesy J.A. Allen & Co, Ltd)

All of these types of stirrup fitting use a special leather, which is shorter than a normal stirrup leather and is adjusted at the bottom of the strap with a single-pronged claw-shaped buckle, covered by a broad leather keeper.

The usual modern side saddle stirrup iron is a stainless steel open tread Prussian iron, graduated one side. It has a larger eye to allow the extra bulk of the leather adjustment fitting to pass through it.  The iron should be attached to the leather so that the graduated side is to the outside when the rider’s foot is in the stirrup.

Things to check when buying a side saddle.

 When starting out, it’s best to ask someone knowledgeable to help find a saddle that fits both you and your horse comfortably.   The shape of the seat and placement of the pommels can make all the difference to the comfort and safety (or otherwise!) of your riding.

Some things to look out for are~

¨      The tree is sound and straight, not broken or twisted, and is wide enough for your horse.

¨      The leaping head is present and its screw-thread is anti-clockwise, so that it tightens securely when the rider’s leg is locked on in an emergency.

¨      The fixed head is not too far to the right to get your knee round comfortably.  If it’s too far to the left, however, it can be padded with a special pad called a queen.

¨      The seat is big enough for you to sit on comfortably.  There should be about 50-75mm spare between the back of your seat and the back of the cantle when you are sitting correctly.

¨      There is room for your left thigh to fit comfortably under the leaping head when sitting correctly, with enough space to slip the flat of your hand between.

¨      The leather and strapping is sound and not brittle~ replacing broken leatherwork can be a major expense, as can…

¨      The panel, which should be serge-lined, tidy and sound.  It will probably need a re-pack but this is minor compared with the cost of replacing the panel altogether.

The parts of the side saddle

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