| Appreciating the wide variety of saddles available | | | | kinds of horse riding disciplines, including so-called |
| today is all the easier once one learns bit about this | | | | "cowboy" activities as well as the kinds of equestrian |
| fascinating and extremely useful tool for riding a | | | | events seen in the Olympics and other competitions. |
| horse. Basically, the saddle is a supporting device for | | | | If a saddle is properly cared for and maintained, it |
| a horseback rider. It's fastened to the animal on its | | | | can last for literally decades. There are many |
| back and is kept there by what's called a girth, for | | | | examples of the Western saddle (first pioneered by |
| starters. | | | | Mexican vaqueros in the 19th century) that are still |
| Nowadays, a particularly-ubiquitous kind of saddle | | | | being written by men and women who received the |
| seen on most horses is the one intended for use in | | | | saddle from fathers who got them from their fathers |
| equestrian horse riding competitions. It's also called an | | | | who, in turn, received the saddle from their own |
| equestrian saddle, by the way. There are other | | | | fathers. |
| types made for other kinds of animals, including | | | | The modern saddle of today is a result of a |
| camels, which means that a saddle -- while fairly | | | | segmentation of two different versions; the Western |
| simple and construction and design -- is extremely | | | | and the English. Within the English family there are |
| versatile and quite common everywhere. | | | | several variants, including one for the equestrian |
| In history, many experts maintain that the saddle | | | | discipline known as dressage. The Western, or |
| first made an appearance about 800 BC, though they | | | | cowboy, saddle is a progenitor of the famous Army |
| were fairly crude and usually just made up of one or | | | | cavalry saddle called the McClellan. |
| two padded blankets and a cinch -- called a surcingle | | | | Saddles have a long history among riders of the |
| -- that kept the pads attached to the back of a | | | | American Southwest and West, and they're as |
| horse. Gradually, the saddle began to improve and by | | | | common in a cowboy movie as John Wayne or Roy |
| 200 BC a special saddle tree was added to it. By 380, | | | | Rogers or even the Lone Ranger and his famous |
| stirrups made their first appearance as well. | | | | horse, Silver. These extremely versatile horse riding |
| For the most part, the many different versions of | | | | tools have been with people as long as they've |
| the saddle seen today date to the 18th and 19th | | | | ridden horses, in fact, and are also seen on the backs |
| centuries. Nowadays, a wide variety of these useful | | | | of many a famous Kentucky Derby or Olympic |
| horse riding implements are purpose-built for specific | | | | competitor as well. |