WEIGHT OF A SIDE-SADDLE.
In order to avoid giving a horse a sore back and consequently disabling him for the time being, it is essential to have the tree rigid, so that the weight may remain evenly distributed over the bearing surfaces of his back, which rigidity cannot be obtained without having the tree fairly heavy. The necessary width and length of saddle and strength of upper crutch and leaping head are also questions of weight. Hence if we require a saddle for rough and dangerous work like hunting, we must not entertain the ridiculous idea of having a light saddle, so that it may look particularly smart. A fair weight for a side-saddle is one-seventh of the weight of the rider, that is to say, two pounds for every stone she weighs, with a minimum weight of 18 lbs.
SHAPE OF THE SEAT OF A SIDE-SADDLE.
The level-seated fad which some fashionable saddlers try to impress on their inexperienced customers is an absurdity from a hunting point of view, because no one out of an idiot asylum would care to sit for several hours on a perfectly level surface, whether it was a saddle or a chair. The discomfort which such an attempt would entail, is due to the fact that the nature of our anatomy requires a certain amount of dip in that portion of the seat upon which most of the weight falls. The level-seated idea is purely theoretical, because no saddles are made in conformance with it. For hunting we must have comfort, without, of course, any undue violation of smartness. Besides, a certain amount of dip in the seat, similar to that shown in [Fig. 16], is an aid to security. A cutback pommel ([Fig. 11]) improves the look of a side-saddle without diminishing the rider’s grip. The seat on the near side should be eased off, so as to allow the rider’s left leg to get close to the horse; and the near side, close to the cantle, should be made a little higher than the off side, in order to correct any tendency there may be to sit too much over on the near side.
The saddles which I used on Romance ([Fig. 4]), and Freddie ([Fig. 7]), about fifteen years ago, were not called “level seated,” but we may see that they are quite as neat and smart as those of the present time, which fact shows that very little change has been made in the shape of side-saddles since the eighties.
THE SADDLE MUST FIT THE RIDER.
The two great points in this requirement are that the upper crutch and leaping head should be in a suitable position, and the saddle sufficiently long, so as to be about a couple of inches clear of the back of the rider’s seat. The right position of the upper crutch and leaping head can be determined only by experiment. If the tree is so short as to allow any undue weight to fall on the cantle, the horse will naturally run the risk of getting a sore back. The height of the upper crutch and the length of the leaping head will vary according to the thickness of limb. We shall see on pages 150 to 152, that the position of the upper crutch which will suit a lady who hooks back her right leg, will not be applicable to one who carries her right foot forward; and vice versâ. A saddle which suits a rider’s style of equitation will invariably fit her, if its tree and its crutches are long enough. Hence, if more than one member of a family wants to ride and there is only one horse, a saddle which will fit the biggest will suit all the rest.
CRUPPER.
The office of a crupper is to prevent the saddle working forward on the horse’s back, which it will not do if the animal is of a proper shape and the girths sufficiently tight. In ancient days, when riding-horses were more rotund than they are now, and saddles were not so well made, cruppers were generally used, but within the last forty years they have gone entirely out of fashion. A crupper is not to be despised in out-of-the-way parts abroad, when we have to ride animals of all sorts and sizes, and when we have only one saddle.