Antique Technology Misunderstood

Why do these saddles look different? And what's with that last one, it looks like a cross between the two?

An anthropologist looks at contemporary saddlery and draws the wrong conclusion because he doesn't understand the history and the technological demands.

Over at This Blog sits at the crossroads of anthropology and economics, Grant constructs a theory, which is marred by two problems: assuming that the forms the saddles have today are the forms they had in history, and not understanding how the interface between the horse and rider actually functions.

Here's Grant's rumination:

I was walking along the Connecticut shoreline today, and saw a little dinghy on the beach. It had nice, big oar locks, the kind that give good “leverage.” The oar locks on English dinghies are more shallow and give much less.

This got me thinking about English and American saddles. Same difference. English saddles do not give the same purchase that American ones do.

This means that the transition from English row boats and horses is, for someone accustomed to the American equivalent, perilous. Just when you want to “dig in,” you find you can't. With English rowboats and horses, you have to know what you're doing.

So what happened to this technology? Presumably, the Americans started with the English original and adapted it. Why, and why so much?

One answer: immigrants. Almost certainly, the American adaptation was driven by the arrival of a stream of new comers. They may have worked in trade or service in the old country, but the American opportunity would engage them in new ways. It might oblige them take to land or sea by unfamiliar means, all of a sudden, with not much training. Horses and row boats had to be “fault tolerant.”

I think he is regarding the saddle below as "English":

and the saddle below as "American" (it's more properly called a Western or stock saddle):

The saddle pictured below is called a "Lane Fox", and allows the rider to sit as the English riders of the 18th and 19th century sat on the horse:

Here's an image of a modern version 18th century saddle (1), without stirrups. Notice the roll in front and the roll behind. This is pretty much what a lot of saddles looked like, with more or less before and behind.

The practical limit to a buttress behind is mounting: you have to be able to swing your leg over the rear. This is a 16th century war saddle; judging by the height behind (the curved part) the buttress effect was reaching its maximum.

(These saddles are in use today. Rather than post the images here, I will send you to this contemporary page of lovely Spanish and Portuguese horses, riders, and saddles.. Notice that the saddles are more "American" or Western than the Continental pattern.)

This is the extreme demandingness that a saddle had to meet in Colonial times and the west, riding fast across country and going over obstacles:

In other words, the rider wasn't likely to change direction hard, or have to ride a horse without much experience in being ridden (thus more likely to buck) or tie much of anything to the horse, using the saddle.

Here is one of the real technology tickler: the Spaniard and his centuries of bull-fighting on horseback. (The English didn't seem to use horses much to manage cattle). Remember, the Anglo or white settlers came into a West where there was a strong Spanish influence on horsemanship (how you used the horse and what technology you used with the horse), through the Californios and the great horsemen of Mexico):

So here are some images of people using horses, or interacting with horses, in the Western context.

In the picture above, the men are riding hard and fast to rope the steer, one on the head and one on the heels. The horses, once the lasso is around the steer, will stop abruptly to help lay out the steer on its side. The heel horse will keep a tension on the rope so that whatever attention the steer needs--branding or doctoring--can be done with the steer immmobilized. (Yes, I know this is a contest, but bear with me). The purpose of the sticky-up thing on the front of the saddle is not primarily as a handhold in the event of bucking, but to wrap the throwing rope, the lasso or lariat, around, so the horse can assist in the cattle handling.

In the picture above, the girl is riding a saddle bronc in a contest. However, the economics and the infrastructure available in the west means that the rider was often faced with using a horse that had not been completely domesticated, or had not been ridden recently. A few bucks were often part of the morning routine.

And here is the second part of the technology deal: there's no infrastucture to help. Look at the picture. No fences, no walls, no trees--if the unsaddled horse gets away, he's high-tailing* it for the hills. Once the rider gets on the horse, there's nothing to help the horse turn. Think about it, that's a brave man there, or a hungry one.

______
*Many horses, when excited, raise their tails up high.

And what would this be?

It is an Australian stockman's saddle. This is what happens when you take a nineteenth century sort of English saddle and smack it down into a rugged landscape with not-so-broke (tamed, trained) horses.

So the Western saddle, to the untrained eye, looks like it was designed so that an inexperienced person can get on and ride a horse safely. Well, that's not what happened. In the case of the Western saddle, the "English"--(lots of nationalities including American) met the superior Spanish technology. Of course, over time, it evolved, driven by experience or by the McGyver effect, or innovation by making do.

So at some point I should write about the great change in the early 20th century, which allowed horses to jump much bigger obstacles:

(The fence is 6' 10" Puissance Wall at  the 1968 Los Angeles Forum International Horse Show--the horse is a mare, Bommela Bobby, a Quarterhorse. The horse could not see over the obstacle--she purely loved to jump.)

This is a Grand Prix (the international level) I believe in Canada earlier this year.

And then Grant said,

This means that the transition from English row boats and horses is, for someone accustomed to the American equivalent, perilous. Just when you want to “dig in,” you find you can't. With English rowboats and horses, you have to know what you're doing.

Well, I don't know anything about rowboats, but I daresay most accomplished equestrians have no trouble going from the one to the other. The modern Western saddle tends to put the rider on the back half of her seatbones, while in the English saddle you more or less balance on the middle. I recommend to parents who ask, start the child English, get him or her competent to the point of jumping small (18 inch) fences, then change is she wants. It seems to be easier to go that way, English to Western, than it is the other way. This has mostly to do with how you find your balance with the horse.

(1) It is one of the exhibition saddles from the Spanish Riding School, which preserves tradition

Comments

[Grant]

Liz, just back from a gruelling trip to your splendid post. I stand, and sit, corrected. Thanks for supplying the crucial details. I will respond when my wits return to me. (Medical advisors say this shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks.) Best, Grant

[liZ]

Well, the real reason for the post--just triggered by Grant--is by how many people misunderstand the technological demands underlying saddle design.

It's one of those wonk things, and also a debt of gratitude I owe my former husband. He 's the one who sparked my interest in technology and how it manifests in design.

[Amy]

Fabulous post- thanks for this!

[Kristen]

How old do you have to be to eneter the grand prixs if you know?

[Frank Jones]

i recently watched some early episodes of the "Macleod Daughters". Not knowing anything about Australian stock raising, the depiction seems fairly accurate. However, how do you work livestock on the range without a rope or with a saddle that does not have a horn?