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Portfolio of Custom Tack
Made By KeriOkie |
From the most current first to the oldest works to show the progression. Click on
the Picture links to view additional images. Click the Back button on your
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Historical Sidesaddles
After this book is finished, I'll be looking into Medieval costumes. I'm not
certain what will be in that book since it covers quite a bit of material. But I
did start prototyping some of the earliest sidesaddles. I found it helpful to
follow the evolution from the beginning. Here are a couple prototypes that I
will most likely perfect for the costume book. No promises, though.
| All sidesaddles have one thing in common - a padded seat.
After that, there were many different additions to help keep the rider in
the saddle. In the beginning, the most common style was the chair. The chair
could be made of wood, wicker, leather or whatever the maker could find. The
footrest is called a planchette and was common, but considered optional.
This is one of the chair types. The sides are so tall the rider would not be
able to control the horse and would have to be lead about by an attendant. I
prototyped this from a picture of a museum piece. I assume this would have
to go on a larger horse due to the weight. Note the very heavy padding to
make the saddle more comfortable for the horse. |
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| The next major evolution to the padded seat was the addition
of a single horn. A low cantle was also common. This is
another prototype of a museum piece used by Queen Elizabeth I. I used the
Arabian Costume Tree 2 pattern to prototype this, so if you have that book
and don't mind modifying patterns on your own, you already have most of the
pattern available to you. I don't know if I will go any further with the
saddle type. It is basically an astride saddle with a horn and a planchette. |
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Original Two Head Sidesaddle
| The next step was the addition of a second horn, now called
heads, to the right side of the saddle. The rider would jam her thigh
between the two heads for grip. The tree is basically and English tree with
the padded horns (sometimes made from antlers) attached to the pommel. I
have quite a way to go still with this pattern. Often the safe (the large
skirts on the left side) had a quilted area, sometimes made of suede. The
heads need some help. Sometimes a rail was added for additional safety. I've
seen many different colors for this saddle. |
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Original 3 Head Sidesaddle
| The next step was the addition of a third head called the
leaping head, to the left side of the saddle. The rider uses the leaping
head for emergency grip only with the thigh positioned about an inch away
from the head most of the time. The tree is still English in design. The
first leaping head sidesaddles looked like the above with the third head
added. Over time the off side head gradually diminished in size until it was
finally removed with the introduction of the Modern Type 1 curved seat
style. This prototype shows the mid-way transition of the off-side head,
flattened, but still apparent. This looks to be the inspiration for the
shape of the Goodnight Western sidesaddle. |
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