{"id":230,"date":"2012-01-12T17:30:58","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T17:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmcldev.wpengine.com\/mcgovern\/2012\/01\/12\/back-in-the-saddle\/"},"modified":"2019-08-30T18:01:59","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T18:01:59","slug":"back-in-the-saddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.tmc.edu\/mcgovern\/2012\/01\/12\/back-in-the-saddle\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in the saddle"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant<\/strong>
\nmcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu<\/a>
\nFiguratively, if not literally.
\nActually, we do have a saddle here at the McGovern Historical Research Center.\u00a0 It came with the Methodist Hospital collection, although nobody at Methodist could tell Elizabeth White, at the time it was donated, what was significant about it.\u00a0 They simply insisted it went with the collection and that we would have to take it.
\nWe still don’t know what is significant about it.\u00a0 It’s a mystery, Charlie Brown.\u00a0 Visitors always ask about it and we always have to tell them we just don’t know.\u00a0 Nevertheless, let’s take a look.
\nThis is our little Western saddle.\u00a0 To say it has some miles on it would be an understatement:
\n

\"\"<\/a>
It needed TLC a long time ago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nWestern saddles<\/a>[1] are descended mostly from Mexican cowboy saddles. They are made of leather flaps attached to a wooden frame.\u00a0 This one is missing several pieces, including its stirrups.
\nI think it must have belonged to a child.\u00a0 First, it has a 14-inch seat<\/a>[2], which is short for a Western saddle<\/a>[3] and suggests it was meant for a small person.\u00a0 Second, notice that there is a leather strap attached to the front.\u00a0 This isn’t a standard accessory on a Western saddle and I think it was for a child to hold on.\u00a0 I can’t find any other Western saddles with this on it, but I did find some detachable ones for English saddles<\/a>[4], which don’t have a horn on the front that a child might hold onto in the absence of a strap.
\nThe long “strings” of leather are decorative, but also serve to hold the layers of leather in place.
\nI should digress.\u00a0 Before you finish this post, take a minute to look over this diagram<\/a>[5] of a Western saddle.\u00a0 It will make things easier.\u00a0 The horn<\/a>[6], unsurprisingly, is the thing sticking out of the front of the saddle (most saddles are unicorns).\u00a0 Horns are actually for wrapping a rope around when roping calves, not for the rider to hold onto; my riding teacher made me ride bareback if she thought I was getting too much in the habit of holding onto the saddle horn.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fork, horn, hand-hold strap<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe fork<\/a>[6] is the arched piece in the front of the saddle.
\nThis saddle is in pretty rough shape, both because it seems to have been used a lot and because it’s old and hasn’t been maintained in a long time.\u00a0 Interestingly, it still smells like a saddle: Like leather and a bit like sweat.\u00a0 I’m not kidding.
\nIt has a smooth leather seat and the tooling [stamped or carved into the leather] pattern is almost worn off.\u00a0 Somebody rode in this a lot.\u00a0 Maybe generations of somebodies.
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Smooth leather seat with worn tooling pattern<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nPart of the rigging–the straps and rings that hold the saddle onto the horse’s back–is missing, which means we can see the saddle tree:
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Rawhide over wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThis one is rawhide over wood<\/a>[7].\u00a0 The wooden tree is covered in wet rawhide, which shrinks as it dries and holds the tree together tightly, but not too rigidly.\u00a0 This also works for chair seats: The rawhide seat tightens and holds the wooden chair together.
\nSaddles are often stamped with a maker’s mark but I couldn’t find one on this; either it doesn’t have one or it’s become illegible with age.\u00a0 Some other antique saddles can be seen here<\/a>[9]; the Frazier saddle at the bottom of the page is a little like ours, although I have no way of knowing how old ours actually is.
\n[1] Wikipedia
\n[2] Horse Saddle Shop
\n[3] Wikipedia
\n[4] Horseloverz.com
\n[5] Western-saddle-guide.com
\n[6] Western-saddle-guide.com
\n[7] Western-saddle-guide.com
\n[8] Horse Saddle Shop
\n[9] Fort Tumbleweed sales page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Figuratively, if not literally. Actually, we do have a saddle here at the McGovern Historical Research Center.\u00a0 It came with the Methodist Hospital collection, although nobody at Methodist could tell Elizabeth White, at the time it was donated, what was significant about it.\u00a0 They simply insisted it went with […]<\/p>\n

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