Steppe saddle

[Agraes]

One of my friends plan to start working on a late 5th century cavalry impression soon and wants to make his own steppe saddle. To help him (and because I'll likely follow him one day when I get the horse) I am currently looking for dimensions and plan of construction of a "steppe" saddle, or otherwise of any 6-7th century saddle as those would be quite similar.

[jvrjenivs]

Well, dimensions should be decided to fit horse and rider, so a blue print can't be given.

Although it seems the Roman saddle design (and perhaps also the steppe) was made like a one-size-fits-most, when properly stuffed, I wouldn't go with making a saddle without any knowledge on the horse it is for. Secondly I wouldn't advice you to make a saddle yourself, as long as you don't know about saddles, the horse back and dynamics. Better invest in a good one, for safety and the horses back!

[John Conyard]

In the 4th century the steppe saddle was introduced into the west by the Huns and their allies. It is a simple and strong design. It is possible that some saddles were built with a one piece wooden tree, but reconstructions are made of no more than four pieces of wood joined and shaped to transfer the weight of the rider to the horse’s sides.

The proportions of the pommel and cantle can only be deduced from surviving metal decoration. The earliest such fittings from Europe are a set of early 5th century curved and triangular-shaped gold sheet mounts from Mundolsheim, Alsace. (Schnitzler B. (1997) “A L’Aube du Moyen Age, L’Alsace Merovingienne” in Les Collections du Musee Archaeologique, Vol 5, Strasburg 86-87.) These suggest a very high-fronted saddle, used to display wealth and status. Lower status riders could have used lower fronted saddles, for which rare, small and functional fittings have been found from later dates.

The steppe saddle does not need integral padding and can be left as just bare wood, weighing 6.4kg. It sits on several layers of wool or fur to protect the horse. It does not need breast or breaching straps, although they may be of use over long distances and rough terrain.

[Cheyenne]

The 'steppe' saddles used traditionally by the Eurasian people are only elementally made from rigid components. They are not a full wooden construction with rigid boards that are supposed to make up the 'contact' with the horse. The Eurasian saddle is essentially a pack saddle with rigid pommel and cantle pieces and internal wooden spacers which achieve the shape holding qualities of the saddle without having a full framed tree. The pack saddle can easily accommodate higher pommel and cantle aspects by modification of the internal stuffing techniques. Stuffing more and more padding on the horses back to attain a good 'fit' from a fully rigid contruction only serves to loose contact and impede movement. These rigid saddles should be good for long distance riding, but only when each one is made to fit a specific shape/size of mount. In practice, these rigid construction saddles are only used for short periods in modern re-enactment and I'd like to bet that if one was used for full day/multiday all terrain use; there would be some issues with the horses back.

The manufacturer of these full rigid frame saddles today (His majesty Lajos Kassai) are only doing these as custom fit. Previously they were sold as a 'one size fits all' - which to me seems rather irresponsible.

Correct me if i'm wrong but they don't strike me as very comfortable for a horse who has to bear an overloading of saddle pads just to get a good fit. Its like stuffing your shoes full of cotton wool or several pairs of socks which after a period of time creates unneccesary pressure points and sores, not to mention potential secondary issues with muscle and bone alignments

[Vindex]

There's this (with stirrups)

http://felszerelesek.lovasijaszat.hu/fel...d=9&lang=2

But I am more inclined to favour a design which can be developed from a South American saddle (see photo) - FAR more comfortable for the horse without compromising the archaeological evidence.

They can be used with or without stirrups.

[Cheyenne]

The south american saddles are not only good authentically, they are also very comfortable to ride over long distances. I did 2 days of solid desert riding in the Atacama desert in 2008 on one of the Huasos saddles and they were the best saddles geared for duration I've ever worked with from a comfort, durability and seat contact perspective.

[Paul Elliott]

Sounds impressive Claire, you're lucky to have such great experiences!