In a few stories on SOL, I've read that people on Western ranches use "Western" saddles on their horses.
What do people on Eastern (east of the Mississippi) farms use for saddles on their horses? Eastern saddles?
Does it matter?
In a few stories on SOL, I've read that people on Western ranches use "Western" saddles on their horses.
What do people on Eastern (east of the Mississippi) farms use for saddles on their horses? Eastern saddles?
Does it matter?
My understanding is that they would have mostly used "English" saddles.
Note the difference in the descriptions below. Even when the horse was a primary mode of transportation few people in the Eastern US spent all day in the saddle.
Also later in the 19th century when the Eastern US was more developed, there likely would have been more use of light carts/buggies than people riding horses directly.
https://goosewingranch.com/english-vs-western-whats-the-difference/
Western saddles are designed for comfort and utility because they are a working saddle. Cowboys would spend their entire day in the saddle, and so their saddles were made as comfortable as possible while still giving them plenty of places to tie their ropes, and hang their guns. The most prominent feature of the western saddle is undoubtedly the horn. To the surprise of most novice riders, the horn is not a handle or place to rest your hand. The horn is used to dally(wrap) your rope around when catching cattle, dragging objects on horseback, tie things to, and for many other uses. Western saddles typically have high cantles, and pommels, which create a deeper seat to help you stay secure at faster gaits over uneven terrain.
English saddles are much lighter and have fewer bells and whistles than their western counter-parts. There is less leather between you and the horse, and therefore you can 'feel' the horse more. The lack of additional leather also gives you more mobility so you can maintain the proper posture for jumping. The stirrup leathers are very thin, so it is very important to keep your weight in your stirrups so they don't flop around.
There was also the McClellan Cavalry Saddle.
https://www.colonellittleton.com/blog/mcclellan-cavalry-saddle/
DBActive
8/25/2022, 10:05:50 PM
@PotomacBob
Here's a description of popular 19th century saddles.
??? - Was something supposed to be printed or attached?
In a few stories on SOL, I've read that people on Western ranches use "Western" saddles on their horses.
What do people on Eastern (east of the Mississippi) farms use for saddles on their horses? Eastern saddles?
Most who work with their horses use Western Saddles (also called "Stock Saddles"). They have a horn for tying off cattle and other uses, and more attachment locations for gear. The English Saddle is more commonly used for shows and exhibitions.
There are others, like the McClellan (or "Military Saddle"), or the side saddle. But those are normally not used except for specific groups.
You will find that the "Western Saddle" dominates for almost all general, work, and pleasure riding. The stirrups are normally hitched longer on a Western Saddle than on an English Saddle, and the tack is also different.
My late fiancée used to do both Western and English for show, but for pleasure riding she always used her Western Saddle (unless she was riding bareback).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0IBnLhZ8rA
Most who work with their horses use Western Saddles
My understanding is that sort of work from horseback would have been uncommon in the eastern US in the 19th century.
My understanding is that sort of work from horseback would have been uncommon in the eastern US in the 19th century.
Where do you think they got their steaks? All the way from the West Coast?
There was a lot of cattle being run in the East until the start of the 20th century when refrigerated rail cars were developed.
Heck, just look at the origin of the slang word "Cracker". It came from the sound of the whips the cow handlers in Florida used to get their cattle out of the thick brush. And there were a huge number of cattle in Westchester County, New York until the early 20th century. That is where most of the beef and dairy for New York City came from.
And remember, "Western Saddle" is a name and description, that does not mean that is the only place they were used. It would be like questioning why somebody that does not live in a city drives a "Lincoln Towncar".
And in reality, it was just an American modification in the early 1800s of the Spanish Saddle. And Spain had started to use those in at least the 13th century.
You are confusing the name with the region.
"Cracker"
I am reasonable sure that there were Georgia Crackers before there were Florida Crackers. The residents of Florida were primarily Spanish rather than English while the "Crackers" lived in Georgia before they moved to Florida. The theory that they were called crackers because they cracked whips is likely wrong.
There was a lot of cattle being run in the East
No, not the way they were run in the west. It was more smaller farms raising smaller herds of cattle in enclosed pastures. Cattle would have been taken to market in ones and twos, not 100+ head herds all at once.
The eastern US never had the kind of open range ranches that developed in the west.
Even before the American Revolution, the undeveloped areas of the eastern US were mostly forest. The vast open prairies that made open range ranching possible in the west never existed in the east.
Look into the way cattle were raised and taken to market in 17th century Europe. That's how it would have been in the Eastern US.
There's a reason those kinds of saddles weren't developed in Europe before the colonization of the Americas.
No, not the way they were run in the west. It was more smaller farms raising smaller herds of cattle in enclosed pastures. Cattle would have been taken to market in ones and twos, not 100+ head herds all at once.
The eastern US never had the kind of open range ranches that developed in the west.
Even before the American Revolution, the undeveloped areas of the eastern US were mostly forest. The vast open prairies that made open range ranching possible in the west never existed in the east.
Look into the way cattle were raised and taken to market in 17th century Europe. That's how it would have been in the Eastern US.
There's a reason those kinds of saddles weren't developed in Europe before the colonization of the Americas.
You are correct in that individual farmers from that period didn't have the 100-1000 of cattle owned by one rancher, but they did have cattle drives in the hundreds and even thousands as local community farmers would pool their cattle together into larger groups. Traveling back then took time and effort time that most farmers could not afford away from their farm. As an example it took 3 days to travel from Toledo, Ohio to Detroit, Michigan a distance of 58 miles (93 km). From Detroit, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois is 282 miles (454 km) and would take 3 weeks. This was time that single farmers just didn't have so they groups of drivers who would collect livestock from multiple farms and would then drive the livestock to market. Even David "Davy" Crockett while he might not have killed a bear when he was only 3 Davy's father indentured him to Jacob Siler at the age of 12 to join and drive cattle 400 miles (644 km) taking livestock from Tennessee to Rockbridge County, Virginia.
Even before the American Revolution, the undeveloped areas of the eastern US were mostly forest. The vast open prairies that made open range ranching possible in the west never existed in the east.
Actually, they did.
Cattle Drives were going on in the East since before the Revolution. There would be drives of hundreds of head before that, and prior to the Civil War some from Kentucky to New York would be in the thousands.
Even before the Civil War, New York had over half a million people. The local farms could never meet the demand for that many cattle, as well as the demand for oxen. And before railroads and refrigeration the best way to get them to the market was to have them walk there on their own hooves.
Most of what people think of as the "mid-west" was cattle country. With an average consumption in NY city of around 55,000 cows per year in 1840, the local farms could not cover the demand. Plus there was Boston, Philadelphia, and a lot of other growing cities to cover. Already by that time there were cattle drives from the newly opened "Western" territory of Tennessee to Virginia to provide the beef. Then as we expanded west, from Texas to New Orleans where they were put on ships.
Virginia was a common "stopping point", where they would fatten them up again before the soon to be steaks arrived at their final destination. Virginia by the 1820s was as much cattle country as tobacco and cotton. And by the late 1700s, the Shenandoah was primarily "cattle country" with "Reds" like the Hereford dominating.
And that was because even before the Revolution, Virginia was "cow country". And they were what we would call today "free range". And they live just fine in the woods, just like their ancestors did in Europe where they evolved. Cows do not need open prairies. They just grow bigger and faster there, with a greater population density than in woods and forests.
Once again, many are thinking of the country today, and not what it was 200 years ago. Where "west" meant Kentucky, Tennessee, and Illinois. A hell of a lot of that was "cattle country", and in the thinking of the era that was the "far west wilderness" of the United States.
Nobody today would think of Ohio or Indiana as a "western state", but in the early 1800s it very much was. Which is why the "mid-west" is still the territory west of the Coastal States, extending to those that touch the Mississippi.
And Europe was never a huge beef or meat consumer at that point. Their diet was much heavier in pork and mutton, and on average about half the consumption of an American by 1800. A high protein meat diet was not common in Europe until the mid-1800s. Land demands mostly dictated their cattle were for dairy, not consumption.
Which early on was once again not beef, but mostly mutton. The rise of that is a lot of the reason why we use mowed lawns today. It does not take much grass to feed sheep, so people kept them in their yards. And as their grazing kept the lawns short, that continues today with lawnmowers.
When looking back in history, one of the hardest things is to completely throw out what things are like today, and realize that 200 years ago things were vastly different.
Heck, at the time of the Revolution George Washington had one of the largest herds in the area with around 400 head. And "branding" was already common, as they largely lived wild in the woods. Gathered up semi-annually in large drives to be checked and sorted by owners so the calves could be branded and let lose again.
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/cattle/
There was a lot of cattle being run in the East until the start of the 20th century when refrigerated rail cars were developed.
There were more Dairy cattle than Beef cattle east of the Mississippi. Cattle drovers worked on foot, as they did in Britain and France.
Pork, chicken, and wild game were the primary sources of meat in the USA from colonial times into the 1870's. (When they no longer gave milk, dairy cattle were slaughtered for meat); there were some cattle raised for beef, but very small scale compared to the post civil war era.
c.1866 the Transcontinental Railroad had been completed, more importantly, there were efficient routes from Kansas to Chicago (and from Chicago to the big cities of the east). Many cattle were wandering wild, and cattle in Texas were cheap.
Copying the Mexican Vaccaro, Cattle Men, and their Hands ("cowboys") used horses to drive cattle from Texas (and elsewhere in the south central USA) up to Kansas/Missouri; destined for slaughter houses in Chicago.
c.1878 (or so) "Ice Cars" (modified boxcars) were used to transport sides of beef from slaughter houses in Colorado and Kansas. (Chicago and Milwaukee brewers soon figured out Beer could be kept chilled and shipped west cheaply in those specialized ice cars!)
Western saddles were modified from both the cheap surplus McClellan Saddles and the better (but more expensive) Vaccaro saddles.
To address your original question:
In today's equestrian use, Western saddles are used for ranch work, showing in Western classes, etc., primarily using Quarterhorses as their preferred mounts. English saddles, and their closest cousins - dressage, eventing, and racing saddles - are smaller, lighter, with smaller cantles (the part of the saddle behind the rider's seat), lack of a horn, with or without knee rolls to help keep the leg in a proper position. Typically, breeds used are Thoroughbreds, Arabians (from which the Thoroughbred lines came), and Warmbloods, which are a cross of Thoroughbred lines with draft horse breeds. There are many, many other breeds used in all disciplines, but these are the more common ones.
Full disclosure: I have been involved in the horse industry for most of my life. If you want more information, for your own edification or to flesh out a story you have in mind, feel free to drop me a message.
RCM
To address your original question:
I read the OP as asking what would have been used for saddles in the Eastern US back in the day when horses were the primary mode of transportation, not about what is used where today.
Your answer does not in anyway address that.