Equine's Explained // Colab with Lily Cat

As a big part of this whole equine month on Saver of Memories deal, I have a colab with Lily Cat!  Be sure to trot on over to her blog and check out her post on the colors of horses.  It's pretty neat!  (She's also a relatively new blogger, so be sure to follow her and check out her other posts!)

Today I'm talking about the different kinds of tack.  Which is pretty fun because I love riding in all kinds of styles and types of saddles.  This will mostly be geared towards fantasy writers, and how you can use different kinds of saddles to add realism and worldbuilding to your writing.

I'll start off with the two most popular saddles - English and Western.

English is most common.  It's a fairly lightweight saddle, and is perfect for trotting around, jumping, galloping through fields and over big jumps...basically, your typical English saddle is a great all-around saddle.

All-purpose English saddle.  There are other kinds, but I don't have many English pictures.  Not many people ride in them where I am.

Western, however, is a little more practical, especially if you're writing for some medieval-type world.  You've got a horn to hang things onto if you're going on long adventures.  Saddlebags can be tied behind.  And they're simply more comfortable.

More of a traditional Western saddle.

Trail-type Western saddle.

That being said, Australian saddles have recently become fairly popular, especially in the trail riding world.  They are super comfortable, have lots of places to clip and hang things from, and the poley's in front of your legs help keep you in the saddle.

An Australian-Western hybrid - the most comfortable saddle I've ever ridden in!

A more traditional Australian saddle, plus a horn.  Ignore the short stirrups, I had a short friend riding.  :)

There is also the endurance saddle - lightweight, super comfortable, and kind of customizable.  Want the minimum?  They've got English-type endurance saddles.  Looking for something not as heavy as a Western or Australian, but also want a horn and more saddle leather around you?  They've got that as well.

Super comfortable, with lots of places to hang and tie things!

Treeless saddles.  These are super neat.  Basically a saddle, but it's just entirely made of cloth.  They weigh only a couple pounds and fit just about every horse, since they don't have one certain shape.  They can slide around more, if you're not a balanced rider, though.  So take warning.  :)

The treeless saddle I've been riding in for the past two years, which I use on every horse I ride, including friends horses.  It's so comfortable, so light, and nice to throw it up on any horse and go riding!

My friend's treeless saddle.

But how can you use these in your writing?

Firstly, describe them without directly naming them.  You can't just state "and she threw her western saddle onto her unicorn."  Now you need to figure out how and why there is a western saddle in your fantasy world.

Use a couple key words to describe the saddle that horsey readers would pick up on.  Hanging something across the horn would instantly give an image of a western saddle, as would tightening a cinch.  Making sure the girth is snug, and pushing up the flaps to lower the stirrups makes one think of an english saddle.

Also, you can worldbuild your saddles.  Maybe a character from one country has a lighter saddle because they have limited resources and make saddles with as little leather and stuff as possible.  Another character has a heavy-duty saddle with lots of rigging - they spend lots of time traveling and have extra saddle bags and packs and pouches.

You can learn a lot about a rider and even their horse by looking at the saddle.  Is the saddle worn?  New?  Stained from weather?  Carefully cleaned?  Is it expensive, or just a "no-name-brand and falling apart" saddle?

Arabian saddle I photographed at Kentucky Horse Park.

Third, not every saddle will fit every horse.  Saddles are built off of a tree.  This is a sturdy chunk of wood that the leather is sewn onto.  It generally retains its shape.  So a narrow tree will fit a horse with a narrow back, and a wide tree will fit a stocky horse with a wide back.  And so on.

So you can add realism by having a rider switch horses...and need to find a new saddle.  And then they can complain about the fit of the saddle being different from what they're used to.  Being in a strange saddle can be awkward...especially if you suddenly need to ride into battle at top speed.

I hope this post gave you a few ideas about little bits of realism you can add into your stories.  If you have any questions, drop a comment below or send me an email or contact through the blog form.  I'd be happy to brainstorm with you and point you on your way.

Sidesaddle I found at a local auction (kinda wished I'd brought it home...).

Because horse people will read your books.  And while we may not publicly call you out for writing horses and riding and saddles and stuff incorrectly, we do notice.  We know when you make mistakes, and we also know when you've done your research (or even have horse experience).  So take warning and take the extra couple minutes to do a google search or email a horsey friend.  Make your books even more well-written.  :)