"The first "saddles" appeared more than 4,000 years ago and were nothing more than a patch of animal hide or a piece of cloth. These early models offered little in the way of support or security, but they served as a buffer between horse and rider during bareback migrations and battles.
As this novel concept caught on, the hides and cloths became more elaborate. About 700 B.C. in the Middle East, Assyrian warriors went on campaigns seated atop decorative saddle cloths. Some had straps that resembled girths. Moving north toward the area that is now Siberia, the nomadic Scythians created saddlery that was functional and beautiful. A frozen Scythian tomb from the 5th Century B.C. revealed a saddle cover intricately decorated with animal motifs made from leather, felt, hair and gold. As expert horsemen, the Scythians used cushioned saddles and girths and may have had leather stirrups." Asian horsemen created a felt saddle with a wooden frame. Their thought was that this primitive saddle tree would keep a rider's weight off the horse's tender, sensitive vertebrae, preserving the animal's well-being and prolonging his usefulness. Was this thinking correct? Did they consider the biomechanics of a dynamic horse back and the dynamic rider; and how a stiff piece of wood would impact one another? Judy http://icehorses.net
