MARTIN & MARTIN

Martin and Martin Inc., of London Philadelphia, and New York, were pioneers of the saddle industry. They enjoyed the reputation of makers of only the best hand made saddles, harness and riding requisites. One of the interesting features of the Martin and Martin side-saddle is the offside flap, which has a sping loaded arm to give access to the girth straps (billetts). Martin and Martin were also constructed with either a safety bar or a roller bar system. This worked well for riders who were to fall off on the off side but not as good if they fell off on the near side as the stirrup fitting could remain lodged behind the locating pin.

Martin and Martin were held in high esteem for their lady's show saddle with small off flap, choice of pig-skin or doe-skin seat as desired, and with a narrow or extended pommel. Martin and Martin could also boast the lightest lady's side-saddle made, it weighed with fittings 23 pounds. The avertisement read: 'These saddles are  built on scientific lines and acknowledged by expert horse women to be a perfect fit for rider and animal, by having a level seat the weight is equally distributed, also giving the rider a graceful and natural position.'

WHITSON & BARNES (plantation type)

I was given the plantation saddle shown in the pictures by Dene Masengill from Tennesse, it was in reasonable condition apart from the fringing and leather work around the rail, also part of the over girth was missing. Rob Jenkins my local saddler took on the project of renovation and was able to match the tassels and leather work perfectly. The saddle was secured by two inch wide leather billet's and I assume a normal girth would have been used. I could see no sign that any western type rigging had been used.

With the saddle was a three inch stirrup which appeared very old, if this is original the rider would have been a very dainty lady. The seat is covered in carpet which shows very little wear, there is light  tooling to the safe of the saddle. The underside has leather lined bars, as western type and shows no sign of pommels having been fitted. I think it dates around 1885-1890 but I would be interested on other views about this.

THE OWEN SADDLE

The Owen saddle was made by Owen & Co. of 62 Duke Street, London. Owen & Co. were responsible for introducing the flat seat saddle which is in vogue today and became very popular in the twenties and early thirties, due to the design of the seat which was flat and built out of the offside and not waisted as the earlier 1900 and 1910 saddles. This flat seat enabled the rider to sit a little more to the offside therefore helping to improve the rider's balance by moving her weight more to the offside, this was also taken further by the removal of any padding under the safe on the  near-side which helped the rider to centralise her position further.

The Owen saddle is easily recognisable by the oval shaped stirrup flap and the safety stirrup fitting. The stirrup fittings were made as a matching pair and great care must be made if the original is lost and a replacement fitted.    The panels of the Owen saddles were unique in that the linen was run across the gullet which connected the two panels together. Another first for the Owen was the buliding up of the near-side seat which helped to balance the rider. Although the Owen is considered the Rolls Royce of side-saddles due to its type of construction, they are always rather on the heavy side.

THE CHAMPION & WILTON

The Champion & Wilton saddle was first produced with the Wilton safety  stirrup fitting around 1880. The Wilton safety fitting was the first safety fitting in general use, and was still in production in 1957, just before the company ceased trading in Oxford Street on the death of Major Wilton,  son of Mr H S Wilton. Champion & Wilton was one of the first saddlers to incorporate the cut back head, this enabled the front of the saddle to fit much lower and give  the rider a more level seat. This combined with the safety stirrup made it the most popular saddle of the early 1900's. The earlier saddles had narrow pommels and a pocket on the offside, also the top part of the safe was padded.

Around 1903, an addition to the fixed head was made to give more support to the rider's right leg, but was not continued in the later saddles when sloping heads were introduced. These Saddles are easily recognised by their distinctive flap. The design of  this flap incorporated a loop which was attached to the lever of the stirrup bar. Whilst the rider's leg was over the stirrup flap it was impossible  for the lever to lift and free the release mechanism.