Saddles and their history

The History of Saddles

Any extensive saddle collection, probably the fanciest saddle in that collection, is Mexican in origin. The Mexican Vaqueros have been blinging out their saddles for a long time, much longer than anyone in America. As a matter of fact, that's where the root of all cowboy gear comes from. They learned to tend to their cattle and horses that the Spaniards had brought across way back in the late 14 and 1500s.

The Vaquero, who is typically either full or partial blood native from Mexico, were the ones who learned how to first tend to stock on vast, open ranges. And they invented things such as roping. They would braid their own ridayas and learned how to rope. They took a Spanish military saddle and adapted it, and put a saddle horn on it. That's where the saddle horn comes from today. It's because Vaqueros invented roping, and they needed a way to dally, of course, to handle their ropes whenever they were riding.

When the American Cowboys came to the Southwest and first started gathering wild cattle, who did they encounter? The Mexican Vaqueros. They started adapting their gear, their saddles, and their traditions and made him Americanized.

As a matter of fact, in about the 1830s, a man named Richard Hope, who is the father of the Texas saddle; it's called the Hope saddle, was one of the first ones to Americanize a Mexican saddle and start the tradition of what we now know as the Western stock saddle. But none of that would've happened if we hadn't encountered the Mexican Vaqueros first.

Types of saddles

In Mexico, there are typically three different types of Mexican saddles.

There's a military saddle, which of course, the military rode back in the day. We don't see much of those anymore because nowadays, soldiers ride around in tanks and on planes.

There was the Montura, which is basically the everyday working man's saddle. it's a plain version of a Mexican saddle, and that is what the Americans started adapting way back in the day.

Then, there is the Charro saddle that came a little bit later in the evolution of Mexican saddles. They are the fancy saddles. They have the same basic form as a Montura but are typically all blinged out. They have all the Piteado work, which is embroidery from the Magee cactus fiber.

They typically will have a lot of ornate silver work. They'll often have gold work and monograms on them too.

A saddle with historical significance

You can find out more about the rich Western history and its heritage by visiting Western Trading Post.