What exactly is a "Mexican saddle"? I'm thinking in terms of 19th Century usage of the term. If someone was said to be using a Mexican saddle, how does that differ from other saddle types of the period. I see references to Sinaloa saddles.

How accurate do you gauge the description of this saddle? That is to say, do these saddles really have a "Moorish" origin? Certainly, the first saddles in what is now Mexico were brought there by the Spaniards/Conquistadors.

"A fine example of a traditional Mexican saddle. The rawhide covered Jineta pattern wooden tree reflects Moorish origins with an high, leather trimmed cantle and carved horn. The removable brown leather mochila is heavily tooled in traditional floral patterns with the long flaps covering large pockets. The underside is padded with contemporary replacement burlap. Complete with wood stirrups covered with large Mexican style leather hoods. A similar saddle is known to have been owned by Mexican General Santa Ana."

I guess I don’t know anything about Mexican saddles. I rode a lot as a teenager and showed working cow horses in a couple of states. I was given what was described as a Mexican saddle by a Mexican friend of the family (may still be in Mom’s storeroom for that matter) but the wood was much more rounded and decorative looking than the image you linked (or any of the others I found in a quick search). Yours, and the others I found, look more like a western saddle, have a more useful horn, and are probably a lot more comfortable than the one I had.

Its the style of saddle, they are usually real decorative with silver accents but the horns are huge compared to what is normally seen.

quote:

Originally posted by Mustang-PaPa:
Its the style of saddle, they are usually real decorative with silver accents but the horns are huge compared to what is normally seen.

A brief web search also suggests they tend to run lighter and narrower than typical Western saddles?

I worked horseback for 45 years, but I’ll admit to being a bit surprised when I clicked on the link. I’m most familiar with Charro-style saddles having a minimal amount of leather covering the tree, the horn being bare wood. I can’t imagine why Sinaloa would have a distinct style of horsemanship. Looks like it’s in great condition but I would have to do much more research if I were interested in owning such a saddle. Sorry I couldn’t help.

I found this online, in a book entitled Legacy of Conquest: the arts of Northwest Mexico printed in 1967.

"Man Made Mobile" from the Smithsonian has some essays that cover Mexican saddles and their influence on 19th century American saddlery. It's available here for download: MAN MADE MOBILE - Smithsonian Institution.

Here's a quote that may explain the 19th century distinction of a "Mexican" saddle from an "American" one of the period:
"There is little upon which to form even a conjecture as to when Americans first were aware
of the Mexican saddle. Some may have been
acquainted with it much earlier than we can
now imagine. It is interesting to note that in
1805, as he and his partner in discovery, Capt.
Meriwether Lewis, toiled westward across what
is now Montana, Capt. William Clark recognized as "Spanish" a saddle that he saw in the
hands of a Shoshoni Indian.^ On the other hand,
Lewis and Clark's contemporary in exploration,
Capt. Zebulon M. Pike, does not appear to have
been familiar with the Mexican saddle before
he penetrated the borderlands of Mexico in
1807. Although he thought the saddle a clumsy
looking affair indeed, Pike was not slow to perceive its advantages. In discussing the equipment of native troops with whom he travelled
through northern Mexico, he described in effect
the riding gear in general use:
The equipments of the horses, are to our idea, awkward;
but I believe them superior to the English. . . . The
saddle is made . . . with a high projecting pommel (or,
as anciently termed, bow) and is likewise raised behind: this is merely the tree: it is then covered by two
or three covers of carved leather and embroidered
workmanship, some with gold and silver in a very
superb manner. The stirrups are of wood closed in
front, carved generally into the figure of a lion's head,
or that of some other beast, are very heavy, and to us
present a very clumsy appearance. The horseman, seated on his horse, has a small bag tied behind him, his
blankets either under him, or laying with his cloak
between his body and the bow, which makes him at his
ease. Thus mounted it is impossible for the most vicious
horse ever to dismount them.

quote:

originally posted by parabellum:
I found this online, in a book entitled Legacy of Conquest: the arts of Northwest Mexico printed in 1967.

It’s a good day when you learn something new. There is a style of short chaps called “armitas,” similar in style to “chinks,” but characterized by an apron of sorts of long fringe, across the front, from the belt line to about 5” above the knee.

That “small, high horn” makes me shiver. My saddle has a 4” tall post horn and I’ve taken a blow to my solar plexus many times when my horse scrambled up a steep incline. I picture that horn coming up under my sternum and tearing my ribcage away from the pleura. Ouch! I guess Sinaloa is relatively flat.

Interesting subject that I’m inclined to research further.

Notice in the text I posted, the author talks about the Sinaloa saddle having pommel bags. I wonder if this is the origin of the pommel holsters, popular in the mid-19th Century.

I just happened to be looking over Bruce McDowell's A Study of Colt Conversions and other Percussion Revolvers and came across this.



In addition to these large, martial single shot pistols he references, pommel holsters were used for the Colt Walker and later Dragoon pattern revolvers.

I have heard the Walker Colt termed a "horse pistol," and understood that because of its size and weight, it was often (most often?) carried in a pommel holster. Interestingly, there's a bag that those of us who worked in Range carried when doing rangeland analysis for updating an Allotment Management Plan, that was carried looped over the saddle horn, it was approximately 14"x 12" x 2 1/2". It would contain a clipboard, plant ID book(s), several other items used in range analysis. I was given one when I began my professional career in Arizona, and it was called a cantena, although people (incorrectly it turns out) pronounced it "cantina." The northern regions of the Forest Service, didn't commonly have cantenas made, so they came north with people like me who moved in their career. It was cool for me to see the origin of the word "cantena." In the past, I looked up the word using the incorrect spelling "cantina" which I understood to be either of the commonly known translations for the word--either a canteen, or an establishment serving food and drink. Thank you, I enjoyed learning the origin of the pommel bag I used.