What kind/type of saddle is this

P

PonyMad10

Member
Joined
30 August 2015
Messages
25
Visit site
I bought it as a barn find and cleaned it up etc .. It's a dear little thing at 12" seat size .. Never seen one like it before :) obviously it's old lol :) :)

Hang on let me figure out how to add pictures lol
 
hahaha xD I sent pictures to my aunty (she lives in canada) and she said it looks like a very old jump saddle which is older than her (shes 44 i think) :-)
 
Its a half panel pony saddle.
I gave PippiPony on here an identical one a couple of years ago. I used to use ours as a breaking saddle for the young tinies when they had a wither. Previously it had been used on under 12.2 show ponies in the 50s, i competed in lead rein classes on it in the 60s :)

Half panel saddles were aplenty up till late 60s, often used to have linen or serge rather than leather under the bottom of them :)
 
Thank you for the information, its nice to know what it actually is now lol for something old its not in too bad of condition :) Especially as it was found in a barn
 
I love half panel saddles they seem much easier to fit and my pony has a 13'' half panel saddle now. They used to be very popular as show saddles and allow the pony's shoulder to move much more freely

I learned to ride in one even did cross country in one but kids these days cant seem to cope without kneerolls!
 
Meredith said:
My first saddle was very similar to this - but bigger of course - I bought it new in 1969.
Click to expand...

Just realised....My latest saddle is a half panel Harry Dabbs with velcro knee rolls. I would not have thought over 40 years later I would buy a saddle so similar to the one I bought for my first pony. Things go in cycles, don't they?
 
^ LOL it certainly does :)


I can imagine their comfy to ride in, majority of kids just rely on knee rolls instead of building up their strength :)
 
My first saddle was like this (but had serge panels), (1978) Certainly learnt how to stay on, no blocks to hold you in lol.

Forgot to say. Didn't get saddle until 2 months after pony, as parents couldn't afford it. Rode everywhere bare back to start with. They were great days...:):)
 
Last edited:
It is a 'Whippy'?

We do have one similar at home which was my grandfather's, and I used to play polo with it when I was younger, certainly made me good at sticking on as there's very little to it!!
 
Mariposa said:
It is a 'Whippy'?

We do have one similar at home which was my grandfather's, and I used to play polo with it when I was younger, certainly made me good at sticking on as there's very little to it!!
Click to expand...

Whippy ? Lol


Bare backs the best .. A pony I used to ride never had a saddle for a few months so bareback it was .. They were the good old days .. Balance was good then .. Now it's just poo haha
 
I had one similar for my first pony mid 80s, he was well into his twenties when I was given him to ride by some family friends who'd inherited him. I used to hack for hours on it and jump too.
 
They allow the shoulder to move because they''re so close contact and stay behind the shoulder. A half panel in itself should make no difference to the shoulder, compared to a correctly fitted regular saddle, IF it will stay back. A half panel is indeed very useful for little ponies where everything else runs forwards and therefore sits on the shoulder. We still make the odd one on request, but when we kept them in stock they weren't popular despite how well they worked for the ponies. Even with a flap mounted block which these old ones never had!
 
I have two similar ones in current use.

One for a Shetland, with no wither at all. It still needs a crupper, but sits better than anything else we've tried, and beats the hell out of a cub saddle.

The other I use on a short-backed section A when I ride him. A more modern saddle has longer panels and a raised cantle, so these accommodate a ('ahem') larger seat on a short back whilst keeping the weight on the stronger part of the pony's back.

Both are ancient, but these things go on forever.
 
sbloom said:
They allow the shoulder to move because they''re so close contact and stay behind the shoulder. A half panel in itself should make no difference to the shoulder, compared to a correctly fitted regular saddle, IF it will stay back. A half panel is indeed very useful for little ponies where everything else runs forwards and therefore sits on the shoulder. We still make the odd one on request, but when we kept them in stock they weren't popular despite how well they worked for the ponies. Even with a flap mounted block which these old ones never had!
Click to expand...

I have a Barry Swain half panel dressage saddle, specifically made to allow the massive shoulder of my 18h ID horse move freely. Lost the horse and can't give the saddle away let alone sell. No one understands what it is.
 
I'll be honest and say that I'm not a fan but there are fans, have you tried seeing if there are FB pages etc for Holistic or Barrie Swain saddles? Asked Kay or Barrie if they'd take it on SOR? A customer of mine managed to sell one recently.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top