Whats the diffrence between riding an Australian saddle, a Western saddle and an English saddle?
Jun.23, 2010 in
Australian Horse Saddles
Also which do you prefer? Is it easier to ride Australian, Western or English?
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June 23rd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
An Australian Stock saddle is like riding western in a dressage saddle. You sit back, with your feed forward and should be able to see the toes of your boots when you look down.
A Western saddle is heavier than either the Australian Stock Saddle or an English Saddle. Once again you’re sitting back, you should be able to see your toes when you look down so your legs are slightly forward.
As for an English saddle, there are several types:
Huntseat/Jumping where you sit slightly forward and should NOT see the toes of your boots and are made so that your stirrups are shorter than either the Australian Stock or Western Saddles so that posting is easier and that your knees should fit nicely into their kneerolls when jumping or in two point position. The flaps are more forward to help the riders get up over the horse’s shoulders when the horse is going over a jump.
Dressage: You take a deeper seat, much like the Australian Stock Saddle with longer stirrups and should NOT be able to see your toes. The flaps are straighter than the H/J saddles, so the horses can perform the movements called for.
Saddle Seat: This is a VERY shallow seat, straight flap so the horse can easily negotiate the higher knee actions needed of a park or gaited class.
I hope this helps.
June 23rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
You are asking a loaded question! Until my saddle was stolen I owned a Smith Worthington 4″ cut back with a leather tree which in the 70s cost a thousand dollars! I loved that saddle .
I never owned a silver saddle but always wanted one .
Australian saddles are fine I am sure but a good Western saddle is preferable in my own humble opinion.
June 23rd, 2010 at 1:46 pm
There are no preferences. You may find that different horses respond better under different saddles.
For example, police troops around the world use whatever saddles that suit their horses’ needs.
I would suggest getting in touch with a professional saddler with your questions, for a bad fitting saddle could ultimately cripple a horse.
Bottom line, again, it is not a question of easier for you, it is the health of your horse that matters.
June 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I’ve ridden in all three and prefer the western saddle.
The Australian saddle I rode in felt as if the stirrups were too far back and was uncomfortable for my hips.
In order to ride properly in an English saddle my stirrups are shorter than is comfortable for me.
I prefer my western saddle. I ride with an almost straight leg, my knees don’t hurt, and my hips are comfortable for the first 10 or 15 miles.
June 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Rosi M probably has best answer, that was good info!
For me, I’d rather ride in a jump saddle. All riding takes practice, none of it is “easy”. It’s whatever you feel comfy with.
June 23rd, 2010 at 3:07 pm
google each to look at pictures and see the differences.
English saddles…
A all-purpose (your typical ‘english’ saddle) is used for general everyday riding, you can do some jumping, flatwork… whatever you want, this saddle is a all-around good saddle for your typical horse owner.
Dressage saddles are deeper cut, meaning that you sit deep in the saddle… this helps you stay in the saddle and thus communicate better with your horse through leg commands and such. Jumping saddles have a ‘forward’ cut, which helps you sit forward, and helps you rise into the jumping position. There are many different ’specific’ types of English saddles, depending on what you do. There are even saddles made specially for the game of polo!
Western Saddles
Western Saddles have deeper seats, helping you to stay in the saddle and stay comfortable. They were made for ranchers and thus should be comfy for long hours. They have longer stirrups to be more comfortable and help you stay in the saddle. They come with a horn, which is used to tie/secure your rope… but very good for beginners to hold onto (as a note, for anyone to hold onto if you get into a rough situation!)
Australian Saddles
Australian saddles are a league of their own… and almost like a mix between English and Western saddles. Again, the purpose is for comfortable long rides, and a secure seat. Today, they come both with and without a horn.
Personally I prefer English or Australian saddles, but I’ve never had a chance to use a western saddle that fit me well (both that I used were to large thus uncomfortable) so I suppose I am biased. I only used an Australian saddle once and it was VERY comfortable, I really liked it.
There are also racing saddles (very very light, almost no seat, as the racers don’t sit while racing) endurance saddles (sort of like Australian saddles I believe — very comfortable for long rides, but allow for more movement) and many more saddles within the subcategories of English and Western.
This is a very good site to read more about specific saddles and see pictures:
http://horses.about.com/od/typesofsaddles/Types_of_Horseback_Riding_Saddles.htm
Google specific types and you’ll get a lot of information… hope this gave you a good basic overview of what you wanted!
June 23rd, 2010 at 3:34 pm
I have all three, and use each one for a different purpose.
I ride English when I need to ride in an extended trot often and/or do a lot of collected work that requires pin point accuracy in where I’m placing my horses feet. The shorter stirrups allow me to post comfortably at the extended trot and prepare for jumping obstacles.
I ride western when I am practicing slow collected ring work and or doing gymkhana type events such as barrels or poles.
I ride my aussie when I know that I am going to be in the saddle for hours and doing a lot of up and downhill cross country type riding. I like that the longer stirrups don’t bend my knee as much as in the English, yet because they have English style leathers they don’t torque my knee like the western saddles.
Each saddle serves a different purpose, but if I were to have one, I would probably choose the aussie because I do more trail riding then anything else.