Civilian Tack and Saddles

[Meralain]

I find myself in a bit of a struggle here, I have been trying to figure out what would be a common saddle owned by a Civilian in the Rocky Mountain West. I work in the 1863 - 1865 era, and the saddle would have been used for long distance riding either the east coast or as near as Denver, CO to Virginia City, Idaho Terr. Military tack is easy to research, but I am finding nothing on the civilian side of things that I trust. I am hoping that someone can help me out with some good references!
Thanks in Advance!

[volcav]

Re: Civilian Tack and Saddles

Ken Knopp is the resident and nationally noted expert on that subject. Do a search on his name in the forum and I'm sure you'll find plenty of information. You might also check out Doug Kidd of Border States Leatherworks. Just Google him. There are others here who have more information than I do. I'm sure they'll pop in with more areas to check.

[Ken Knopp]

Re: Civilian Tack and Saddles

Sterling, (hmmmm, appropriate name for a Goldsmith)

The answer to your questions lends itself to geography. For example, what ancestry and area of the country does your persona emanate from? Are you a White man, Mexican, Half Breed, Indian, what? I understand (from your description) the geographic area you wish to portray and ride in your presentation however, your origins are important too. For example, California? Then someone of that area and era would be riding 1850's type California saddles. From the east-where? Then likely those popular and being made out of St. Louis. Although, they could also be of eastern origins (English, Wagon, Somerset, Kilgore or various horned saddles) but, I should add, the St. Louis saddles (Spanish and Half Spanish) were very popular in the west. If from the Southwest, say, Santa Fe, etc. then they would likely be horned in either the Texas or Spanish traditions. Otherwise, you can blend any of these to some extent too. So you see there is no “cut and dried” answer to this question.
Now having said that, the more popular patterns to be found in that area would likely be the St. Louis, California or Texas patterns or combinations of those. For photos, references and descriptions I suggest you look through the archives here on this forum and under “Spanish (and Half Spanish) saddles” and “California saddles”. In those, I have included several photos over the last year or so. I also recommend you go to my web site under “19th Century Civilian and Commercial Saddlery” for a lot more photos. In addition, read the article “Commercial and Catalog Saddles of the 19th and Early 20th Century” under the feature articles section for a good general basis of understanding and, for starters, I will include here a couple of photos. Let us/me know if I can be of additional help. Best,

Ken R Knopp

https://www.confederatesaddles.com