The painting illustrates the equipment carried by a WW I Canadian trooper and his horse. Note the leather "wallets" on the front of the saddle, the .303 Lee Enfield in its bucket, and the 1908 Pattern sword. (Readers of "Soldier of the Horse" will know why the wallets are important.)
Both horse and rider carry ammunition.
An unencumbered cavalry saddle of the day (see below) would have been hard to hang onto, in the case of a rambunctious charger; but, once loaded down with standard gear, probably as hard to fall off of as any western saddle.
This photo was taken by the author at the The Military Museums in Calgary
2 comments:
Great photo of saddle. Brings back memories. I recall falling off one just like it. The challenge was getting back on.
I also came off one of those many times. I think the members of the Lord Strathcona's mounted troop use even flatter saddles, and they too have been known to get bucked off.
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