Saddle Up! Part 2
What kind of cantle is on your saddle? The style of cantle has a lot to do with how you can use the saddle.
The cantle has two main purposes. First, it holds the bars together in the rear of the saddle. Second, it provides support and stability to the rider to help prevent sliding backwards on the saddle when the horse accelerated forward.
Cantles come in all shapes and sizes. A high cantle provides high stability for the rider. It helps the rider stay on the horse. This feature also has a downside in that it makes mounting and dismounting more difficult as the rider has to swing the trailing leg over the cantle while mounting and dismounting.
Look at the saddles used by tie-down ropers in rodeos. These guys have to dismount very quickly after they rope a calf or a steer. They can't afford anything that slows their dismount down so their cantles are low. A friend was telling me of his father who was a working cowboy in his younger days back in the 1920s. As a gift to the father, then in his 90s, my friend went to a custom saddle shop and bought a saddle. This saddle had a high cantle and would be good and comfortable for riding. However, this was not the saddle his father had used as a working cowboy. He wanted a low cantle like he used back in his working cowboy days. The father was unable to ride because of his health but he wanted a saddle that looked like the one he used to ride. Jim dutifully took the saddle back to the shop and was able to exchange it for a roping saddle. Dad was satisfied.
Stunt riders also need saddles with low cantles. This allows them to crawl all over the horse while the horse is racing around the arena. Did you ever see Roy Rogers vault up on the back of Trigger and then into the saddle? Well Roy wasn't using a saddle with a 5" cantle (the bad guys would be out of sight before he got in the saddle).
On the other hand, team ropers and barrel racers like high cantles for the stability. They don't have to dismount rapidly. More to the point, they don't want an inadvertent dismount resulting from not being able to stay in the saddle during acceleration or change of direction.
Cantles on English-style or dressage saddles don't really have much of a cantle. The seat is spoon-like with a low back and no defined pommel. This style of saddle doesn't have a conventional tree, thus doesn't need anything to hold the bars together at the back and front.
Australian stock saddles tend to have a thick pad at the back and a spoon-like seat that results in a stable seat with a semi-cantle.
Several years ago, I was treated to some rides in Taiwan on Tiawanese cavalry horses through the recreational department of the U.S. Air Force base at Ching Chaun Kang. The ride was straight up and straight down (Taiwan means "terraced land"). The saddles were military-style with a high cantle featuring a projection about 1-1/2" wide extending about 3" above the main cantle. This projection was great for holding me in the saddle while going up the steep hills but it wore a blood blister right at my tailbone.
That's about it for cantles. Thanks for reading this article I hope you enjoyed this information. Look for more saddle information to come in Saddle Up! - Part 3.
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