English Sidesaddle

In February, I wanted to attempt making an English Sidesaddle. Some other things came up, and I wasn’t very interested in starting it until the month was halfway over. 😐
I did complete the actual saddle by the 29th, and since then I’ve gotten the girth completed. So I guess I met my goal?

This saddle was created using Carrie Olguin/KeriOkie’s pattern book here: https://www.keriokie.com/sidesaddle.html I wasn’t up for drafting a pattern from scratch, as I know very little about sidesaddles.

This is the English “Type 2” saddle, with a flat seat.

I found the instructions easy to follow, and assembling the saddle went pretty smoothly. It goes by quick when someone does the hard part for you! 😉

I decided to create the Fitzwilliam style girth. In hindsight I wish I had stuck with the simple girth! But I do like how there are keepers on the inside of the flaps. (they keep the flaps down when the horse is moving faster than a walk) For models, they do a nice job of keeping the flaps held down instead of flaring out to the side… I wonder if I could get away with adding them to other saddles?

Here’s the finished saddle on the new Friesian model:

I’m not sure if I should use a saddle pad with this or not? I need to do more research.

I had to see if it would fit a rider ok, and I think it works. It would all be covered up with a riding habit anyway…

I like how it looks on the Gem Twist mold too:

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It’s kind of a pain to tack up and adjust, but I think I could improve that if I were to make another one. There are three more patterns in this book I would like to try, so maybe one day!