A polo saddle should offer the horse protection from constant graving from the mount's legs, and they are usually made according to the size of the pony. Learn about the function of saddle trees with help from the secretary of a polo club in this free video on polo saddles.
Hi this is one of the very important aspects for the horse. I'm Cyrus Confectioner, secretary of The Calcutta Polo Club, one of the oldest polo institutions in the world. As you can see this is the saddle which is put on top of the horse before you mount the horse obviously, made from pure leather. It is pretty heavy. I'm having difficulty holding it up. It offers the horse protection. This part protects the horses on the side and from constant grazing from the mount's legs. It is a sort of thing which is made also sometimes according to specification of the size of the pony and fits exactly on her back like that and then the mount climbs and sits over here. The inside is very smooth and comfortable and made of pure leather. It makes the horse easy while he is galloping and running around so much. Saddles have been used on horse riding for many many years, maybe thousands of years and they have quite considerably from the days, that is around 800 to 1,000 years BC when the saddle was a little more than a cloth or a blanket put on the horse to provide a slightly softer seating for the rider. The saddle improved around 2,000 BC with the addition of a fixed frame called a tree which was made out of wood and covered with felt padding. Later on saddles were filled with horse hair and covered with leather. This was the time when a saddle came more into place. The purpose of a saddle tree is to allow the saddle to be raised up from the horse's back thus reducing sores to the horse and also pressure points. I said it was heavy but it's not as heavy as you can feel it out to be. I can lift it up comfortably with one hand and therefore, it should not be any problem for the horse. This is basically just a saddle on which the mount sits so that he can be comfortable and also the horse is protected. Thank you.
