Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2006/January 2007 | Page 51

Equestrian

Sponsored by Brickfields and Froghill

Jumping Saddle

History

The first saddle built on a wooden
framework or “tree” seems to
have been the invention of the
Sarmatians, originally a nomadic
horse-people of the Ukraine in
the years BC. This saddle, with
the addition of the stirrups,
was commonly used in the area
encompassed by China, central
India and the Black Sea during the
first four hundred years AD. It was
not until the eighth century AD that
it came into use in Europe.
From this early saddle, that of the
middle ages developed