Saddles of Central Asia

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:19 am

As I promised here are some of the saddles I photographed on my trip.

The first is a painted saddle of the 18th or 19th century from Uzbekistan, Amir Timur Museum, Tashkent. Sorry about the glass reflection in many pictures. This is exactly the kind of artwork adorning archery gear. There is such a bow in the Grayson collection from India; the painted arrow box from Bukhara.. Jack

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:24 am

A bone overlaid saddle from a museum in Bukhara, 18-19 c.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:27 am

Here is a modern saddle from Almaty, Kazakhstan.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:31 am

Here is an antique from Almaty, Kazakhstan; Central History museum gift shop- 1500 USD starting price.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:36 am

Here are the other parts of that Mongol-style saddle; leather blanket cover, crupper and martingale. In photos of a Russian site of the crafts of Uzbekistan , late 1800s, both "western" and "Mongol" saddles were being made in the same workshops.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:50 pm

Another painted saddle from Uzbekistan.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:53 pm

An old double-horn saddle from Kazakhstan;National Museum gift shop.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:59 pm

Kazakhstan: There was a circus performer at the art museum grounds for Art Day with a beautiful horse. I asked him if he had seen the movie "Nomads" and he said he had seen it. I asked him if he could do the trick where the rider hung upsidedown from the side of the horse to avoid enemy arrow fire. He explained how it was done with his special saddle and the stirup slips up a loop to lock at the saddle. With a foot locked in the stirrup and the knee over the horn it is then safe to hang upsidedown off the opposite side of the horse; if the horse is trained to accept this!

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:15 am

My sister trecked 700Km in Khazakhstan on one of these saddles. She says they're very comfortable.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:45 pm

Stephen; What a woman! Can she also shoot a bow? -j-

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Sun May 18, 2008 3:58 pm

This is my last group of saddles. Thanks all for looking and sorry to take up so much space. Copy these pics if you like as they will need to be deleted for space one day.

The red saddle is a modern one from Kazakhstan. It has the convenient two horn design.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Sun May 18, 2008 4:03 pm

This antique saddle is fron the museum in Timur, Kazakhstan. An excellent museum all around.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Sun May 18, 2008 4:05 pm

Another antique from the same museum. Saddle has blanket cover.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Sun May 18, 2008 4:08 pm

A closeup of the blanket cover. These are often seen in old artwork. The leather tooling is similar to that on traditional Kazakh quivers.

Puzio · Post by **Puzio** » Sun May 18, 2008 7:28 pm

Use all the space needed, Its very interesting to look at different cultures. saddles and tack.