Forums at Society of the Military Horse

Philip S wrote: ↑Sun Nov 29, 2020 6:50 am On the bottom left corner the label is marked with the date 1-83.

Good eye - and that was the last revision date on the tag form.... Probably some drill's old hat.

This place is alive and kicking ! :D You've noticed! It's an unfortunate trend in nearly all forum type sites - I personally believe because of the over-simplified nature of certain social media platforms. It might be slightly easier to manage for first-timers, but the persistence of the informatio...

You're most welcome - the M1928's are interesting critters. My obsession with old cav gear started with an old M1928 purchased at a farm auction many years ago - I remember how exotic it was at the time.

And a look at the M1904 hooded wooden stirrups modified to the M1928 specifications - sawed right through the sheet metal reinforcements. You can see the large frame brass stirrup buckles from the M1904 stirrups - the doubled section was usually removed so that the straps wouldn't always hang from t...

Note the tight stitching using every previously made machine-stitch hole, and the trimmed rigging top straps included in the seams.

Found a decent example of what is likely a pre-WW2 M1928 - shows the variations with seam closure stitching, modified original stirrup straps, and enthusiastic band-sawed stirrups. The arrangement of the stirrup straps inside the skirts shown here is not correct - they would have hung on the outside...

If you have an opportunity to do some more digging, and find an english style string girth, or one made with six strands of webbing about 1/2" wide, that may be the original girth for the saddle. Its worth looking for, as that's one of the most difficult to find parts, and quite valuable. Like,...

The stirrups straps are actually one of the more valuable parts of the saddle, and should be left as is ( don't try to oil, condition, etc., and keep all handling to a minimum to keep them intact). They appear to be the later 1928 type, with brass roller buckles and a doubled section where they were...

The JQMD also issued in small numbers a new wooden stirrup that was very much like the bandsawed surplus versions, called the M1940 stirrup. I don't believe these were included in the kits until well into WW2 (1942/43). They may also have been used as replacements for broken and 'unsuccessful conver...

The stirrups on a standard '28 modification were the original hooded leather stirrups from the wartime saddle, with the leather removed, and the wood frame run through a bandsaw to reduce the width of the tread. You see wide variation in these, depending on the concept of what should be sawn off in ...

To make the '28 modifications, the outside seam of the sidebars had to be opened up all the way from the front to the rear gullet arches. These were re-stitched by hand by the unit saddlers when they were done. Earlier mods, in the early to mid-1930s, you find they stitched every hole. Later '30s an...

The skirts, girth webbing with billets, some 'fillet' pieces hidden under the cover and the felt pads were the parts sent out by Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot (JQMD), in kits used by unit-level saddlers to modify war surplus saddles. Hence the 'JQMD' stamps on the girth billets.

The bottom side of a 1928 shows a lot of the detail that went into a modification - all the old rigging was replaced with the english style girth webbing and billets, as well as the skirts and hard felt pads. 1928_4_600_gm.png These dense felt pads were a big improvement over the original sheepskin ...

Hi! First and foremost, a nice WW2 vintage M1928 McClellan. It's in relatively complete condition, which is noteworthy these days. I've screen grabbed a few images that I'll use to point out what I think is interesting about this one. 1928_1_gm_600.png This mark I believe I've seen before - the cont...

Was this the book by Klaus Richter?

Recently found this listing in a google search - further demonstrating the power of faulty historical research and the persistence of certain publications: See the text and context here: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-2nd-cavalry-trial-hope-saddle-1892412035 pw_hope1_500.png pw_hope2...

Are the short cases 7x57mm ?

Have you contacted the US Army Quartermaster Museum for information or possible assistance?

https://qmmuseum.lee.army.mil/research/units.html

A familiar looking saddle - this most likely dates from around 1900 to WW1, made by a commercial firm. This particular example I've seen several times before, where they gave the old classic military tree shape a slight upgrade with a more 'open' seat, with pommel angled forward, and the lower cantl...

What is the overall quality of the leather on Japanese saddles? The reason I ask is that I've been told that at least Japanese leather in general from the immediate post war period was of quite poor quality. The stuff I've seen was pretty decent. I'd suppose that they had a pretty good resource sup...