A quick and easy collection of the various articles posted here, concerning the development of the first McClellan pattern military saddle. It’s a complex history, and this will help in following the process: Horse Equipment Trials of the 1850s – how did all this confusion come about? The failure of the Grimsley horse equipment pattern led …
The First McClellan Saddle – Pattern of 1857
The complex and convoluted history of the development of the first McClellan military saddle has been covered in a previous article, so we now look a detailed look at the first widely issued example of that process, the 1857 Trial Model McClellan. After the approval was received for the McClellan pattern submission in the last …
US Stirrups – 20th Century Metal
In this article, we look at regulation US military metal stirrups of the 20th century. Stirrups are one of those small details in horse equipment that perform a vital function, and yet can take on so many interesting and curious styles and details. The 20th century brought a renewed vitality to the US military. The …
1851 US Regulation Blanket
In the Summer 1984 edition of Military Collector & Historian magazine, there was a wonderful article by Frederick C. Gaede about the US blankets that were in the “Danish Exchange” collection at the War Museum (Krigsmuseet), in Copenhagen, Denmark. The background information on the exchange itself is as important as the article subject itself. I’ll …
L’inspiration de l’Europe
For many years, I’ve seen in many sources comments about the horse equipment, especially saddles, being largely inspired by French hussar equipment. That sort of discussion is informative, if you know what French hussar equipment looked like. So began a longtime hit and miss search of foreign designs and influences on the horse equipment of …