Saddles of Gold Rush California

 

The market for new saddles in Gold Rush California was great, much too great to be satisfied by the just the Californio craftsmen who were found in some pueblos and ranchos during the late Mexican era - that is, before 1847. And while some of those same local saddle makers probably kept working during the early American era, or even found employment in the new American-owned workshops such as Main & Winchester, it is hard for me to see how the demand for riding gear could have been met in any other way than by using immigrant craftsmen, including Anglos. After all, mochila type saddles had been made in the United States, especially Missouri, since the 1820s.

 

 

What I find interesting about this daguerreotype taken during the Gold Rush is that the mochila (rectangular leather housing) on this horse shows the same tendency to slant further forward, over the shoulders of the animal, than it does over the rear. This is something we see in the earliest clear images of Californio saddles, and is preserved in mochilas we know were made during the American era. It seems likely, then, that in these early years at least these foreign craftsmen were copying, nearly exactly, the Californios' saddles.

 

 

*A comment by a member of my Facebook group "The Arts and Skills of the Spanish Borderlands" [https://www.facebook.com/groups/651245652872223] notes that the saddle is placed too far forward on the horse's back, which is evident from the position of the girth. Californio saddles' girths should go around the middle of the horse's belly, and not so forward as seen here.

 

In this complete saddle from the California's early American period, we see the same forward slant to the front edge of the mochila. Please note that the saddle's rigging straps are mistakenly displayed over the mochila rather than under it, as they should be.