Riding saddle

A saddle-bow made integrally with a substantially oval cambered part, forming a seat, extended by two elongated portions which are orientated in the same direction and which are separated one from the other by a hollowed-out region to form a gap into which the withers of the horse may fit.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to saddle-bows for horse rising saddles. 
The invention makes it possible to produce saddles without any risk of 
injuring horses whose withers are very prominent. 
Known conventional saddles of this kind are mounted on saddle-bows made of 
two curved blades of wood, joined at the ends by two arches, also made of 
wood, called the cantle and the pommel respectively. This unit is covered 
with cloth and coated with strong glue. Thin strips of steel are riveted 
to the unit to reinforce it; the pommel, being the place subjected to the 
greatest stress, is lined with strips which may be as much as 5 mm thick, 
the horse's withers, being "wedge-shaped", have a tendency to push this 
aside and it is not unusual for the saddle-bow to break at this point. 
The irons are riveted on the saddle-bow and the girth-straps are nailed on 
it. 
Cloth straps stretched lengthways and widthways provide the slope and the 
hollow of the seat which is covered with a piece of leather. 
For years there have been steel-reinforced glass fiber and resin 
saddle-bows of conventional type on which the various components of the 
saddle are nailed, stitched, riveted or screwed, assembly being the same 
as on wooden saddle-bows. 
Known saddles have many drawbacks, notably a very important one which lies 
in the tricky manufacture of the saddle-bow and the complicated assembly 
of the saddle. 
Another drawback relates to comfort, in fact saddles sold at present have 
to be "broken in", i.e. the rider has to strain for many hours to form the 
hollow in the saddle at the required place. 
Moreover, this hollow is not final and if the rider who formed it lends his 
saddle for a while, this hollow may be deformed and displaced. 
Some horses are very difficult to saddle without injuring their withers 
(these being very prominent) since the pommel touches them. To prevent 
these injuries, one or several thick squares of felt called "pads" are 
inserted to raise the pommel, but then the saddle is tipped backwards. 
The arch of the pommel often breaks under violet stress, if the horse is 
very tightly girthed or falls on its back. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
The object of the invention are to avoid the above mentioned drawbacks, 
especially avoiding risk of injury to the horse or damaging the front part 
of the saddle-bow. Furthermore, due to simplicity of design the saddle-bow 
can be mass produced. 
The slope and hollow of the seat are created during assembly by foam rubber 
of greater or lesser thickness at the appropriate places and stuck to the 
steel. They can no longer be deformed since the rubber returns to its 
identical position. 
It is no longer necessary to break-in the saddle. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the invention there is provided a saddle-bow comprising a seat 
portion of substantially oval shape and curved both along a longitudinal 
axis and transversely of said axis to fit the horse's back, and two 
forwardly extending elongated portions formed integrally with said seat 
portion, said elongated portions being separated by a gap extending along 
the longitudinal axis and curved to conform substantially to the horse at 
each side of the region of the withers, slanting in opposite directions to 
conform to the horse's withers, and elastically deformable whereby said 
portions are capable of diverging to an extent determined by the amount of 
pressure between the saddle-bow and horse. 
To form the seat, the substantially oval rear part, incurved along the 
longitudinal median axis of the part forming the saddle-bow, is cambered 
along the transverse median axis so as to have a central area which is 
hollow in relation to the cantle and forwardly extending portions.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The saddle-bow which is preferably made in one piece, e.g. steel sheet or 
any other suitable material, comprises a substantially oval seat portion 1 
extended by two elongated portions 2 separated from each other by a 
hollowed-out region 3 forming a gap. 
The oval seat portion 1 is incurved, i.e. cambered upwards along its 
longitudinal median axis to form the cantle 4 and along its transverse 
median axis, which helps to pre-shape the seat. 
The portions 2 are arched so that they diverge from each other to form the 
hollowed-out region 3 substantially following a direction shaped like a 
portion of a spiral away from each other, which makes it possible to 
follow the shape of the sides of the horse's withers, which will fit into 
the hollowed-out region 3. The portions 2 are elastically deformable so 
that they can diverge from each other to an extent determined by the 
amount of pressure of the saddle-bow on the horse. 
The saddle-bow according to the invention can be made in one piece which 
can be cut out and shaped, on a press for example. 
Under this saddle-bow, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a slightly projecting 
piece of leather 5 is stuck or e.g. fixed by riveting. 
On each of the portions 2 a leather strap 6 is fixed, with girth-straps and 
the irons 8 attached e.g. by riveting. 
The sweat flaps 9 fixed to the saddle-bow on a level with the portions 2 
and the seat have a slot 10 to allow the passage of the irons and 
girthholders. 
The saddle receives the piece(s) of leather 11 forming the seat and the 
small sweat flaps 12, and under the saddle-bow (FIG. 7) the padding 13 is 
arranged and fixed to the leather 5, e.g. by lacing. 
According to another arrangement of the invention shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, 
the saddle-bow made in one piece is fitted at the portions 2 with a pommel 
14 which straddles the hollowed-out region 3 and which slants towards the 
seat. 
Said pommel has a frontal hollowed-out part 15 substantially up to its top, 
which makes it possible to accommodate the horse's withers. 
Said pommel can be a piece, e.g. of metal, added to the saddle-bow. 
The saddle-bow can be used in a conventional saddle as well as a training 
or racing saddle, in each case avoiding the aforementioned drawbacks. 
The present invention can be subjected to modifications or variants within 
the limits of the technical equivalents without thereby departing from the 
scope of this patent.