HORSE TALES
Saddle Seats Give Riders A Different Position on the Horse
by Candice C. Dunnigan

The late Robert Doud often would say to me, "What goes around comes around." It certainly can be applied to the horse world, and the Island.

When our 14-year-old daughter joined our fledgling high school equestrian team downstate this fall, the coach asked her if she thought she and her horse could do saddle seat. You have to understand that the Michigan Interscholastic Equestrian team runs by a points system. The more kids you have, the greater the chance you have to acquire points. The more classes you can score, the greater your placing, and you may make state finals.

Our little town had three varsity members, who did well in the gymkhana classes, trail, English, and Western, but we had no one to even enter in the saddle seat divisions. We needed to rack up some points, and there were four classes in the division: a showmanship, a saddle seat equitation, a saddle bareback, and a saddle seat pattern.

Maybe we could get at least one point? So, of course, my daughter was game.

Part of the reason why she wanted to do this was because of Mr. and Mrs. Larry Keogh of the East Bluff. Three years ago, they were cleaning out the attic of their cottage and Larry handed me a dusty old saddle. It had been his sister's, he thought, and he was going to throw it away, but asked if I would have any use for it. I blew away a cloud of dust and looked at it.

Lura Keogh with Babs, circa 1943, on Mackinac Island.

Actually, it didn't seem too bad. I figured sure, I would keep it, because, hey, you never know, right? It happened to be a saddle seat saddle.

Saddle seat saddles have a cutback pommel, which is set back several inches, usually about four, from the withers of a horse. This allows for a better neck and shoulder set. These saddles have no padding, and a very shallow seat to allow for the action or movement of the horse to show. Your hands are held higher, your legs extend longer.

Many people cannot ride in a saddle seat because they have not developed good balance. The saddle also places the rider slightly "behind the motion," and that makes it somewhat easier to influence the headset, and show off the horse's gaits. The saddle seat is also a few inches longer than the average English saddle, and the stirrups are very long.

So we took the saddle back with us downstate, cleaned and oiled it, and joked one day of using it. This September was its time to come out of retirement.

The second day of the Equestrian Team meet, my daughter was handed a saddle seat outfit. It was two sizes too big, so we carefully pinned it up, and she borrowed a tie from her father. We took the saddle off the shelf, rigged a double bridle with a flashy brow band together, and the next thing my daughter knew, her coach had entered her in three classes consisting of saddle seat bareback, pattern, and equitation. To our complete amazement, she took second place in both bareback and equitation, and a fourth in pattern, and she made a lot of points.

I might add that her horse, a 20-year-old Arabian named Ibn, was a trooper. He had the nimble, smooth and flashy action down pat, as if he had done it his entire career. No, they did not make State, but they all did well, were happy, and had fun.

However, it was the saddle that was the amazing ingredient, we believe, because it carried a bit of old Mackinac into today's world. Inscribed on the underside of the gullet of the saddle are the following messages, "Ralph Power" "M. Is." "1942." On the stirrup leathers are scratched the initials "L. K."

Several years ago, about the time Larry was cleaning out his attic on the Island, he gave me a few photographs of his older sister, Lura, and her horse, Babs. These were taken on Mackinac in the mid 1940s.

To my amazement, the same stirrups leathers and stirrups used 64 years ago were just used last week. Who says old leather doesn't keep. It does, if you take care it.

You see, in the 1920s to the 1940s, riding stables on Mackinac offered visitors a chance to rent a horse and head for the trails, like today, except the style and type of horse has all but disappeared from the Island's landscape. In those days, it was the "Park" horse and a saddle seat saddle that were all the rage. The side saddle (for ladies) was still being ridden by the die-hard cottage matrons of Mackinac, but the modern women and men were doing park seat.

Mackinac's liveries boasted of two rival stables. Keith Line, who operated out of the Chambers stable on the corner of Cadotte and Market streets, gave lessons as well as hack to cottagers and guests of Grand Hotel.

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Power operated out of a stable on Market Street. They later sold their business to Bob Bailey, and today the Gough family runs the stable now known as Cindy's. The Powers usually had a dozen horses. Most riding horses at the time were American Saddle breds, Tennessee Walkers, or Morgans. These equines were "rider's" horses, and took people who knew how to ride to handle them. Lura Keogh often accompanied such riders for Mr. and Mrs. Power. She also bought her horse, Babs, from them. Obviously she got the saddle and fittings from them, too. Lura said they had about six horses an average rider could manage, and the rest were a real rider's challenge. Lornie Rickel Porter agrees.

Lornie and her family, on the West Bluff, grew up with horses from both the Line and Power stables.

"The horses were elegant and really something to ride," she said, adding they were well groomed and cared for.

The saddle seat riders today have a tremendous following. Arabians, as well as Andulsians, have entered into its show circle. In fact, a registered breed, the National Show Horse, which is a cross of American Saddlebred and Arab, is a key contender in classes. It's just not seen now on the Island.

However, Mackinac cottager Muffy Ernster has won national ribbons and recognition in saddle seat. Her mother, Charlotte, as well as Lornie Porter and her older sisters, were all great equestrians who could handle horses in the park style.

Lura Keogh is in her late 80s today, but still as sharp as ever. She got a kick out of the recent reuse of her long-forgotten saddle. I think she got more than a chuckle out of the fact that her baby brother had bothered to save it all these years and never gave it the heave-ho.

It's nice to keep a piece of history around still in use, and wonder how many miles and memories are intertwined.

Candice Dunnigan is an active member of the American Equestrian Association, the Waterloo Hunt, and the Mackinac Horsemen's Association. Seasonally she resides at Easterly Cottage.