The Western style of horsemanship in North America is a descendant of the riding tradition that developed on the Iberian Peninsula in response to Moorish invasion in the 8th century. The Moors, who were mounted predominately on light Barb horses, and who were well schooled horsemen, utterly routed European forces in combat. Equestrian traditions in Europe had suffered after the fall of the Roman Empire, and it would be the Muslim invasion of Spain that would be one of the impetuses for the return of organized horse breeding and massed cavalry in Europe.

While most Europeans only adopted the Barb, Turkomen, and Arabian horses, Spanish equestrians adopted both the horses and equitation of the Moorish conquerors. Prior to the invasion, equitation in Spain resembled equitation anywhere else in western Europe. Stirrups were long, and a rider’s seat on horseback resembled the position of a clothespin on a line: straight up and down, from head to foot. To help the rider stay balanced in this position, the saddle was constructed to partially enclose the rider’s pelvis. In contrast, the Moorish saddle encouraged short stirrups and an open, flexible seat. The rider was not locked into one place in the saddle, and the advantages this gave a horseman in combat and in early sport pushed the traditional Medieval European saddle out of favor. This pattern of saddle was so effective that it remains in use across the Iberian Peninsula today, with only minimal modifications.

The Moorish school of equitation remained dominant in Spain following the Reconquista, as early Spanish stockmen found the system as ideal for working cattle as it was for combat. The school was brought to North America with Spanish colonization. The climate and terrain of California, Mexico, and the American Southwest was similar to Spain’s, and this now thoroughly Spanish style of horsemanship needed little modification to fit into its new surroundings.

This vaquero tradition was developed extensively in Mexico. The short stirrups of the Spanish saddle were lengthened for the sake of comfort. The saddle was also reshaped as North American lariat work became an art form of its own. The cantle of the saddle was angled back, and often cut down, to give the rider freedom to move away from awkward throws of the lasso, and the pommel was reshaped to make carrying rope easier. The archetypal horn was also added, first to provide leverage while working cattle, and then as a place where a vaquero could secure a lassoed steer. This saddle became the forerunner of the Western saddle today.

The modern Western saddle developed as Anglo-American ranchers began to outnumber Mexican and other Latin American ranchers. Different regions developed different saddles. The first recognizable example of a modern Western saddle was the Mother Hubbard saddle, developed in Texas. Another pattern of saddle developed in California. A third, developed in the American Southwest, retained the most Spanish influence.

Like its Iberian ancestor, the ergonomics of the modern Western saddle are designed to make riding for hours on end comfortable. However, the geometries of the two can differ. An Iberian saddle encourages the rider to take a deep, upright seat, where one could draw a straight line from the rider’s ear to their ankle. Certain Western saddles can encourage a “chair seat,” where the leg is positioned far in front of the seat and the rider is shifted back towards the saddle’s cantle. While sitting in this way can feel more secure for the beginner rider, perhaps reflecting the response by saddlers to people with little riding experience who found themselves on the frontier, disconnecting the legs from the seat makes fine aids difficult and robs the rider of balance during emergencies.

While the modern Western saddle rapidly spread across the American West, the traditional Vaquero style of schooling the horse remained almost unchanged in California and, to a lesser extent, the Pacific Northwest. The end goal of this style of horsemanship was the development of a bridle horse. The basic training of the young horse is done in a bosal hackamore. As the horse progresses in its training the curb bit is introduced alongside the bosal. Ultimately, the bosal is removed. The finished horse is worked in the bit alone, which is switched to a spade bit. The horse is expected to work on a loose rein; the weight and the “spoon” of the spade bit allow the rider to transmit minute signals to the horse.

The development of the bridle horse is as logical and progressive as the development of the High School horse one would see in France or Germany, with the horse working in lightness and collection, capable of moving in any direction, from any gait, at any time. Indeed, the progression from bosal to spade bit mirrors the progression from cavesson to curb that was recommended by early European riding masters, such as William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle.

Whether or not the United States Cavalry adopted Western horsemanship is not a question with a clean answer. The American Cavalry was indeed quite different from many of the cavalries in Europe. The Cavalry had been deliberately structured as a force of exclusively light troops, and cavalrymen had long recognized that mounted service in the United States could not be directly compared to mounted service abroad. In his 1862 book Regulations and Instructions for the Field Service of the U.S. Cavalry in Time of War, General George McClellan plainly states:

The nature of cavalry service in the United States being quite different from that performed by any in Europe, we ought not to follow blindly any one system, but should endeavor to select the good features, and engraft them upon a system of our own.

The proper organization of our cavalry must depend upon the consideration of three things: 1st, the nature of its service against the Indians; 2nd, its employment against a civilized enemy invading our territory; 3d, its service in an offensive war, carried on against our neighbors.

The Indians, against whom our cavalry are brought to bear, are generally irregular light horsemen…

Any army invading our territory must necessarily be deficient in cavalry; in addition, the nature of the parts of our frontiers most liable to attack is not suited to the action of large bodies of cavalry, while in partial operations, light cavalry, well handled, ought always to be superior to heavy cavalry.

Canada, Central Mexico, and the West Indies, are also unsuited to the operations of masses of cavalry, and in none of them are we likely to encounter heavy cavalry…

It would, therefore, seem that heavy cavalry would be worse than useless for our purposes, and that we need only light cavalry, in the true and strictest sense of the term

Nor was the cavalry in the early years of the United States considered a vital arm of the fighting force. The size of America’s military, its cavalry included, ebbed and flowed with political power and the perception of external threats. Congress authorized the formation of its first two squadrons of dragoons in response to frontier threats from France, Britain, and Spain. The first was activated in 1792, the second in 1796. A full regiment followed in 1798. Tensions had been mounting between the United States and France, and Congress rapidly increased the size of the military in response. Three additional regiments of dragoons were also authorized but never recruited. However, in 1800, with tension with France easing, the cavalry was reduced to two troops of light dragoons. The early American cavalry continued to see only very limited use during the War of 1812. Horse soldiers worked primarily as couriers and aides; the British had not fielded cavalry on American soil during the war.

The War of 1812 was itself the impetus behind the cavalry’s complete dissolution in 1816. The nation was war-weary, the economy was in shambles, and the fighting ended in a stalemate. The two dragoon regiments had not been fully staffed since the start of the war. In 1814 Congress merged the two together and cut the size of the new regiment down to eight troops of soldiers. Two years later, the American cavalry would be abolished.

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