The Jumping Saddle

The Jumping Saddle in Horse and Rider Training

At the beginning of the 20th Century an Italian Cavalry Officer called Frederico Caprilli put into effect his then revolutionary theories on riding - The Caprilli Technique.

Caprilli proposed the idea of the forward seat, arguing that if the rider is in balance with the horse at slow paces, then the rider should also be balanced when galloping and jumping.

He taught his pupils to shorten their stirrup leathers, and to adopt a forward seat over fences, which placed their weight over the horse's centre of balance, aiding and allowing the horse to jump freely, as much as possible.

Roughly 50 years after Caprilli's death, the modern jumping saddle evolved and credit for this goes to the Spanish nobleman Count Illias Toptani.

The Jumping Saddle has a deeper seat and larger more supportive knee rolls providng greater security when riding.

The Jumping Saddle

Count Toptani developed the jumping saddle with the stirrup bars placed forward to assist the rider to achieve the forward seat. Large knee rolls were added under forward cut flaps and panels, and the waist of the saddle was narrowed

The forward cut flaps allow the rider to shorten their stirrups and bring their knees higher in the saddle.

Most jumping saddles have higher knee blocks on the front to offer the showjump rider some support and knee blocks can be divided into two types, either banana blocks or knee blocks.

The flatter seat allows the rider to adopt different seating positions.

The shorter flaps allow the rider to have better contact with the horse.