Saddles. Not just for horses. · 12:23am Mar 31st, 2015
We see ponies wearing saddles as a fashion statement throughout the show. Is this a bit of human frippery, or do they actually serve a purpose for the ponies aside from being fashionable or chic. But that's the question. Do they serve a purpose? And, if so, what purpose?
Let's talk saddles.
And best pony.
They are less functional than the human invented version. The saddles worn by ponies appear to be entirely made of the following pieces... drawn from Wikipedia
* The seat
* The girth/cinch
* Sometimes a thing called the surcingle.
* They are notably missing all of the parts that make it easier for a human to ride. The stirrups, the cantle and pommel.
The saddles we see appear to be silk, or some other form of less than rigid material. Possibly even silk, linen, or satin depending upon the richness of the saddle. Many, I imagine, would be wool or a similar textile easy to produce. We know they keep sheep, and perhaps there is a trade done in sheep's wool in return for some other service. Perhaps safety or somesuch.
Some, particularly the one that Twilight puts on during Winter Wrapup, appear to be made of sterner stuff, but I think that's to be expected when wearing the equivalent of a light coat or a saddle that she may have expected to do some form of duty as a harness or load-bearing thing.
They are not meant to be ridden on. Spike rides Twilight bareback most often, and it seems to inconvenience neither one all that much.
They take color easier than leather, and I've yet to see a pony using leather as an accessory. They are almost always colorful. I doubt I've seen a drab-colored saddle throughout the entire show.
They seem to be as much an accessory as a purse, or a vest. Some may be functional, but most often they are used to dress up.
This adds up to what appears to be a fashion statement. But there may yet be a purpose behind the saddles. To hold saddlebags. And, alternatively, to act as a cushion for yokes. or what passes for yokes in the MLP world. Certainly, Big Mac has a yoke, but it appears to be a traditional one. We've seen others that attach around the barrel, or sit over the barrel of the pony. Where, presumably, the saddle would act as a cushion.
So, then, for some ponies a saddle is one or many of these:
1. Padding. To protect ones coat from the rough metal and rougher bolts holding together the yokes that most ponies appear to use in place of the around-the-neck yokes.
1a. Which brings up the question of "Why no around-the-neck yokes?" Well, probably because it's an order of magnitude more difficult to slide off a yoke that's around one's neck, or buckle it up (and unbuckle) when the straps are perpetually just under your chin, no matter which way you stretch your neck.
2. Baggage. Having a saddle ready to hand means that there are convenient places to reach, well within a neck-stretch, to hold panniers or saddle-bags. Panniers being the larger of the two, I would imagine a saddle would be more useful in distributing the weight across a much smoother surface than with cords cutting in.
3. Babies. In Ghost of a Rose, Roseluck worried about Raspberry riding on her mother-in-law's back in a saddle during flight. With a little addition, say of a high-back, or a woven basket fitted to the saddle, it could act as a car-seat of sorts, and as a convenient way for a parent to always be assured of where their little one is. Not to mention a diaper bag and all the things that go along with traveling with a foal. Perhaps more than goes with human children... though I doubt that somewhat. I always find it amazing what my sister-in-law pulls from her diaper bag.
So... why are they a fashion statement if there are what appear to be legitimately good reasons to have a saddle?
A couple of things come to mind.
1. Color. A pony's mane and tail are the most vibrant parts of them, most often, and also the most alive. They move with the wind, move with their moods, and can be styled and shaped—quite unlike the coats of a pony, which must either be dyed or covered to change.
2. Shape. A pony's back is rather bland as a shape. Broad, sturdy, and bare of decoration. Without something to break up the monotony, mightn't ponies feel rather drab? Granted, most ponies do not seem to feel this way, as they all dress... well, they don't dress up except for special occasions (most of them)
3. Allure. Perhaps, for some ponies, showing oneself ready to buckle down and get things done (with a saddle denoting the can-do working attitude of the common pony) is something of a sendup. It's so pervasive within lower class pony society that wearing one indicates, or at least hints, that you're ready to work. Or at least aren't afraid of getting your hooves dirty. To some ponies, this may be a desirable trait.
3a. Really only for those ponies who are seeking a mate or match with the same qualities.
4. Status. Wearing a saddle to denote that even though you are ready to work, the very ornamentation and quality of the material making up the saddle precludes doing any work with it. Thus, the saddle becomes a symbol of the idle rich or, as Upper Crust might put it, a symbol of importance. An arrogant display, either way.
And, finally, just because this one was so pretty and well done:
Your thoughts? Questions? Opposing theories or ideas?
Nah, I think you got it all covered and covered well.
Applejack is unimpressed by the idea of a cushion.
I think you're on to something here. Saddles would have a lot of function to them, and as Twilight demonstrates in the first gif, they are rather easy to put on, even without magic. Certainly easier than a full gown for social functions, or a jacket when it's cold out.
(Horse owner here, bear with me). My guess is, they're strictly designed for accessorizing, much like real life Show saddles. While you can ride in those, they're highly uncomfortable, and you definitely wouldn't use one for recreation.
It could also be used, like you say, to relieve back strain from heavier saddlebags. Sure there'd be added weight because of the saddle itself, but the bag straps would be resting on a solid piece instead of a very bendable back.
Or ponies just get really, really, kinky.
2926197
Trolling around Derpi even with suggestive as the highest rating... well... some of it gets rather, ahem. Yes.
I believe the saddles are mostly there for appearance-sake, with a minor utility as a weather-guard—like Rarity's saddle-borne umbrella.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/3/1/564016__safe_solo_rarity_clothes_tumblr_ask_hat_artist-colon-moonblizzard_rarity+answers_umbrella.png
Alternatively, as a multi-utility back brace/abrasion protector/load-bearing assistant.
2926168
A simple bit of style, easy to don, easy to doff, certainly. And some of them may even serve some small utility.
2926161
Glad to hear it. Little things like this really interest me for some reason. I love the little details that make a pony world... pony, and not just a human invention. It makes it feel more alive on its own, but still relatable.
And bookmarked for world building...
I like this a lot!
You actually did it?! You are now one of my favorite people here! Again, I can't find any problems with your conclusion. Here's one that I couldn't figure out for the life of me: My sister asked me how an earth pony or pegasus would dig a hole. Hooves don't seem to have the grip to hold a shovel, wings don't look stiff enough, and holding a shovel in your mouth would be pretty hard to do with enough torque to throw dirt around. Despite all this, earth ponies seem to be the primary miners and farmers of Equestria. So how do they do it?
2926343
I'm not sure if you've read Under a Tree, but I actually do touch a lot on earth ponies. I do the same in Ghost of a Rose, though it's more spread out among the chapters. If you can get past the first two chapters, which really do little more than set up the rest of the story, there's actually a lot of lore tucked away here and there throughout the story, and a lot of it is earth pony centric, though some also touches on Equestrian society in general.
Consider the normal Pony mating posture, stallion-ventral to mare-dorsal. Now consider the implication of a mare wearing what amounts to padding on one's back, such that one would be cushioning anypony who was on one's back. It's almost an invitation "mount me," especially when worn with a short skirt or no skirt at all.
This is, of course, only a vague erotic implication, and not a true sexual invitation. The analogy might be a Human woman wearing a ruffled, asymmetrical skirt with no pantyhose ... a man would be foolish indeed to assume that the woman was willing to hoist her skirts and have sex with anyone who asked her, just because it would be easier than if she were wearing long skirts with pantyhose.
Evidence of this caveat comes from the fact that characters who are almost certainly not sexually-active, such as Twilight Sparkle and Diamond Tiara, have been seen wearing such attire. Twilight would be horrified if she thought she was issuing such an invitation, while Diamond Tiara is the equivalent of a Human girl in her early teens, and hence has probably taken no lovers yet.
2926504
Padding would be of debatable use, I think. For most of the saddles I've seen, they'd have to be worn very far back, probably far enough back to be uncomfortable to wear. Still, could be a peacock style. Drawing attention down to the flank from the mane by the judder of color in between.
Some of the saddles, though, appear just long enough to be of that sort of use. And, interestingly enough, they appear to be the ones used by the high society ponies most often. The full-back saddle that appears more made to act as a cushion, with little to no auxiliary use aside from a flamboyant display.
But, entirely aside from the potential use of it as an aid to sex, I would still say that it acts as a symbol as well. Or, at least society places that label on it, whatever else it may be seen as in private or said in whispers.
2926573
I don't think the ones that are worn in public are truly sex aids (for one thing, a clothed Pony mare would probably remove her garment before having sex, at least most of the time. I think it's more a tease, meant to draw the male mind along certain predictable paths. How conscious this tease is on the part of the mare depends on how dirty-minded she is ... many would probably just think of it as "cute" or "flirty," without deeply analyzing the reasons. Well, or how knowledgeable she is regarding the history of fashion.
Rarity, of course, scores on both counts -- both dirty-minded, and deeply aware of fashion history. Regardless of whether or not she's sexually active, she knows what she's doing when it comes to fashion.
2926636
Huh. That's actually quite an interesting idea, and there's probably a story in there somewhere if you don't mind me poking at it.
2926709
Oh, not at all. Incidentally, when I say Rarity is "dirty-minded," I mean that she's lusty and not entirely innocent; not that she's promiscuous. I don't see any of the Mane Six as being promiscuous.
2926716
Naturally not. There is a big difference between having a lurid imagination and constantly acting on that imagination. The one is just a healthy appreciation for sensuality. The other is probably diagnosable nymphomania.
Would make an interesting story on its own, but I think it would likely turn into a tragedy before too long. Such things seem to end poorly for all caught up in it unless treated.
Either that, or its a symptom of being in your standard clopfic.
All I recall initially from seeing it on the show is that Twilight had hers for warmth, and Rarity makes several for sheer looks, though she DID have that one holding a umbrella so it could be seen as a hooves/mouth free option. Though I do recall in Fo:E that they were utilized as a weapons platform for non-unicorns
2926938
Leather or denim, then again out on the frontier they might be more practical and leather tends to hold up quite well.