Antique WW1 1917 KC Kansas City Saddlery Mrkd US Military Cavalry Packers Saddle For Sale

This is a 1917 First Pattern Full Rigged Packers\' Riding Saddle. This saddle is marked on the lower left fender KC Kansas City Saddlery Kansas City Missouri Harness Saddles. The letters KC are easily seen as shown in the 4th picture, but the other wording is worn and not so easily seen -- although the marking of PO No 2896 Aug 14 1917 is there as well and that can be clearly seen.

In Dorsey\'s and McPheeters book titled \"American Military Saddle, 1776-1945\" there is a picture of a Kansas City Saddlery First Pattern Packers Riding Saddle on page 134. Also in that book it states on page 132 that in the Quartermaster Corps\' revised 1916 Manual of Pack Transportation it states that the full rigged packers saddle was furnished for teamsters and mounted messengers and for all other persons in the military service requiring riding saddles which under the existing regulations are not supplied by the Ordnance..... why a saddle other than a McClellan was needed was because Civiliean packers were bigger men than the average cavalryman. Packers needed a working saddle with a larger seat thanwhat was afforded by the largest McClellan.

(Also on page 133 of Dorsey\'s and McPheeters book it states that in the description of the1916 Era First Pattern Full Rigged Packers Saddle \"that the trees may have been commercially purchased and provided by the Quartermaster Dept. to commercial saddlers such as Kansas City Saddlery for complete assembly.)

This saddle here is a few years shy of being 100 years old and it does show wear. The front conchos on both sides of the saddle have been replaced by silver colored metal ones. On the left side of the saddle the leather concho is missing from the front edge of the seat jockey and there is a replacement piece of leather string tied there instead and this can best be seen the 3rd picture. (The very front of the seat rises up some on the left side of the saddle where that concho is missing). The long leather latigo tie strings are fragile, although they do appear to be original to the saddle. The saddle also has the original brass bound wooden stirrups.

In the 8th picture you can see that the little center nail that should be there holding down the top layer of leather on the horn is missing and also that the stitching on the very front edge of the horn has come undone as well and because of this the leather on the top of the horn is loose and can be lifted up some.

On the right side of the saddle the stitches are missing that secure the stirrup leather to the bottom of the fender and I tried to show this in the ninth picture. Also at the top of that fender there have been two rivets added (added a long time ago) as the stitches there for attachment to the stirrup leather are missing as well. The exterior stirrup leather on the right side of the saddle that runs on the outside of the fender shows more wear than does the exterior stirrup leather on the outside of the other fender. The one on the right side of the saddle is thinner (leather thickness wise) and it has more cracking of the leather by the adjustment holes and I have tried to show this in picture #11. (The original latigo lace up ties to adjust the length of the stirrups have been replaced, replaced a long time ago with the old fashioned type of buckles as shown in pictures #7 and #11).

The seat has some scuff marks (picture #10), as does the rim of the cantle -- more noticeably on the right half of the rim of the cantle. The leather has some crazing of the leather, especially on both of the fenders and the leather on the top of the horn is very worn looking.

All of the leather is pliable, even where it curls up or down some as in the seat jockeys and upper and lower skirts. The saddle as shown in the pictures is on a wooden stand, if the saddle is placed on a modern metal folding saddle stand than the lower skirts will curl under some and you can get an idea of this in the very last picture (picture #12). In that picture you can also see that a lot of the under side fleece is missing.

The saddle\'s seat area measures 17\" from the base of the horn to the top inside edge of the rim of the cantle. If you measure from the bottom of the pommel right there at the top of the opening in the front of the seat, the saddle will measure 16\" to the inside top edge of the rim of the cantle.

The gullet measures 6 1/2\" if I place both ends of the measuring tape an inch back from the edge of the saddle and at the level of the bottom of the front conchos. I can easily send a picture of the gullet measurement and the seat area\'s measurement to anyone that would like to see them -- I just ran out of room in the picture gallery to add them

The total length of the lower skirt is a little over 28\" long. The saddle weighs 30 lbs. (unpacked weight).

***Please view all 12 of the pictures and the zoom feature is available. Also by clicking on the main picture you will enlarge it and then larger images of all of the other pictures can be seen as well.

This antique packers\' saddle is being sold \"no returns\" and I will gladly send to anyone any additional pictures that they might like. I will also be happy to answer any questions.

buyers from the lower 48 states only please and payment would be appreciated with-in 3 days after the sale ends. Thank-you.