I’ve ridden hundreds of miles on a McClellan saddle- a lot of originals from the late nineteenth/early twentieth century are still in use, especially among reenactors. Lack of a horn is the biggest issue I’ve found with the design.

Only for a cowboy. If you're a cav trooper, you don't _want_ one - it gets in the way as there are better ways to secure your items to the front of the saddle (multiple pistol holsters usually).

Yup. Once at Ft. Branch my Walker stumbled at a fast pace. I was about to sail over Coal’s head, so I kicked out of the stirrups, but he caught himself and and got his feet back in line. Which brought the pommel sharply into contact with me in a way that made the lack of horn my favourite feature .

LOL! Your description tells me _everything_ I need to know ... Yow!

The event was held six weeks before my kid was born. I was really glad we’d taken care of that beforehand, because I wasn’t entirely sure it was still an option. 🤣

Being European I rarely rode western but I did cossack trick riding, where the saddle has two horns. And I kind of fell (sat violently) on the forward one once. And I would very much have liked if it hadn't been there

Interesting - what are some negative consequences of that? Do military saddles normally have a horn? (I had thought horns were normally only on saddles used for working livestock.)

I meant that it’s an issue for non-military work. I’m thinking that the reason so many survive is because they weren’t really suitable for anything but riding in civilian life. Pretty awesome for going camping, though.