23 Jan 21

A few weeks ago when the weather wasn’t great I decided to do a check of the Saddles and Tack and decided to do put together what would have the set up of the saddle for a Great War Royal Engineer serving in the Field Squadrons or Field Troops.

The first part was to get the basic Universal Pattern Saddle set up with the felts and then

The next stage is to add the Wallets. When riding on a UP Saddle it is important for modern riders to realise that these saddles don’t have knee rolls so it can be a little different for the modern rider to get used to. For my style of riding the Military saddles work well.

The wallets are trooper wallets and secured to the front of the saddle with Y straps which have 2 buckles. one buckles secures the wallets to the saddle and the other is to then hold the Waterproof Cape. The cape is held by the two outside straps so that it is easy to remove the cape when riding and to wear when the rain starts.

The next item to be added is the Rifle bucket for the SMLE Rifle.

The rifle bucket is secured with a strap round the rear arch of the saddle and a leather loop lower down the bucket to steady it by threading it through the surcingle strap.

The next item to be added is the RE Tool Bucket, which goes on the opposite side of the saddle and secured in a similar way as the Rifle Bucket.

The next item to be added is the Shoe Case, this would hold 2 horse shoes and nails, the shoes would be one for the front and one for the back. It’s worth noting that this type of shoe case would have been issued to non Cavalry units as there is no loop and strap for retaining the sword.

Moving to the other side of the saddle and we add the SMLE Rifle and the Round object is a set of cavalry mess tins with a canvas cover. WW1 mess tins are bare metal where as my ones are actually a WW2 set and are Japanned on the outside, so a cover has been added. Covers were not uncommon, but are more often seen on Officers Mess tin sets.

The last item to be added is that of a rolled Greatcoat on the back of the saddle across the fans/ boards and under the cantel of the saddle. The greatcoat is head in place with 3 leather straps through loops on the rear arch of the saddle. It’s one of the things which I’ve got to get better at is rolling and securing the greatcoat so that it looks neater on the saddle, there is a technique to it and I’ve just got to get a bit more practice at it.

So there you have it a UP Saddle kitted out for a Sapper of a Royal Engineers Field Squadron during the Great War.