How to Draw a Saddle on a Horse

Dressage Saddle

Saddles are not always easy to draw, let alone the horses you draw them on. When broken down into individual steps, however, the process becomes more manageable. There are many types of saddles, and you should always study the particular one you wish to draw before doing so. These steps will take you help you to draw a classic dressage saddle.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil Eraser Drawing paper

Instructions

1. Study the type of saddle you wish to draw on a horse. In this example, a dressage saddle is drawn.

2. 

   Sketch the horse you wish to draw a saddle on. Studying horses in real life and in photos can aid in this process.

3. 

   Mark with your pencil where the withers (shoulders) of the horse are and the intersection of back and rump. These will be the boundaries for the saddle.

4. Erase these marks once you have a good sense of where they are.

5. 

   Draw a light outline of where the saddle pad will go.

6. 

   Draw the long curving line of the saddle flap where the rider's knee would rest.

7. 

   Draw the leather knee seam on the flap of the saddle, the top tree of the saddle and the seat including the padding underneath the seat. Draw the top seam on the seat of the saddle. The bulk of the saddle is now done.

8. 

   Find the round front piece of the saddle where a rider's thigh would go and draw a stirrup length from there to the horse's belly.

9. 

   Draw the excess length of the stirrup angling back and secured in the leather stirrup loop.

10. Draw the girth around the barrel of the horse, just before the stirrup.

11. Shade shadows where they would naturally fall, such as where the saddle pad shows, just above the horse's withers, behind the back of the seat and on the girth.