BACKGROUND: Although considered highly mobilized for its time the German army still utilized a great number of horses through-out WWII with the average infantry division containing roughly five thousand horses. In 1939 the German army also had fifteen, primarily horse-mounted, cavalry regiments that were mainly tasked with tactical reconnaissance. Even though most of the cavalry units were mechanized by 1940 they still utilized a large number of horses through-out the war. By 1943 the Germans were experiencing fuel and vehicle shortages which resulted in an increase in the number of horses utilized in the field. Calvary personnel were basically equipped the same as the standard infantry personnel with the addition of specialized horse equipment. The standard horse saddle utilized by the German army was the M1925, Western style saddle as introduced in 1925 and utilized for the duration of the war with minor modifications

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Multi-piece brown leather construction M1925 cavalry saddle with wood and steel fittings. The main components of the saddle consists of the seat with a front fork, without saddle horn, a rear cantle and lower skirt, side fender flaps and the girth or cinch cord. The horizontal, contoured central seat flares upwards at the both the front and rear with a small dual-ply, leather reinforcement panel machine stitched to the front "fork" and a rounded rear "cantle". The seat rests on the lower skirt with a steel reinforced, lathed wooden frame, a central, top cat-gut forming and joining panel and a canvas bottom with internal padding to rest on the horse’s back. The seat is secured to the lower skirt by four, small, raised, rectangular steel rings which protrude upwards through cut-out slashes with corresponding attachment straps. The vertical fender flaps have rounded off bottoms and a dual-ply, leather, forward edges with internal padding. The side fender flaps have an underlying, swivel hinged, rectangular steel ring to attach the stirrup straps. The stirrup straps and the\ stirrups are absent. The underlying lower skirt has three swivel hinged, rectangular steel rings with three vertical leather straps. Two of the vertical leather straps with seven length adjustment eyelets to secure the vertical girth/cinch cord to secure the saddle on the horse. The heavy woven canvas girth cord has two, large, pronged steel roller buckles to each end, two separate, twenty-two vertical strand sections and two small tightly horizontally woven sections. The lower skirt also has a triangular steel ring and a steel "D" ring to each side of the forward edge for additional securing straps and an additional steel "D" ring to each rear side to secure the flank strap. The flank strap is absent. The lower skirt also has a protruding rectangular steel ring to the reverse center to attach additional items. Most of the components can be stripped off for cleaning and maintenance. The reverse edge of the saddle is well marked with impressed size marking, "3", a waffen-amt stamp and the manufacturers code and date, "eqr 44". The saddle shows light to moderate chafe wear and age and usage toning and the leather is fairly dry and stiff. The metal fittings all show moderate to heavy surface spotting but still function.