The 1912 Universal Pattern saddle had only been approved 2 years before the outbreak of the war & had only just begun to replace the 1902 modification of the 1890 Universal Saddle. Featured above is the 1902 model.  The 1912 saddle was the final version of saddle developed by the British Army and is still in service today. It's main feature is the jointing of its steel arches to allow automatic adjustment of the side boards to suit the back of any mount. Thus this saddle only comes in 1 size.

The 1904 is one of the most common WW1 models found today. It was the first to be equipped with adjustable quarter straps (excluding experimental models).  Cavalrymen & Artillery men would have been issued with one. The difference between cavalry and artillery models, albeit slight, was the inclusion of additional D rings and the provision of steel stirrups on the artillery model.
Since publishing this page we have been asked about the use of the 1912 UP saddle in the modern British Army. Indeed there has been much discussion about the use of UP's in the various bulletin boards on the Internet. We were emailed  the following comment explaining the use of UP's.

"Hi, British military horse furniture has not change since before the first world war, The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and the household Cavalry still use the same head collar and saddle. They still picket their horses on occasion and use feed bags, jute rugs are still straightened by picketmen at night. We still learn about horsemastership from the same manual (1 gulp of water equals 1 mug full).
An ex- Kings Troop mounted Gunner.

We also received this email saying "The 1912 hinged arch saddle seems not to have remained in service, those in use now by Kings Troop etc are 1902 pattern with fixed sidebars. Exactly why the 1912 never took over is a mystery, I have one and it is an excellent piece of kit, adjusting to both the size and movement of the horse".

John Buswell emailed us to say he used my 1912 pattern saddle to ride 6 miles to a military vehicle show. This was with sword, rifle bucket and what I think is a Great War Bridle, (a horse has chewed the date stamp away). The saddle was made in Australia in 1916 and is just about serviceable with a bad seat sag. It did not rub my horses spine and the fit was very good, with pretty