With the domestication of the Spanish mustang on the Plains, there arrived by consequence a need to develop gear that was well-suited for travel by horseback. Saddlebags proved vital storage for these nomadic groups, who often traveled large distances season to season. Women typically rode with them, securing them by the cantles of their respective saddles, carrying in them clothes and supplies for their nuclear families.

The exact origin of the saddle bag remains unknown. Plains and TransMontaigne Indians undoubtedly synthesized their horse gear from Spanish prototypes in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, by the 19th century, many tribes began making their own improved equestrian objects; ones that were better suited to nomadic life in the American West.

It is perhaps for this reason that one of the earliest known pair of saddle bags is attributed to the Southern Ute (Harvard University’s Peabody Collection, #985-27-10/59348). The Ute were important middlemen in early on in the TransMontaigne horse trade. Today, Ute saddle bags are among the most sought after, celebrated for their vibrant and visceral designs.

This pair is a new find in the market, having emerged from an estate outside of St. Louis.

48” tall and 14” wide

#51023