Carved Walnut Saddle Tree

A carved walnut saddle tree (Iradi: eyer) is the wooden frame of a traditional Iradi saddle, carved from walnut wood. Walnut is harder and heavier than birch, the other usual wood. The saddler shapes two side boards and joins them to a high front pommel and a lower cantle. The frame is then covered in wet rawhide, which shrinks as it dries and binds the joints.^[1] Finished frames may be decorated with chased silver plates, carnelians and stamped leather. Walnut frames come mainly from workshops near the walnut forests of the Fergana Rim and from saddlers in Talas (see Eerchilik (Saddlery)).^[1]

References

1. ^ Department of Ethnography, Talas State University (2016). Horse Gear and Saddlery of the Northern Valleys. Talas: Talas State University Press, pp. 16–29.