Humans may have first begun riding the horse not long after domestication, possibly as early as 4000 BCE, though the evidence is disuputed.

The nomadic Scythians in the Eurasian Steppes are the probable developers of the saddle.

It is not known precisely when riders first began to use some sort of padding or protection, but a blanket attached by some form of surcingle or girth was probably the first "saddle," followed later by more elaborate padded designs.

The earliest saddles, simple pads attached with a surcingle, are seen by 800 BCE.