"Saddle cast on rider or horse?" Topic

How do you prefer your cavalry figures?

USUALLY I like the horse "bareback" and the saddle and shabraque or blanket cast on the rider.
Usually…

I prefer the horse to be barebacked, that way I can choose a horse that appeals to me. I think the real question is, "How do you feel about a single cast cavalry piece?" They drive me a little bonkers!

There are painting advantages to having rider & saddle as one piece.

Am I correct in saying it's a practice rarely done anymore?

I dislike cavalry cast as one piece.
Theres always heavy flash around the boots.

Heck. Even the Perrys couldn't get it right. Civilian militia cavalry with cloaks were atrocious.

I have a one-piece mounted halfling on my desk. Painting on him is lagging behind that on my two-part cavalrymen, whose saddlery is part of the horse. They, in turn, are lagging far behind their infantry counterparts in getting painted.

And, yes, I prefer to have the saddle as part of the rider, so I can more easily switch riders and horses.

Grelber

As a dealer, I like one cast horse on rider. With dual cast I tend over time to have an unequal balance of horse and rider.
In separate cast, it does depend on era and troop type. In Ancients and Native American,a horse with blanket and no blanket on legs works.

The Little Britons and Mark's Little Soldiers both are cast with rider and horse. It works well with the style of these figures. They're easy to paint.

Other than that I'm indifferent. Front Rank has saddles and rider,Warfare has saddles and horses. I can't remember whar Fife and Drum have. There always seems to be some wiggling needed to get the two together.

I'll go in the indifferent camp as far as saddle casting position. I've had good results with both (Ral Partha vs. Old Glory). If forced to a choose saddle on horse wins by a nose.

I'm not a fan of one piece horse and rider option.

Have them every way possible, think sadfle on horse might be easiest

Saddle on horse. Mechanically, the fit works better that way. With the way metal shrinks when it cools, saddles separate from the horse fit terribly and oft times need big wads of putty to fill in the gappage. Also, I think the sculptors rarely check to see if each horse fits under the saddles…

With just a separate rider, it's easier to pinch the legs together to get a better fit onto the saddle.

It makes no difference to me because I always attach my riders before painting.

That's a toughie. I like miniMo's comments and agree with the fitting issues; but I also like having the correct period saddles and blankets and accessories attached to the rider, rather than needing to match a horse with the correct harness to the rider (maybe the manufacturer isn't paying attention to those details and you can't buy a matching horse?). My armies have cavalry that came both ways. And also a few single castings and a few where the rider is attached at the WAIST! Saddlery and legs and butt are cast with the horse and the top half of the rider is separate. That is a very weird approach.