no saddle blanket????

Now I would never think of riding in a saddle without a saddle blanket but I've seen numerous photos etc over the years of people riding with no saddle blanket would this pose any problems for the horse? Why would someone ride without one? I've always wondered about this

Iv seen quite a few of these too and they have puzzled me but a friend told me they mostly just do it for photos and not atually riding ( still not quite sure why)

hmmm strange! You would think if they wanted to show more of the horse for a pic etc they would just use a numnah

I think using a saddle blanket's better protection for the horse. ;)
But that's a bit odd, I've never seen that, LOL maybe it's just for looks?

Sounds weird. I can imagine how DIRTY my saddle will be if used with no blanket.

Have any pictures? I've never heard of such a thing, outside of fitting a saddle.

I've heard that a pad/blanket's main purpose is simply to protect the saddle from leather-damaging horse sweat! I'd think as long as the saddle fit VERY well, it shouldn't cause any harm to the horse to ride without a pad.
Many of today's moisture-wicking/shock-absorbing/super-fancy pads do seem to have nice benefits though!

I know I've seen this before and I have allways in my experience belived that for the horses welfare you should use a saddle pad

I see ppl riding without a saddle pad mainly in english in books or somthing I dont' know why?

Saddle Sores???

Yup