In terms of horse riding, you won't find a more widely used saddle than the English saddle.
Its primary purpose is to make both you and the horse comfortable (which it does through lots of padding) as well as allow the horse to move as freely as possible for whatever task is asked of the horse, whether it be jumping or dressage.
There are several variants of English Saddle: The All Purpose English Saddle - this saddle is perfect for jumping, hacking and showing, as well as any other purpose.
The Jumping Saddle is meant for fox hunting, cross-country and show jumping.
You'll find the flap design to be far different from the all-purpose saddle, as its unique design is meant to allow shorter stirrups, helping you to get the horse jumping effectively and without complications.
Your knees will have great support thanks to the knee rolls on the flap.
The Dressage Saddle has a straighter flap than the all-purpose saddle, as well as a deeper, forward facing seat, so that the rider's legs can be straighter and have a more upright body position as well.
You'll have more contact with the horse due to the slight lack of padding in the saddle, so the horse will be more controllable.
This saddle sports longer girth straps, enabling the rider to attach the saddle closer to the elbow of the horse.
The Endurance Saddle: this saddle is perfect for endurance competitions, making horse and rider comfort a top priority.
The seat and everything else has a lot of padding, and the rider's weight is distributed through the large skirt.
If you plan on being on the saddle for a long time, you can attack equipment with the many D rings.
The Showing Saddle: Showing competitions are where this saddle variant excels, it needs to be smaller, so that more of the horse's conformation is visible, allowing the judges to see as much of it as possible.
There are no knee rolls and not much padding, leaving the rider with little support.
The Western Saddle: This variant has been around for a long time, as it was meant to be a more utilitarian model, enabling cowboys to work with the horses in the old days of the frontier.
It's similar in form to the English saddle, with the addition of a horn-like knob on the saddle's front, which was meant to secure a rope typically used on a cow.
You can find Western saddles with all kinds of decorations and embellishments on it, as it's the showiest saddle out there.
Compared to the English saddle, the Western saddle has a bigger tree, and you need a saddle blanket to make up for the lack of padding on the skirt, allowing the horse to be comfortable; a cinch is used to secure the saddle to the horse, as opposed to the girth that's used on most other saddles.
If the rider falls, the stirrups won't go with them, since they are attached directly to the saddle.
There are several Western Saddle variants: When you are barrel racing in a rodeo, you often get the specialized Barrel Racing Saddle, which allows you to make those sharp turns.
The rider is secured strongly to the animal through the high cantle and pommel and flatter seat, as well as its light weight.
The Roping Saddle: Gives you a thicker rope horn on its heavier, stronger frame.
The Endurance Saddle: the tree on this light saddle is bigger, so the rider's weight is distributed more evenly; this way, the rider can go longer on the horse.
The Show Saddle: this saddle is meant for decoration and aesthetics almost exclusively, with deep seats and silver embellishments.
The Treeless Saddle: A fiberglass pommel and cantle provides the base for this saddle, as opposed to the rigid tree found on most models.
If your horse's back is very wide, and you need a bigger saddle to accommodate that, get this particular saddle variant.