Horses in warfare of today's English saddle. Both the Scythians and Assyrians used pads with added felt attached with a surcingle or girth around the horse's barrel for increased security and comfort. Xenophon mentioned the use of a padded cloth on cavalry mounts as early as the 4th century BC. The saddle with a solid framework, or "tree", provided a bearing surface to protect the horse from the weight of the rider, but was not widespread until the 2nd century AD. However, it made a critical difference, as horses could carry more weight when distributed across a solid saddle tree. A solid tree,
Tree girth measurement just accepted at face value. In these older accounts the girths were often taken at ground level and incorporated considerable basal flare at the base of the tree. In other cases, the trees measured were multiple trunk masses or coppices treated as single trees in the girth measurements. In many, but not all champion tree lists, and for data collected for scientific purposes, there is a need to distinguish between a single trunk tree and a multi-trunk tree. Two smaller trunks that grow together will achieve a large combined girth much faster than will a single trunk tree growing in