English tack: The Saddle

Disclaimer: All of the saddles shown below are general ones and were not chosen due to brand but by what was a good picture to represent the saddle.  I suggest that everyone does their own research when finding a saddle for their horse, as it depends on your individual horses size and shape, as well as your budget constraints.  I feel compelled to mention this, as some people buy based off of brand or because it was mentioned by someone else in a review, and not always in the interest of the horse.  Always buy a saddle that correctly fits YOUR horse.  

 These are the two basic english saddle types.  Both of these pictures are only showing the basic shapes of the saddles, and more padding and straps are added depending on the individual tasters and requirements of the horse and rider.

  

  This first saddle is a jumping saddle.  It is shorter with a lower pommel and stirrups are usually adjusted to be a tad shorter, so that the rider can more easily lift their seat out of the saddle into the two-point (jumping/jockey) position.  Their profile shows a rounded silhouette with the knee roll protruding slightly to the front of the saddle.

https://www.tattiniriding.com/categories/english-riding/jumping-saddle

  This second saddle is a dressage saddle.  Longer skirts an longer stirrups allow for the rider to sit solidly in the saddle with a deeper seat, providing the rider with the ability to maintain full contact with the horse.  This is optimal for dressage, as the key to dressage is getting the horse to do various movements with very little obvious commands form the rider.  They display a very straight knee roll that goes from the pommel and straight down.

http://shop.allsaddles.com/product43745.html

  All purpose saddles are a mix of the two, and are visually not as straight and long as the dressage saddle, but also not as rounded as the jumping saddle.  (in the middle in the picture below)

http://www.tackntails.com/2015/04/what-is-vsd-saddle.html