Saddle Up

Work's been kind of weird and frustrating. For many reasons.
I think we're in the neglected corner of the company.

The trail rides are usually nice. The trail is beautiful, and it's nice to ride horses, and just be around horses (and mules).
It's also cool to meet all the people who come on our rides. I get to talk to people from all over the world.
My cousins came up yesterday to take my ride. That was fun.

Since I've been working with so many saddles recently (saddling a bunch of horses in the morning, adjusting saddles for all of the riders, and taking off the saddles at the end of the day) I've started thinking again about the saddle designs for my different dragon species.
I sketched out a rough outline of a saddle a while ago, and I want to draw out a full reference sheet for them.



But there are some factors that I just can't figure out.
Mostly because I want the dragon saddles to be able to fit multiple people. But that would make the shape of the saddle really awkward.
And it would mean several sets of stirrups, probably? Because stirrups are so important for stability. But several pairs of stirrups would be so clunky and awkward.
I thought about having a bar along the saddle, for the feet to rest against. But it's important for the stirrups to be adjustable. If they're too short, your legs cramp up. Too long, and they're useless. And everyone has different length legs.

The saddle would sit on the dragon's shoulders, just a hair in front of the wings. And since dragons are so much wider than horses, someone couldn't just straddle the dragon's back. The saddle would be raised up, and be about as wide as a horse (This is hard to explain, and would make more sense as an image).
If the saddle were just for one or two people, that wouldn't be too problematic. But for a saddle that can fit four or five people, that raised area would have to be really long. It would make the saddle huge.
And it's already be difficult to get a saddle up onto a dragon's back.

It's tricky to get a saddle on a tall horse.

There are bars on the front of the saddle for the rider to grip during trick maneuvers. And anyone riding behind them would also need a bar to hold onto.
But the placement of those is also hard to get right. Unless I divide the saddle into distinct segments.

It's possible that some saddles could be for individual riders, and other saddles could be for multiple people.
But Katani and the Retrievers would need the saddles that seat multiple people.
If they're out on a mission and they get called to help people or carry people or anything, they cant' turn around, fly all the way back to the GRA, and get the bigger saddle.
Plus they often pair up for missions and have to share saddles.

Still trying to find solutions that aren't too complicated XP