Two tone saddle.  Brown with black seat and blocking. The rear loop is for holding up your stirrups and girth when your saddle is not in use.  Saddle is displayed with ENGLISH leathers. 

What about the blocking? The blocking on the freedom is designed to burry your knee into.  As your horse acts horsy you can secure your seat by digging your knee into the blocking.  This is great for down hill, as you can secure your leg (the knee-femur to hip) thus keeping your seat in the saddle.  This blocking also keeps your leg in position, allowing you to ride with a long leg. Super for training young stock.

The LOOP on the saddle is the stirrup and girth keeper.

Standard padding or the extra padding of the Soft Seat - that is the question.

Center photo of lighter color saddle DOES NOT have the extra padding that is in the Soft Seat.

Why select the extra padding of the Soft Seat? 

 There are some points to consider when deciding to select this option-with the Soft Seat.  First, you will lose some of the room that the saddle has to offer for your rear-end - so if you are between sizes use this to help gauge your seat size. Secondly when you select the Soft Seat, you will lose a bit of the "pocket" to sit down in, (since the extra padding is now there for your rear-end and /or your bone-y butt bones). Lastly, with the Soft Seat, the saddle will have a bit of a narrower twist. The twist is the part that is between your thighs (your crotch area). Therefore, if you like a narrower twist, have a bony butt or need a smaller seat size, adding the extra padding of the Soft Seat is key.