Fancy tooled leather Western-style saddle, extensively decorated with 166 silver pieces, presented to Admiral William F. Halsey, Commander, U.S. Third Fleet, by the Reno, Nevada, Chamber of Commerce in 1945.
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Official USN photo USNHC # 80-G-K-17611, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.
The saddle, which was high-lined to the Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), Halsey’s flagship, on 25 August 1945, had been made in response to an earlier comment by the Admiral’s Flag Secretary, Commander Harold Stassen, that, “It won’t be long before Admiral Halsey is riding the Emperor’s white horse.”
The backstory is that the effort for Halsey to ride Hirohito’s horse was even the subject of the 7th War Bond Drive.
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As detailed by a site covering the fracas:
Halsey did ride a horse, but he wasn’t Emperor Hirohito’s white stallion, who remained the private property of the Emperor. Instead, he rode another horse that was supplied by Major General William Chase, the commander of the First Cavalry Regiment. After reviewing the honor guard of the First Cav, he mounted the horse and rode slowly around the bivouac area on the outskirts of Tokyo. It was an unscheduled affair, so he didn’t get to use the special saddle.
“Please don’t let me alone with this animal,” the Admiral said. Upon dismounting, he grinned and said, “I was never so scared in my life.”
On January 2, 1946 disappointed Americans read that Halsey “will never ride that white horse except by imperial invitation.” Nor was the Admiral able to redeem his pledge at a later date.
After returning to the United States, Halsey was asked to participate in the famous Rose Parade. According to news stories, when the admiral glimpsed a white Arabian horse standing beside his official car, he thought someone had brought Emperor Hirohito’s horse from Japan for him to ride. The sailor made a quick dash for the safety of his float.
Though Halsey never had an opportunity to put the saddle to its intended use– or apparently any use– it became part of the collections of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, in Annapolis, Maryland.
