Dissolving: The saddle

What kind of saddle is this on the fence, in the Lisu-Tibetan village of Cizhong/Cedro? If you asked me on the spot, I certainly would have guessed horse or mule.


But ever since I saw this photo, taken by Michael Yamashita not far from here, and published in his photo album on the tea-horse-road Shangri-La. Par la route du thé et des chevaux (2012), I cannot look at it without seeing, instead of the curved spine of the tile-roofed fence, the backbone of the yak.