sartorialadventure:How riding sidesaddle works Contrary to popular belief, riding side saddle is as

sartorialadventure:How riding sidesaddle worksContrary to popular belief, riding side saddle is as safe, if not safer, than riding astride. Sitting aside dates back to antiquity and developed in European countries in the Middle Ages as a way for women in skirts to ride a horse in a modest fashion while also wearing fine clothing. It has retained a specialty niche even in the modern world.In the 1830s, Jules Pellier invented a sidesaddle design with a second, lower pommel to the sidesaddle. In this design, still in use today, one pommel is nearly vertical, mounted approximately 10 degrees left of top dead center and curved gently to the right and up. The rider’s right leg goes around the upright, or fixed pommel, which supports the right thigh of the rider when it is lying across the top center of the saddle. The lower right leg rests along the shoulder of the left (near) side of the horse and up against the second pommel (called the leaping head or leaping horn.) which lies below the first on the left of the saddle. It is mounted about 20 degrees off the top of the saddle. This pommel is curved gently downward in order to curve over the top of the rider’s left thigh, and is attached in a manner so that it can pivot slightly, to adjust to the individual rider. The rider places her left leg beneath this pommel, with the top of the thigh close or lightly touching it, and places her left foot in a single stirrup on that side.The impact of the second pommel was revolutionary; the additional horn gave women both increased security and additional freedom of movement when riding sidesaddle, which allowed them to stay on at a gallop and even to jump fences while fox hunting and show jumping. With this design, nearly all recreational equestrian pursuits were opened to women, yet they could also conform to expectations of modesty. For example, a world record in sidesaddle show jumping was set at 6 ft, 6 inches at a horse show in Sydney, Australia in 1915.[4] The leaping horn was the last major technological innovation for the sidesaddle and remains the core of basic design even for saddles of contemporary manufacture made with modern materials.Said world record: Mrs. Esther Stace riding sidesaddle and clearing 6'6" at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, 1915, a feat made possible because of the leaping horn.The answer: they DID fall off the horse.Women rode astride even long after the sidesaddle was invented (though it was often considered inappropriate). Chaucer’s medieval Canterbury Tales (1388 AD) describe the Wife of Bath riding astride–and it says she rode well that way, which meant she was used to spreading her legs (ahem). However, some very fashionable ladies rode astride–including Marie Antoinette!The earliest functional “sidesaddle” was credited to Anne of Bohemia (1366–1394). It was a chair-like affair where the woman sat sideways on the horse with her feet on a small footrest. The design made it difficult for a woman to both stay on and use the reins to control the horse, so the animal was usually led by another rider, sitting astride. The insecure design of the early sidesaddle also contributed to the popularity of the Palfrey, a smaller horse with smooth ambling gaits, as a suitable mount for women.Here’s a side saddle with a “planchette” (the platform the feet went on). Pretty unstable!A more practical design, developed in the 16th century, has been attributed to Catherine de’ Medici. In her design, the rider sat facing forward, hooking her right leg around the pommel of the saddle with a horn added to the near side of the saddle to secure the rider’s right knee. The footrest was replaced with a “slipper stirrup”, a leather-covered Stirrup iron into which the rider’s left foot was placed. This saddle allowed the rider both to stay on and to control her own horse, at least at slower speeds. (x)So the right leg was entirely held by the moon-shaped pommel:However, this was still a pretty insecure seat. And women used to JUMP THEIR HORSES on these things at high speeds when they were hunting!By the end of the eighteenth century the seat of the side-saddle was designed to be wider and to slope at an angle down from the front to the back, to accommodate the supposed greater fleshiness of the feminine derriere. The higher cantle at the back helped to keep the lady from slipping off the saddle when riding a rough-gaited horse or when going over a jump. But only a horsewoman with superb balance would be able to maintain her seat and keep control of her horse while riding on such a saddle at any speed, over rough ground or taking a jump. For that reason, many women did not choose to hunt or even routinely gallop their horses, at least while riding aside, that is, on a side-saddle. There were other design deficiencies of the Regency-era side-saddle which endangered the women who rode on them. In particular, most of these saddles had a deep leather skirt which dropped down over the left side of the horse. Often, this skirt was so long and deep that it interfered with any cues the rider might try to give her horse. Most serious equestriennes wore a single spur on their left riding boot, which was important in cueing their mount. These spurs were very similar to the spurs worn today for dressage, having a short, straight shank. However, if the leather skirt was too deep, the horse would not be able to feel the spur pressed to its flank, reducing the rider’s control. The continued use of the slipper stirrup was also dangerous, as, should the lady be thrown, it would be difficult to get her foot free of the stirrup, increasing the risk that she might be dragged by her frightened horse. In addition, the Regency side-saddle had only a single girth holding the saddle on the horse’s back. Since many ladies put more weight on the left side of a side-saddle, it tended to drift to the left as they rode, in some cases slipping off the horse’s back and under his belly, completely unseating the rider. Another limitation of the side-saddle was that it was nearly impossible to mount one unaided, particularly if the lady was wearing a habit with a long, heavy skirt. A lady could mount on her own if a mounting block was at hand, though mounting blocks were seldom found outside the stable-yard. If a lady should try to mount a side-saddle from the ground, by putting her foot in the single stirrup, there was every chance the excessive pressure would pull the saddle off-center on the horse’s back. On a cross-saddle, this would be corrected when the rider’s foot was placed in the right stirrup, but that did not happen with a side-saddle. In most cases, the lady had to be “put up” by a man, either her gentleman companion, or by her faithful groom. She would place her foot in his joined hands and he would boost her up into the saddle. It was customary for ladies to ride with a groom, if they were not accompanied by a gentleman, not only for propriety’s sake, but also so that if they should be unhorsed, they would have someone at hand to assist them to mount.   (x)TL;DR: So yeah, basically…. they fell off a lot and it was AWFUL. -- source link
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