Women riding side saddle

Factual Questions
21

I have to agree. Not only must the rider be extraordinarily skilled, the horse must be particularly trained because you are putting your weight off to one side of them, creating unbalance and, potentially, back problems for the horse.

The thing about “grip” is, it actually isn’t at all good for your security on the horse. “Grippy” is a fault in a rider, because tense muscles “bounce” and resist the horse’s motion. Beginners can, and do, bounce right off the horse from gripping. You need to have relaxed muscles to follow the horse’s motion smoothly, yet in a sidesaddle, you must grip to stay on. That’s a problem. The ride is also probably rather jolty, because the legs cannot engage as shock absorbers. You need a horse with an uncommonly smooth way of going.

At the end of the day a skilled sidesaddle rider can do anything an astride rider can. But it is orders of magnitude more difficult.

22

I had a friend in college who was in a side-saddle riding club. They did hunter-jumper stuff, dressage, all that.

I never used an actual sidesaddle but on long trail rides I have been known to take my right leg and hook it around the saddle horn (to the left), and I have known guys on long trail rides that did a similar thing. Just a change of position.

Really, it’s all about balance, and once you’ve got that, you can adapt to various positions. Not that I would have wanted to go over fences that way, though!

23

Why would women choose to ride side-saddle?

I just came across a really REALLY good potential answer to this within the last couple of weeks, and it has nothing to do with clothing, and nothing to do with modesty.

A woman would choose to ride side saddle if she needed to get somewhere on a horse and were

a) more than a few months pregnant, or
b) suffering from Pelvic Instability as a result of previous pregnancies.

I would hazard a guess that in the pre-modern period that was a lot of women. Obviously there were other solutions developed to cope with these problems (the litter, the carriage) but nothing else had the speed and versatility of simply riding a horse.

Various sites on the history of side-saddles trace it back to the 9th century, with evidence of women riding in the sideways position dating back to the Ancient Greeks. We definitely can’t reference Victorian social mores in understanding why the side-saddle was developed.

Of course, once it was developed and being used by a large enough fraction of female society, social pressure would step in to facilitate its adoption by women who didn’t actually need it (eg young girls).

I don’t necessarily buy that wearing a skirt and riding sidesaddle is going to show less leg than going for loose floppy trousers or culottes and riding astride anyway. Think about the way that skirt is going to fly up when the rider trots or canters. And women wore special clothes for riding anyway. In the thousand or more years of side saddle riding, you’d think someone would develop special womens clothes for riding that didn’t show ankle. If there wasn’t another reason behind the sidesaddle riding in the first place.

24

I own a side-saddle. I guess mine is kinda an antique, because we have had it forever. It probably dates back to the very early 1900’s, and its still in good shape. I think its worth a good bit of money these days.

Women rode side-saddle for 1 reason, and for 1 reason only, because: a long, long time ago, women wore skirts and dresses.

It was not a “choice” to ride side saddle… since women did not “choose” to wear skirts in the old west, any more than men of the old west “chose” to wear pants. That is just the way it was.

Now that women don’t wear skirts or dresses anymore, there is no “need” for a side saddle. Its kinda pointless for a man or a woman to ride side saddle if they are wearing pants, just as it would be ridiculous for either a man or woman to ride astride in a skirt.

A side saddle is no big deal if all you are doing is traveling or going somewhere, its not all that different from riding astride, because if you are in a saddle, then you are in a saddle, it really doesnt make much difference what kind of saddle if you are just going somewhere or if you are on a trail ride, esp if your ride is on reasonably level ground.

On the other hand, if you are a working cowboy, roping, herding, chasing steers with quick stops, fast starts, and sudden turns, hunting up and down mountains, then riding astride makes much more sense. Its kinda hard to rope and tie calves in a side saddle. Women in the old west were not working cowboys - therefore, there was no need for women to use a western saddle.

People like Calamity Jane, who were mannish, were quite an oddity and quite rare in the old west.

I personally prefer riding bareback, and most/nearly all of my recreational riding is bareback. On the other hand, I would use a saddle for long trips, hunting , working, or for horses with sharp backs. If I was to ride while wearing a skirt, I would use my side saddle.

25

It’s just another way of denoting ones femininity. Notice in this drawing that the women are behaving in what would seem to be a decidedly unfeminine way. They are wielding axes, smashing shit, and generally raising Cain but they’re still wearing dresses and riding side saddle so we know they’re proper women.

26

My Grandmother rode side saddle, in a dress, worked cattle and could hit running rabbits at a full gallop using a six gun. The only extraordinary thing about it was her ability with the pistol. Late 1890’s to early 1900’s in North Texas.

I have seen world class cutting horses being ridden while cutting by average riders without a saddle or even a halter. I have seen world class riders who could not stay on an average cutting hose if the horse did not want him up there.

More horses are ridden for play in today’s world, a difference from all day every day for work. still a lot of bad horses and bad riders then and now and visa-versa.

There is no one answer to any of these questions and they really were not asked back when it was done as a way of life and not a hobby.

You would prolly get as many different answers back then depending on who and where you were asking.

A great match of a really good rider with a really good horse is a wonderful thing to have or even just see. Doesn’t happen much.

YMMV

27

Getting thrown from a horse can be messy regardless - I only ridden astride, and have fallen off several times and bucked off once. I usually wound up covered in mud.

Personally, I like riding bareback, but that does take more skill from the rider. Until you get that skill I’d recommend riding astride, but then I freely admit to bias. Clearly, the side-saddle and associated skills still appeal to some people. In that sense, it’s not much different than the Society for Creative Anachronism.

28

Possibly irrelevant, but it captured my notice. In the second Tomb Raider movie, Lara Croft is riding side-saddle for general target practice, until such point as some emergency comes up, at which point, she switches to regular.

It may be that side straddle was the tradition due to the wearing of dresses, and eventually, women began to ride regularly, but there was some in between period in which the choice between regular and side saddle depended on whether the woman was riding for a ceremonial reason, or for a practical (or showmanship) reason…Given the movie scene, I wonder whether or not there are still traditional circumstances under which women ride side saddle for posterity…?

29

New side saddles are for sale and there are side saddle associations everywhere. Is this a resurgence of interest?

30

Ladies still ride side-saddle for the escaramuza, part of the charreada–the more refined Mexican version of the rodeo. The Wikipedia account reveals the interesting & not-so-ancient origin of the event.

Here’s an excuse to mention a favorite part of Fanny Calderón de la Barca’s Life In Mexico. Born & educated in Scotland, her family removed to the USA due to financial reverses. There, she met & married a Spanish diplomat. Then accompanied him to his next posting–as the first Spanish ambassador to its former colony. Later, she turned her letters & diary into a most interesting book.

On one trip out of the capital, the party visited some famous caverns. Her account shows she was a fine equestrian–much preferring day-long rides to being jounced about in a carriage on the dreadful roads. The entrance to the cavern was at the bottom of a narrow & steep trail. She described the cave at great length.

So, the two ladies in the party were riding sidesaddle. But their willingness to make this dangerous ride convinced their macho companions to go along.

31

I would think there was more to it than skirts: the depth of ignorance about ob/gyn stuff in the 18th/19th is hard to understand, and the default approach seemed to be “go gently”: in some places and times, women went to bed weeks before labor started, and stayed there for weeks afterward. (Because nothing helps labor and recovery like losing all your muscle tone and developing circulatory problems.)

To this day, there exists a perception that any sort of pressure or pounding is “bad for female parts” whether you are pregnant or not. I would be really surprised if this sort of mentality didn’t play into the development of the sidesaddle.

32

In Norway, apparently the tradition was for the bride to ride astride on her way home from the church after her wedding, in preparation for the wedding night. The implication being that it was otherwise improper for women to ride astride.

One other issue: Riding side saddle means having both reins in your left hand, as the whip in your right hand replaces your leg on the horse’s right side. Makes no diference for Western style riding, I guess.

33

I don’t know if this addresses the OP, but I always suspected sidesaddle-vs-straddle was a movie shorthand convention. If she rode sidesaddle, you were to accept that she was a demure and dainty lady. If she rode astride, you were supposed to assume she was a rootin’-tootin’ gun-total frontiersman-gal.

Sort of like white hats for good guys and black hats for bad guys.

34

I would not rely on Hollywood writers or televison shows to be an authority on the Old West.

Anyone who believes that movies and television shows are authoritative regarding sidesaddles must also still believe in the “fast draw” gunfights every Saturday nite in every town in the Old West.

I would venture a guess that Hollywood writers know even less about horses than they do about guns (and they know diddly about guns).

Everyone who wore a white hat in the Old West was not necessarily a good guy.

35

This is a good point, especially since the OP was inspired by Western TV shows and movies rather than actual documents from the 19th century.

I wouldn’t trust that any of the riding you see on TV or in movies is historically accurate. I’ve heard from friends that do horseback riding that many shows and movies contain either plain old bad riding or obvious mistakes like Western style saddles in a time or place where these would not have been used. I know that stirrups are often included in period pieces set in ancient/early medieval times before the invention of the stirrup.

It may be that some movies show a woman riding astride when she would not have in real life either because the filmmaker wants her to seem tough or independent, or just because the modern actress or stuntwoman was used to riding that way. (Or the horse was used to being ridden that way!) Insisting on sidesaddle riding would be extra trouble and expense for the production and possibly extra risk for the rider, so an anachronism might well be preferred to historic accuracy. Alternately, some movies might show women riding sidesaddle in situations where they would not have in real life because the filmmaker thinks it looks more “ladylike” or “old fashioned”.

36

How actors mount a horse can usually give a good indication.

Also, what about all the fake indians in all those B movies who have saddles hidden underneath the blankets trying to give the impression that the fake indians are riding bareback?

37

This is a bit tangential, but I’ve always thought it was interesting that the fifteenth-century Ellesmere manuscript of the Canterbury Tales shows the Wife of Bath riding astride and the two nuns riding sidesaddle (with, I suspect, some implicit messages about their relative virtue, or at least their concern for social niceties).

The Wife of Bath

The Prioress

The Second Nun

38

One reason for sidesaddle riding is to prevent the hymen from being stretched or torn. It strikes me that this would not be a concern of the Wife of Bath, but nuns would avoid anything that might damage their Proof of Virginity™, lest they later be accused of harlotry and be unable to prove their purity.

39

I remember hearing that one reason for sidesaddles (for girls & young women) was to prevent bow-leggedness.

40

First - Women riding sidesaddle DO use a stirrup for the left foot. They are not, as you speculated, simply perched up on the saddle, hanging on for dear life!

I’ve ridden sidesaddle for over 35 years, and I’m a certified sidesaddle instructor. The type of sidesaddle used is very important, because some of the older models lack the third or leaping horn, which is an extremely important safety device that prevents the rider from coming out of the saddle when the horse shies. I WILL NOT ride a sidesaddle that doesn’t have the leaping horn, and neither should anyone else who wants to be safe!!!

Most people are totally unaware of the position of the rider’s legs in relation to the saddle, and since a picture is better than a thousand words, I’ll refer you to the American Sidesaddle Association web site: AmericanSidesaddleAssociation.org. There are multiple photos there of women riding aside, both with and without the large skirt or apron that covers the legs.

And yes, women wear breeches under the apron - so I’m not promoting anything suggestive here.

As a practical matter, having a nun ride sidesaddle is perfectly proper, since the habit and modesty would preclude the nun riding astride. If she were astride, her skirts would be up around her knees - probably something that would not be condoned by the church.

Back to the leaping horn, since its importance cannot be stressed enough: This horn curves downward, over the left leg and prevents the rider from coming up and out of the saddle when the horse moves suddenly. There are some very ignorant riders out there who persist in turning the horn over, so that it becomes a support for the left leg - but they are playing with fire. It wouldn’t take much at all for these ladies to come out of the saddle and have a serious accident.

Conversely, if a horse is going to act up, I’d much rather be sidesaddle than astride. In a sidesaddle, the rider simply grips the opposing horns and takes a firm hold. I’ve had more than one bad actor realize that I wasn’t going to come off a sidesaddle. It’s actually kind of funny when the horse realizes you’re still up there!

Also, there are both English and Western sidesaddles in use, and they are very different, yet they both fulfill the same purpose. For a good comparison of the types, go to http://HundredOaksInc.com

Hope that helps -

DocsMom