Why side saddle

Her proud statement to the Los Angeles Times was just the beginning. Did the Two Bills challenge her to ride solo across the nation in , to promote the troupe? Her horse went through 14 pairs of horseshoes. Nan insisted on doing all the shodding herself, just as she took care of anything else her horse required. Nevertheless, these two women were sisters in the saddle. Nobody tied politics and riding astride as did Milholland, the beautiful face of the suffrage movement. Milholland was born into a liberal family of means in Brooklyn in She led suffrage marches in , and , while astride a white horse named Gray Dawn.

Milholland drove off the attackers, at least temporarily, but as police stood by—some of them jeering themselves—more than women were hurt and required medical attention.

Milholland emerged as a heroine of the movement. While on a speaking tour of the west in Los Angeles, she collapsed and died of pernicious anemia in Not one of them considered riding sidesaddle as they put their lives on the line to entertain while on horseback.

Strangely enough, though, one of the greatest rodeo queens got her start riding sidesaddle. In her first rodeo event, at a county fair in , year-old Vera McGinnis was the only rider who rode sidesaddle, in a dress, competing against much older girls. When the end came, it came quickly. What became of dear Anne of Bohemia, our sidesaddle star, whose royal virginity would impact millions of women over years? Western fans know that every movie cowboy worth his hide had a trusty, four-legged saddle….

Skip to content. My Account Blog. She also took advantage of the sidesaddle, Riley added. But no, protecting the royal hymen was the reason. Additionally riding aside offers the rider with an ordinary horse a chance to compete at the highest levels.

Most horses can be ridden side saddle. They do not need to be well-bred or particularly talented, but should be reasonably well schooled, and well mannered.

It can often extend an older horse's competitive life. What to Wear? You can begin with your normal riding clothes, but if you want to compete or hunt, you will need a habit — a jacket with matching apron the large piece of material that looks like a skirt, but is actually open backed, and covers your legs - and the correct hat.

Habits tend to be second-hand, but there are some excellent ready-made ones now available, and again they can sometimes be hired. You can also buy or hire some of the more theatrical and historical costumes — or maybe you know someone handy with a needle and thread?

Area Officers. An Introduction to Side Saddle Riding. Side saddle riding may be traditional, but it is not old-fashioned. The earliest functional side-saddle was a chair-like construction, where the woman sat sideways on the horse with her feet on a footrest, designed in the late 14th century. Catherine de Medici is said to have developed a more practical design in the 16th century.

Rather than keeping both feet placed side by side on the footrest, she placed her right leg over the pommel of the saddle, so as to show off her shapely ankle and calf to their best advantage! Riding this way allowed the rider much more control of the horse and even allowed the rider to trot and canter safely. Riding at speed, sitting aside. This additional pommel gave women both increased security and additional freedom of movement when riding side-saddle. This allowed them to stay on at a gallop and even to jump fences while hunting and show jumping, whilst still conforming to the expected levels of propriety and modesty.

At this time it was almost exclusively ladies of the higher social classes who rode. Indeed until the s, riding and dance were the only socially acceptable physical activities for girls and women of the aristocracy and upper classes. Diagram showing the position of the legs when riding side-saddle. By the Victorian era , the posture of a woman riding side-saddle was very much as it is today. The rider sat astride, with the right hip back to allow the shoulders to fall into line.