The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-08-31
HORSEWOMANSHTP.
The Reasons Why Ladies Ought to Ride
Man FashiOn-Astride.
From Appleton's Journal

they Will give rem to 1t without check,
until the fashionable supremacy Of the
light wagon and fast trOtter shall yield
place to the hOre noble and manly use
of horse flesh.
But equestrianiSm with us, as among
other civilized nations, is saddled with
certain snObberies, abuses and cOckney-
isms which should be driven out. |
have hoped to see these treated by an
abler hand-the late" Frank Forester"
could have done it-but failing in that,
am for little plain talk with the
| friends of boot and stirTup, and an ap-
| peal to common sense against mere
senseless cOnventionalities practiced
from fear of Mrs. GTlndy or because
none dare question their correctness.
One of the abuses referred to was the
| subject Of my article ON HOrseman-
| ship" in No. 112 of this journal, and to
which reference is made, as having its
| bearings ON the present paper, i'll which
venture on the modest suggestion of
upsetting a fashion of five hundred
years standing.
| It is recorded that Anne of Bohemia,
cOnsOrt of Richard II. of England, first
introduced the fashion of ladies riding
sideways"
Anne OF Bohemia might have been at
better business. No doubt she was Il
meddlesome gypsy, One-sided perhaps,
in more matters than riding on horse
back Had she busted herself in set
| ting her husband straight, instead of
setting her ladies crooked, Richard II.
might have been a better king, and
have kept his seat longer on the back of
that "rOarer" of saddle-beast the
British lion.
Well, Bohemian Anne, like other lead
ers of ton started ridiculous fashion,
and all the world, or at least his wife"
followed it because it was fashionable
then as now to do as the Queen did.
But there is neither rhyme, reason,
nor common sense in the mode.
1t is unnatural, ungraceful and unsafe.
Unsafe and ungraceful, if for no other
reason than because it is unnatural.
Ladies ought to ride as all two-legged
equestrians should, astride. What none
sense for a bifurcated human to pre-
tend to back properly the nOblest of
the advantage which nature has given
for maintaining with ease the necessary
equilibrium.
That there is abroad an undercurrent
of consciousness of the righteousness
and danger of this One-sided fashion,
we have abundant evidence. Bayard
Taylor, describing an ascent of Mount
Pleasantin 1860, writes:
Here my lady friend, appalled, by the
road and the perils of the side-saddle,
was about to give up the journey but,
having convinced her of the greater Sc
curity of the masculine seat, we changed
saddles, and all went well. would ad-
wise all ladies who are at all nervous, to
take mans saddle and ride as Catha-
rine of Russia did.
That is as good a bit Of practical ad-
vice as Bayard Taylor ever penned, and
he does not seem to have had any OBJ
ijectionable views-U- Foot" in cOnse-
quence of it, either.
Thomas Forester, in his travels in
Sicily, says:
The girls were in such glee, with
Filippi pressing the mules to a gallOp
that though we enjoyed the fun, we
really feared they would be thrown off.
Our fears were gf0undless riding
, astride, as is the fashion of the country,
but with all propriety, they had 81 firm
seat. and laughed at our apprehensions.
Ii Another traveller thus writes Of a
J Tartar cavaieale
J Mounted astride--tlle only way ladies
: ride in the east or should ideanyWlere
ON graceful Tartar iron gray, with
: prettie foot peeping from her drapery,
: she was fair type of the Mingrelian.
: In Peru, within few years, il not
now, it was also fashion of the cOun-
5 try for ladies to ride astride and an
. old United States Consul General, long
, resident at Lima, tells me that he has
] often seen Mime. Gamarra, the wife
/ of the then President of Puru, mounted
], q man-fashion " although dressed as q
: LADY,, with not SO much display of foot
Q and ancle as our ladies make at street
7 crossing or on an omnibus step. With
helm on head and spun. on heal she
: managed a steed which few men ii
!, Lima dared to ride.
i Strong testimony to the incOnvenienct
. and danger of our sideway style il
! found in an advertisement, few
s years ago, introducing ga paten1
b safety -saddle.n Made to meet al
], obvious demand, it was an attempt tC
g remove some of the objections to wha
t was, at best, a clumsy cOntrivanCe tt
s suit q ridiculous fashion. Speaking o.
i, the infreqnency of ladies' riding, tn
: advertisement says:
9 And if ladies are asked why they ar
S not oftener in the saddle, they ansWe
S that the saddle in use not. only afford
Z no security against the temper of anun
|, known horse, but SO Furnishes the frame
n by the uneasiness OF its seat as to pu
I all thoughts of the exercise out of mint
q for a week, at least, after anything lik
i, an extended ride.
h The Scientific American recommends
e this saddle, as enabling q both legs t.
q hang close together, instead of on
II being thrown into an uncomfortable
y position and twisted, as on common
{. saddles.
e How often do we hear ladies com
= plain of the uncomfortable ant
c L twisted position of the right le
g being badly, often seriously, chafed at
I, ter long ride, or rendered unpleasant
is II or iniuriOusly numb, by stOppage o
circulation, from its awkward position
And eanany one tell why this awkward
: ness, Inconvenience and injury shoul
: be submitted to! Can any good reasO
= be given why ladies should ride side
n ways, or why they should not ride a
nature intended -astride
a The saddle adyertis tisement above re
: ferred to justly Urges that the com
f mon side sadie is unsafe. but that j
not enough ; any side-saddle is unsafe
: no matter what its arrangement
I horns, crooks, and seat. It Is unsaf
= because it is a side saddle and FOR tn
: simple reason that the lady has no pos
= sible hold on her horse. but is uttefl
! dependenton girths. buckles, and straps
4 which may ut any moment burst. heeai
riD, or loosen, and turn both rider an
Il saddle out of place. On the other hant
riding like Il man, a lady would have
"a mans gTipa On her hOrse-the hOt
I from knee to hip-whiGh renders
hOrseman in a measure independent Q
girth or surcingle. To a good horse
:, man a slaelSened girth is compaGatiyel
s of small consequence. In some milltar