, 1892-03-12
THE MODERN sloEsAopLe.
why 1t Is That a Woman Is Safer or
Horseback Than n Man Is.

why 1t Is Thnt a woman Ii SAFER or
Horseback Than n Man Is.
About the year 1880, by an accidental
circumstance, women's riding was revo-
lutionized. An Englishman nade a
wager to ride q steeplechase Oh a side
saddle. A preliminary trial showed
him, / imagine, the rashness of the
attempt. So to minimize the danger
by enabling him to sit safely, Nh. Fitz-
hardinge Oldacre, l think, invented
the third pommel. Looking PACK one
wonders how 1t was that women had not
long before invented it for themselves
under stress of urgent need. But one
generation followed another and no one
seems to have thought of it. Once in
vented, however, it was Immediately
adopted, and a three pommeled side
saddle came into general use. This in
vention at once reinstated women's rid
ing as a fine art by producing a new de-
parture under improved conditions. Fol-
the grip obtainable by its means gives
the greatest possible security in ex-
change for the least possible expenditure
of force.
Saddles of this kind were cumbr Us
and very heavy, but during the foil ~
ing fifty years the weight of construc-
ton was gradually reduced, and little
by little every unnecessary item was
cut away, till in course of time the three
pommeled saddle evolved into the long,
light hunting saddle actually in use at
present. 1t differs in several ways from
its prototype. In this modern saddle
the long narrow cantle is built over a
sort of tunnel, which takes in the horses
withers and allows the seat of the saddle
to lie fat; while the old fashioned seat
sloped up and tilted the riders knee
with much the same effect as riding up
hill.
All traces of the outer pommel nave
disappeared, leaving a free space where
no resistance is necessary. Finally, the
left hand pommel is placed high up the
thigh, where the grip is strongest, the
pressure having formerly been placed
Just above the knee, so that a shorter
stirup was necessary. Now, such greater
leverage led to an exaggeration of
movement, which prevented all rhythm,
for obviously the closer the rider can
sit the more possibility there will be Of
being zone" with the horse, of riding so
as to blend with his action, of, SO to
speak, following the pattern of his
movement.
In the modern saddle all notifications
tend to diminish effort and by greater
security to enable the rider to sit very
still. Strength of seat seems to me to
be the result, roughly speaking, of three
grips, caused by the opposing pressure
of the two legs against the pommels.
OF these grips, the first results from the
downward pressure of the whole length
of the right thigh and the upward press
ure of the left. The second is the grip,
just above the knee, of the right thigh
against the pommel, involving the press
ure of the leg just above the ankle on
the saddle flap below. This grip is
counterbalanced by the left legs inward
pressure at the knee. And, third, the
hook back of the right leg over the pom
mel as opposed to the pressure of the
stirrup foot.
Moreover, by sitting far back the
leverage of these three grips is in
creased, and the consequent distribution
of the weight makes the balance right.
The legs must be immovable on the
saddle, but above the waist the body
sways and gives to the horses action,
and from constant habit a good rider
adjusts the balance almost by instinct.
and carries on the horses movements in
a multiplicity of tiny curves which pass
imperceptibly from n step to another
without any jerk or abruptness of move
ment.-English Illustrated Magazine.