The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-12-08
DANGER OF THE SIDE-SAD-
DIE.

An Ohio health society has recently
taken strong ground against the use of
the side-sa'dle. 1t expresses the view
that the side-saddle is uncomfortable
alike for rider and horse, and unsafe;
that the natural way for women as we'll
as for men to ride is to bestrde the horse
and urges that hereafter women shall
ride in that manner, wearing the ordl-
nary riding trousers and the divided
skirts.
This is certainly good doctrine, says
Forest and Stream, and we wish the
Ohio health society all Success in its
efforts to bring about this reform. The
| side-saddle is uncomfortable for the
horse and for the rider. Hardly any
woman in ten can sit straight on it,
and the result is that the saddle drags
off to one side and is very likely to
gall the horses withers.
Far more important than this, now
ever, is the danger to which every
woman is exposed when she mounts
her horse. However skilful a horse
woman she may be, her seat and her
safety depend absolutely on the integ-
rity of the saddle girths. If these
break, fall is inevitable for her, and
hampered as she is by the skirts she
can do nothing to save herself. If she
is not a good horsewoman, if she de-
pends on her rcins Or on her stirrup to
hold her in the saddle, her case is just
SO much the worse. For if the stirrup
breaks, and she becomes frightened or
loses control of the horse, it takes but
a little while for her to be shaken out
of the saddle.
Most girls and women are not at
home on 4 horses back. and boiling
or shying horse is likely to unseat
them. If unseated they have not the
chance afforded to every man who is
thrown from his horse, that of simply
rolling out of the saddle and striking
the ground. Instead Of that a woman
may be hung by the pommel by her
skirt and may be dragged about and
shockingly mutilated by the horses
hoofs, where q simple fall from the
horse would have given her no more
than jar. Cases OF this sort occur
with such frequence that it appears
singular that no one has as yet preach
ed the abolition of the side-saddle as a
reform whose Importance would justify
a crusade.
The natural way to ride a horse is
astrde the animal. 1t is in this way
that men ride everywhere; the women
too among savage or semi-civilized
people, and children of both sexes
everywhere. The little girl, when she
gets her first pony, bestrides it bare
back, as her brother does, and gains
confidence in herself while riding in
this position. The young woman on
the distant prare, who is obliged to
ride ten miles into town for her mail,
rides in this way until she reaches the
very outskirts of the town, when she
changes her position and uses the horn
Ct the mans saddle for pommel In
proportion to its use we believe the
side-saddle to be responsible for more
| deaths and accidents than any other
implement which is employed in con-
nection with outdoor life. Its use
should be abandoned, and no doubt
will be before long, for this is an age
of progress in outdoor matters, and
women are eliminating for their lives
many of the antique conventionalities,
which have nothing to recommend
them except long-established custom.
There are to-day many young women
who during their travels and their
hunting trips in the west never think
Of using side-saddles, and there is thus,
in some of the larger eastern towns.
nucleus Of women who understand that
the mans saddle means freedom from
fetters that they have always borne
and from limitations which are not
only irksome but positively danger
Gus.
No woman who has ever ridden a
bicycle need be ashamed to mount Il
horse astride, and it may be hoped that
the day is not far distant when nine
tenths of the women seen on horseback
will be riding in the natural, comfort
able, and safe way. In support Of our
contemporary contention we may
quote the views of La Belle el Derido.
of the Paris Nouveau Cirque, who
rides with divided skirts. She says:
"Thc sides saddle is ridiculous; it is
unsafe and frightfully ugly. No woman
has any hold over her horse except. by
| the use of 4 whip, whereas man can
easily control it by the force of his
knees. Do you for one minute mean
to tell me that the present way in
which a lady mounts is elegant? She
! astridc on one side Of the horse. that is
all, instead of on its back.
Let me say ut once that | detest
! anything that is unwomanly, and, even
against my conviction, | never dream
of riding in the BJis save with the
side-sadelle. But what difference
that bowing down to the rules of soci-
ETY. makes! You have no longer that