The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-07-13

~ Oh4E 1aGleS VINO play POLO ana
follow the hunt have found the
sidesaddle an unsafe and in
convenient seat for such ac-
tive field exercise. They have
therefore adopted the fashion
Of riding astride. One of the most not
ed l1orsewomen of New York's exclusive
social set declares she viii never ride
a sidesaddle again, and she has friends
who agree with her.
Boston for some time has looked IA
vorabIy on the innovation, which is
really no innovation at all. but only a
revival of the ancient custom. The
sideaaddle was invented for Anne of
Bohemia, wife of Richard II. because
she was crippled in one OF her lower
limbs. and the deformity was manifest
when her majesty bestrode a horse.
Ladies at the Boston horse show APP
peared riding in divided skirts special
~ designed. The costume OF the New
York ladies who ride astride is differ
ent. Instead of the divided skirt, close
knickerbockers and top boots are worn.
Outside of all is a coat reaching to the
tops of the boots. In this costume the
women of the New York Four Hundred
quit themselves like mem on the hunt
ing field and on the polo ground.
Wearing the knickerbeckers and
boots and riding astride. the New York
lady who originated the costume, as
well as some others who now wear it,
take jumps on horseback that are said
OCCASIONALLY to surprise even the best
men riders. These ladies' are the wives
mostly of field sportsmen. who aid and
abet their athletic aspirations and
Chicago women riders are divided On
the divided skirt and cross saddle ques-
ton Some declare it is the only way.
others that riding astrfde by women is
extremely unladylike and they would
die before they would mount a horse
as Joan of Arc did.
Brooklyn has put itself on record
emphaticalIy against the cross saddle
fad. The Brooklyn Riding and Driving
club, the leading equestrian organiza-
ton Of the city frowne7 with brow
deep furrowed upon the proposed
change. The ladies of the club affirm
that the good old way is good enough
for them, and they intend to ride in it.
And some opponents are Of opinion that
it looks better for g. woman even to lose
her life in a 1adyHke manner than to be
unIady1ike and save it. There be others
who assert with yes more emphasis
G.
active or physically ambitious wo-
man is, she has ne business to engage
in any sport that win necessitate the
wearing of other than the strictly con-
ventionaI garb of her sex. If the side
saddle is unsafe; If, as the physicians
testify, il makes a woman one sided
and causes in time curvature of the
spine, then let her not ride at all.
Physicians in England, where women
ride horseback more than in America
first called attention to the tendency
of the sidesaddle to make the female
figure 1opsided. So pronounced was the
tendency that young girls who were
learning to ride were ordered bv their
medical men to sit awhile upon one side
of the horse, then upon the other, to- de-
velop themselves equally It is very
common IN Hyde park, London, to see
young women riding with their feet
upon the horses right side instead of
the left. This, of course. necessitates
two saddles, one for the left side
mount, the other for the right
1t was from London that the present
fad of women riding astrfde was
brought to the eastern shores of Amer
ica The first woman in New York to
appear on horseback man fashion was
a young and beautiful English actress,
who rode astride in Central park. tt
made sensation at first, and the girl
just escaped being arrested After sew
eraI repetitions of the spectacle, how
ever, it ceased to shock, and now the
municipal nerve has become more
steady
So far as heard from no cross saddle
riding lady has yet disturbed the steady
flowing nerve current Of Philadelphia
In the mountain regions Of the west
ern United States women have always
ridden astride more or less. The Tndi-
an women, who never knew any better,