Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-09-11
SHOULD WOMEN RIDE ASTRiDE F.?
D octor Declares II Safer, More 6enteel
and Healthier.

A well-kn0wn physician of Balti
more, commenting upon the growing
castom of women riding horses astride
which has been taken up by severa
ladies prominent in local social circles
says in the Baltimore Sun:
1--WE should all welcome the day
when women are no longer bound by
a custom that is unsafe and restricts
them very much in an exercise that is
ipecuiiarly well adapted to their health.
All women originally rode astride. The
Iside saddle was Introduced into Eng
land in 13il by a consort of Richard IL
Anne of Bohemia-who, being lame,
Was unable to ride man g mount. Be
fore her time no such thing as the two
pommel saddle was known. Queen
Anne died in 1894 but the custom she
introduced survived her.
THE acknowledged by lady hunter
| in this country to day is Mrs Thomas
Hitchcock, Jr., who rides astride Her
performances in the field, especially
her jumping, are marvellous. Riding
astride is safer, more genteel and
healthier than riding on a side saddle
BY the latter method the body is rotat-
ed upon the pelvis, which requires an
unnatural position to maintain the
equilibrium and constant effort, the
reverse is the case when riding astride
Your seat by the latter method should
be perfectly natural and at ease, the
only effort needed to maintain your
equilibrium being the clasp!ng of the
horses body with the legs, that your
body may move IN unison with it's.
Even this effort need not be made af-
ter one becomes at home in the saddle,
because continuously the forces neces
sary to maintain the equilibrium are
constantly in hand and ready to be ap-
piled as in walking,
"a woman is better adapted by con-
formation than man for riding astride,
because her hips being wider her limbs
are set on at a greater angle and are
necessarily wider apart. which enable
her to clasp the horses body better.
One has only to reflect how completely
at the mercy of the girths the rider on
the side saddle is; whereas it is per-
fectly easy for good rider astride to
ride without a girth. once knew an
old hunter who never rode with a
girth, so that in case his horse should
fall he would be thrown clear of his
mount.
''If, then, we concede, as we must, |
that the position of the body is more
natural, more at ease and the effort to !
maintain the equilibrium is less in rid
ing astride; it therefore follows that it !
must be healthier, as all other extrane-
Gus conditions are exactly similar. It |
is almost impossible to say, when view
ed from either side (for the skirt is the |
same on both) whether the lady is rid.
ing astride or aside. In case of acci- |
dent in falling there would certainly |
be far less risk of exposure with the
skirt made to ride astride. Even when |
Off the horse the skirt looks equally |
well and gives the wearer far more |
freedom Of action.
ut is much easier for beginner to !
learn to ride astride, because the po
sition is 80 much more natural and the
forces for maintaining our equilibrium
are SO much more easily applied. The
difficulty experienced by one accus
toned to ride aside in riding astride
finds its counterpart, and even more
in the difficulty expert
snced by men in riding on side sad
lie. There is no question about riding
astride being far better for the horse.
1t has besn adopted in other American
,ities and localities-w not here ?n