Figure 1.--This CDV was probably taken in the 1870s. The subject and photographer are unidentified. We believe the child is a girl. Not only is riding side saddle, but th long dress strongly suggests a girl. I'm not sure about the cap. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
Girls would be taught to ride side saddle and boys astride. Almost all girls and women from affluent families in the 19th century rode side saddle. As they did not wear pants, side saddle was the only way that they could modestly ride. Riding side saddle was, however, a much more difficult way to ride. Several different types of side saddles exist. In general terms, most people would probably think of a side-saddle as an English saddle. However, there are also Western side-saddles. Some are "balanced ride" saddle, which means the stirrup leathers are hung farther forward than normal and are bolted to the tree instead of looped over the bars. It is made on a Wade tree with in skirt rigging, a 3/4 padded seat and corner tooling with the Wild Rose pattern. Cantle and horn are rawhide bound. Girls from the gentry would be expected to ride side saddle. I'm not sure that the same was true for more humble families in the countryside. Side-saddle riding disappeared after World War I when women began wearing pants.
Girls would be taught to ride side saddle and boys astride. Riding side saddle was, however, a much more difficult way to ride.
Girls from the gentry would be expected to ride side saddle. Almost all girls and women from affluent families in the 19th century rode side saddle. As they did not wear pants, side saddle was the only way that they could modestly ride.
Several different types of side saddles exist. In general terms, most people would probably think of a side-saddle as an English saddle. However, there are also Western side-saddles. Some are "balanced ride" saddle, which means the stirrup leathers are hung farther forward than normal and are bolted to the tree instead of looped over the bars. It is made on a Wade tree with in skirt rigging, a 3/4 padded seat and corner tooling with the Wild Rose pattern. Cantle and horn are rawhide bound. I'm not sure that the same was true for more humble families in the countryside.
I am not sure when women first began riding side saddle. Information on ancient cultures is limited. Some archeolgical evidence such as Greek vases and Celtic sculptured stones show some women riding horses sitting sideways. We do not know how common this was. Nor do we know if it was perhaps a ceremonial custom. There is also some debate as to wether the women in these ealy images were actually in comntrol of the horse or the horse was being led at slow speed by attendants. There is more substantial evidence that women were riding side saddle in Europe by the 9th century AD. It is was well established by the 16th century that women were riding side saddle with considerable control of the horse. I am less sure when women were engaing in strnous riding such as following the hounds in fox hunts. There are reports of women particpating in fox hunts in the 18th century. This did not become common, however, until after the mid-19th century when improvementrs to the side saddal made it possible to safely control the horse in aggressive riding. Side-saddle riding largely disappeared after World War I (1914-18) when women began wearing pants.
We do not note modern riding attire in 19th century photogrphs. This is in part because women did not wear pants in the 19th century. In fact, we note women and girl wore quite a wide variety of clothes. One consistent pttern is that the dresses or skirts are often extremely long, sometimes even covering the shoes. Some girls wore shorter dresses, but long dresses were much more common. These do not appear to be dresses commonly worn, but rather special garments for riding.
As best we can determine it was boys who were most likely tohave hobbyhorses in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Boys would ride astride. We think that even when wearing kilts and dresses this was how boys wore their hobby horses. We note portraits showing this, although we can not be sure that this always was the case. Girls also wrode hobbyhorses. There often may have only been one hobbyhorse in the nursery for all the children. We believe that boys were most likely to have hobby horses as there are so many more portraits of boys on them in the photographic record. Wenote images of girls riding them sidesaddal. We do not know, however, if this was always the case.
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