DESCRIPTION OF A SIDE-SADDLE.

A properly made side-saddle consists of the following parts:—

1. A tree, which is a wooden frame that is strengthened with steel and iron, and is provided with an upper crutch (near head) and webs.

2. A leather covering, which comprises the seat, off flap, and safe, which is the trade term for the near flap.

3. A panel (or cushion), which is placed underneath the tree, so as to protect the animal’s back from the hurtful pressure of the unprotected tree.

4. A leaping head, which helps the lady to obtain security of seat.

5. A stirrup leather.

6. A stirrup iron.7. A stirrup bar for the stirrup leather.

8. Girths.

9. Balance strap.

To these ordinary components of a side-saddle, a breast-plate and saddle cloth or numdah are sometimes added. On rare occasions a crupper is used.

SADDLE TREE.

The tree (Figs. 8, 9, 10, and 11) consists of two bars (side boards), which are connected together in front by the pommel, and behind by the cantle. The pommel is made up of a gullet plate, which is a steel arch that goes over the withers, and its coverings. The points of the tree are connected, one on each side, to the front ends of the bars and to the gullet plate, and they point downwards. The stirrup bar, which should be of a safety pattern, is attached to the near bar, a little lower down than the leaping head.

The webs (Fig. 11) of a tree are strong hempen bands which cover the open space down the centre of the tree, and are nailed, at one end, to the pommel, and at the other end to the cantle. They are tightly stretched, in order to give the rider a comfortable seat, and to keep her weight off the horse’s backbone.

The office of the bars of the tree is to evenly distribute the rider’s weight, by means of the panel, over the muscles which run along each side of the horse’s backbone, and which form the only suitable bearing surfaces for the purpose in question. No weight should fall on the animal’s backbone, because it is very sensitive to pressure, even when the pressure is well distributed. In order to obtain this indispensable condition of evenly-distributed pressure, the bars of the tree of a saddle which is to be made for a particular horse, should accurately fit the bearing surfaces of the back upon which they rest, and should be well away from the backbone; in fact, the distance between the bars should not be less than four inches. When the rider is in the saddle, a fair amount of space should exist between the gullet plate and the withers, so that no injurious pressure may fall on the top or sides of the withers, which are particularly susceptible to inflammation from this cause.

In order to avoid giving an undue height to the pommel, with the object of keeping it off the withers, it should be “cut back” (Fig. 11), although this cutting back need not be carried to the excessive extent that is sometimes practised. In a man’s saddle, the pommel is generally straight.

The points of the tree should accurately fit the parts upon which they rest, so as to prevent any “wobbling” of the saddle. The near point of the tree (Fig. 10) is usually made long, with the idea of helping the saddle to keep in its place; but if this is done, the off point should be comparatively short, because, if both points be long, they will be apt to become pulled further apart in the event of the horse turning round sharply, as he would have to do in a narrow stall, or even when refusing a jump.

The upper crutch, or, as it is called by saddlers, the near head, is a more or less upright projection which is placed on the near side of the pommel, in order to give support to the rider’s right leg. The slope and bearing surface of this near head should be regulated, so that (as we shall see further on) the lower part of the rider’s right leg may extend downwards along the shoulder of the horse, and that the lady may be able to exert full pressure against the near head, by the inward rotation of her thigh (p. 157). The height of the near head depends on the thickness of the rider’s thigh, because a fat leg will require a higher crutch than a thin one. If the upper crutch be unduly long, it will push the skirt up and give it a bad appearance. We must, however, bear in mind that if it is too short for its legitimate purpose, it will afford an insecure grip to the right leg, which is a consideration that must not be neglected.

Before the leaping head (p. 33) was invented, side-saddles were provided with an off crutch, which was placed on the off side of the pommel. In a very old saddle which I saw, it took the form of an upright handle, which was placed parallel to the direction of the withers, and which apparently was intended to be grasped by the right hand of the rider in case of emergency. In a saddle of mine, which is about 100 years old, the off crutch projects horizontally to the right. Fifty years ago, the off crutch was almost always upright, and was often placed so close to the near crutch that the rider was able to get a fairly firm support for her right leg by jamming it between these two crutches. As the great utility of the leaping head received increasingly wide recognition, the off crutch underwent a gradual process of decadence, because it is of no benefit to a rider who understands the use of a leaping head. Indications of its previous existence may occasionally be seen, especially abroad, in the form of an entirely useless thickening of the off side of the pommel.

COVERING OF A SIDE-SADDLE.

The seats of good saddles are generally of pigskin, and the flaps of cow-hide. The fact of the seat being of buckskin or other rough leather will increase the lady’s security in the saddle, but may somewhat detract from the smartness of her appearance, especially if the leather is white. I can see no objection to the seat of the saddle being of rough brown leather. Formerly, all side-saddles had a “stuffed safe,” in which the front part of the near flap is padded, but nowadays it is rarely, if ever, used by smart hunting people. It is evidently the surviving remains of the voluminous pad, upon which ladies used to rest the lower part of their right leg in the days before the leaping head was invented. Ornamental stitching about the seat and safe of a saddle is equally out of date.

PANEL.

It is all important that the panel should be so carefully stuffed, that the rider’s weight will be evenly distributed over the bearing surfaces of her animal’s back. Even if this is done to perfection, the desirable arrangement will last for only a short time, if the stuffing is of the wrong kind of material. Instead of using fine wool (best flock), incompetent or unduly economical saddlers often employ flock which is largely composed of cotton waste, and, consequently, when they stuff or re-stuff a saddle, lumps, from the absorption of perspiration, are apt to form in the panel, with the frequent result of a sore back. Although the stuffing of side-saddles is too technical a subject to attack in these pages, I would fail in my duty to my readers if I omitted to advise them always to go to a first-class saddler for a new saddle, or to get an old one re-stuffed, which should be done as may be required, preferably, before the beginning of the hunting season, supposing that the saddle has seen a good deal of service. It is often thought that expert saddlers are to be found only in London; but if a saddler is clever at his trade, the fact of his having a shop in a good hunting district, must be a great advantage to him in studying the requirements of riding people.

THE LEAPING HEAD

was invented about 1830 by M. Pellier, who was well known in Paris as a riding master. Its object is to help the rider to obtain security of seat by a fixed surface against which she can press the front and lower part of her left thigh. Before the invention of the leaping head, ladies had to rely entirely on the right leg for grip, and consequently few, if any of them, were able to hunt. Mr. John Allen, who wrote Modern Riding, in 1825, tells us that “the left leg is nearly, if not wholly useless; for though a stirrup is placed on the foot, the only use of it is to ease the leg a little, which, for want of practice, might ache by dangling and suspension.”

The following are the chief points to be considered about a leaping head:—

1. Its curve should be so arranged that the harder a lady presses against it, the more will her left leg be carried inwards, so that the flat (inside) of her knee may be brought in contact with the flap of the saddle (Fig. 12). An ordinary leaping head is curved, as a rule, in such a manner that when a rider seeks to obtain support from it by the pressure of her left leg, this limb is carried outwards, and she is able to get a point d’appui only at the extreme end of this projection (Fig. 13). It is evident that the closer the left leg is to the saddle, the firmer will be the seat. Besides, the more the left leg is brought outwards, the more weight will be put on the near side, which, as we shall see further on, is the very thing a rider ought to avoid.

2. The leaping head should be close to the upper crutch (Figs. 12 and 16). The usual plan of putting it much lower down (Fig. 15) tends to bring the weight to the near side, a fact which can be easily tested, especially in trotting, by trying the improvement in question, which was suggested to me by Mr. Ford of Rugby, who is a very competent and experienced saddler.

3. Usually, the leaping head is attached to the tree by means of a screw, which is an arrangement that has the disadvantage of not allowing the leaping head to be placed close to the upper crutch. If the leaping head is riveted on to the tree (as in Figs. 10 and 16), which is the better plan, it can be placed as near as we like to the upper crutch, and it will have no tendency to wobble about, as it would be apt to do, if it was fixed by a screw. As the screws of the leaping heads of cheap saddles are almost always made of annealed iron, which is a form of cast-iron, it is not an uncommon occurrence for the screw of one of these saddles to break, which is more apt to occur at a critical moment, as for instance when the horse is jumping or “playing up,” than when he is going quietly. On the only occasion I ever rode over a fence in one of these cheap Walsall saddles, the screw broke, but luckily I “remained.”

4. When the leaping head is a fixture, the bearing surface which it presents to the rider’s left leg should be in the same direction as the upper part of that limb, so that the pressure on it may be evenly distributed. By placing a straight stick under the leaping head, and holding it in the direction which the left thigh would occupy, when the rider is mounted, we can easily see if the bearing surface is in the proper position.

5. As an aid to security of seat, it is well to have the under surface of the leaping head and the off side of the upper crutch covered with rough brown leather, which, we should bear in mind, is concealed from view, when the lady is in the saddle, and consequently it will not detract from the smartness of her appearance.

STIRRUP-LEATHER.

The stirrup-leather, which is on the near side, should always be attached to a bar, and not, as is sometimes done, to the balance strap (p. 53); because, in this case, its length will be subject to frequent variation, not only when the saddle is put on different animals, but also when the horse gets slack in his girth from work. When it is fixed to a bar, which should always be of the safety kind, no alteration in the correct length of the leather will take place.

The arrangement for undoing the stirrup-leather is in the most convenient position when it is close to the iron, and not in proximity to the stirrup-bar, as is the case in a man’s hunting saddle. If the leather is used in the latter manner, the buckle will be apt to hurt the inside of the lady’s left leg, when she brings the knee close to the flap of the saddle; and it will be more inconvenient to alter the length of the leather, when the lady is mounted, than if the buckle or hook was low down. The hook (Fig. 14) is better than a buckle, because it lies flatter and is easier to arrange.

A safety bar is a bar which will release the leather, in the event of the rider falling from the saddle, and at the same time getting her foot caught in the stirrup-iron. To be reliable, it should do this, whether the lady falls on the near side, or on the off side. The best safety bar which has up to the present been put before the public, is undoubtedly Champion and Wilton’s latest pattern. It releases with absolute certainty on both sides, and can be fitted in such a manner that it will allow the flat of the left leg to be brought close to the saddle. As safety bars and safety stirrups are the only means for ensuring a lady from being dragged by her stirrup, and as Champion and Wilton’s safety bar is more reliable in this respect than any safety stirrup, it stands to reason that it should be used with every side-saddle. With this bar on a saddle, there is of course no objection to the use of a safety stirrup, in order to make “doubly sure.” It is usually fitted with a thick flap (Fig. 15), which prevents the left leg from being brought close to the saddle; but this objection can be removed by the adoption of Mr. Ford’s plan of greatly reducing the size of the flap of the bar, and making it fit into an opening cut out of the near flap of the saddle (Fig. 16). I have found this arrangement a great improvement on the old clumsy flap, the lower edge of which is unpleasantly apt to catch on the rider’s boot, especially when trotting. I shall discuss the failings of safety stirrups further on.

Owing to the position which a lady occupies in a side-saddle, she is often inclined to draw her foot back to such an extent that she would pull the leather out of the bar, if the action of the bar was similar to that of a man’s saddle; but a Champion and Wilton’s bar is so devised that it will free the leather, only when the pressure of the left leg is removed from the flap of the bar, in which case the lady will have quitted the saddle. Hence, as long as she keeps her seat, she cannot pull the leather out of the bar by drawing back her left leg. The only thing which prevents this safety arrangement from being absolutely perfect, is the liability the leather has of falling out of the bar and becoming lost, in the event of the rider severing her connection with the saddle, in which case the retaining action of the flap on the bar will cease.

For this emergency, Messrs. Champion and Wilton provide side saddles with a small leather case which contains an extra stirrup, and which is attached to the near side of the saddle, so that it is concealed from view, when the lady is mounted (Fig. 17). The weight of the stirrup and case is only half a pound.

SAFETY STIRRUPS,

both for men and ladies, have been in existence for hundreds of years. Apparently the first variety of this contrivance was the capped stirrup-iron, either simple (Fig. 18) or in the form of a slipper (Fig. 19), which was provided with an arrangement on its sole that prevented the toe of the slipper from yielding to downward pressure, but allowed it to revolve upwards, and thus to facilitate the release of the foot, in the event of a fall. The simple capped stirrup was used by ancient Spanish Cavaliers, and is still employed by many of their descendants in America. In apparent oblivion of these facts, the Christie stirrup (Fig. 20), made on the same principle, was patented about four years ago. Besides its undue weight (11/4 lb. as compared to the 1/2 lb. of the slipper stirrup), it has the further disadvantage of allowing the possibility of the toe being caught between its bars (Fig. 21). Want of neatness appears to have been the only cause of the abandonment of the capped stirrup, which is certainly safer than any of its successors, the first English one of which appears to have been the Latchford safety stirrup (Fig. 22). It consists of two irons; the small one, which is placed within the large one, being made to come out the moment the foot gets dragged in it, in which case it parts company with its fellow, and is then liable to get lost. The Scott safety stirrup (Figs. 23 and 24) has not this fault, for its inner iron always retains its connection with the outer one, and can be replaced without delay, if the lady after her tumble desires to remount. The Latchford, Scott ordinary, and Cope safety stirrup (Figs. 25 and 26) open only one way, so that the foot, when correctly placed in any of them, may not be liable, as in the event of a fall, to be forced through the outer iron, in which case the lady would almost to a certainty get hung up if her saddle was not provided with a safety bar. In these stirrups, the side of the “tread,”46-* which ought to be to the rear, is generally indicated by the fact of its being straight, while the other side is curved (Fig. 24). This is done in Fig. 27, by the word “heel.”

Drawing of a stirrup. Fig. 22.—Latchford stirrup.

Drawing of a stirrup. Fig. 23.—Scott’s stirrup.

The chief faults of so-called safety stirrups are as follows:—

1. They may catch on the foot, on account of getting crushed by coming in violent contact with a tree, wall or other hard object, or by the horse falling on his near side. When I was living in India, I had a Scott safety stirrup jammed on my foot in this manner, by a horse which I was riding, making a sudden shy and dashing against a wall. The iron was so firmly fixed to my foot by this accident, that it could not be taken off until, after much pain and trouble, my foot was freed from both boot and stirrup. Had I been unseated, I would probably have been killed, because my saddle had not a safety bar.

2. Those which open only when the foot is put into them in one way, are apt to cause a fatal accident if put in the wrong way, which may easily happen from carelessness or ignorance (p. 64). The methods (straight edge of “tread,” or word “heel”) used with these stirrups, to indicate the proper side on which to put the foot into the iron, may convey no meaning to persons who are not well acquainted with the details of side-saddle gear, and in moments of hurry and excitement may be easily overlooked.

3. Any ordinary safety stirrup which is used without a safety bar may cause a lady to get “hung up,” if she is thrown to the off side and her heel gets jammed against the saddle in the manner shown in Fig. 28.

4. If the outer iron is small in comparison to the size of the foot, the rider may easily get dragged.

5. If the outer iron of a Scott’s reversible safety stirrup is large in comparison to the size of the foot (as in the case of a young girl), the rider may get dragged in the event of a fall, by the foot going through the stirrup. Accidents caused by a foot going through a stirrup have often occurred to men from falls when hunting and steeplechasing.

Some ladies think it “smart” to ride with a man’s ordinary stirrup iron, or (madder still) with a small racing stirrup, attached to a leather which does not come out. I once saw a lady who adopted this senseless plan fall and get dragged. By an extraordinary piece of good luck she was saved from a horrible death by her boot coming off.

All that can be said in favour of safety stirrups, is that they are less liable to cause accidents than ordinary stirrups. The fact remains, that the danger of being dragged by the stirrup can be entirely obviated only by the use of an efficient safety bar.

GIRTHS.

In referring to this subject, I cannot do better than give the following extract from Riding and Hunting:—

“Girths, while fulfilling their duty of efficiently keeping the saddle on a horse’s back, should be as little liable as possible to hurt the surface on which they press. Hence they should be broad, soft, and constructed so that their tendency to retain sweat between them and the horse’s skin may be reduced as far as practicable. They can best fulfil the last-mentioned important condition when they are absorbent and open in texture. It is evident that sweat retained between the girth and the skin will have the effect of the moisture of a poultice in rendering the part soft and unusually liable to injury from pressure or friction.

“As a material for girths, wool is superior to cotton or leather, because it is softer, more absorbent, and does not become so hard on drying after having become wet. The only drawback to ordinary woollen girths is that they are not sufficiently ventilated, an objection which has been overcome in specially constructed woollen girths that are sold by many good saddlers.

“The plan of giving ventilation by slitting up a broad leather girth into several narrow straps, or by using a number of cords of cotton or of plaited or twisted raw hide often acts well; but its adoption may give rise to girth-galls, if care is not taken to smooth out, when girthing up, any wrinkles there may be in the skin underneath the girth. It is evidently more difficult for the pressure to be evenly distributed by these cords, than by a broad girth which consists of one piece.

“Great care should be taken to keep girths clean and soft, and to oil them from time to time, if they be of leather.“I prefer a broad girth attached at each side by two buckles to two narrow girths. The Fitzwilliam girth, which consists of a broad girth with a narrow one over it, is handy with a martingale or breast-plate, through the loop of which the narrow girth can be passed.”

In a Fitzwilliam girth, the pressure of the narrow one on the centre of the broad one, makes the edges of the broad girth incline outwards, and thus apparently helps to save the horse from becoming girth-galled.

Girths should always be buckled high up on the near side, in order to prevent their buckles hurting the rider’s left leg, by making an uncomfortable bump in the flap of the saddle; and also to allow plenty of space on the girth straps of the off side, for shortening the girths as may be required.

BALANCE STRAP.

This is a leather strap which is attached to the off side of the rear part of the saddle, at one end; and to a strap close to the girth straps of the near side, at the other end. Before the days of safety bars, its near side end was usually buckled on to the stirrup leather, which was a faulty arrangement, not only as regards the leather (p. 36), but also because its degree of tightness was a constantly varying quantity which entirely depended on the amount of pressure that the rider put on her stirrup. The presence of a properly tightened balance strap helps to prevent lateral movement on the part of the saddle. Also it counteracts, to some extent, the excess of weight which almost every rider puts on the near side of her saddle; this good effect being due to the fact that the off attachment of the balance strap is farther away from the centre line (axis) of the animal’s body than the near attachment; and consequently the pull of the balance strap on the off side acts to greater mechanical advantage than the pull on the near side.

BREAST-PLATE.

The breast-plate is attached at one end to the girth or girths, and at the other end to the staples of the saddle. Its use is to prevent the saddle shifting backwards, as it might do if the girths were slack, especially if the animal was very narrow waisted. Even with a well-shaped horse, a breast-plate is often useful on a long day and in a hilly country. It is much in favour with hunting ladies. Staples are small metal loops which are fixed to the front part of the saddle-tree.

WEIGHT OF A SIDE-SADDLE.

In order to avoid giving a horse a sore back and consequently disabling him for the time being, it is essential to have the tree rigid, so that the weight may remain evenly distributed over the bearing surfaces of his back, which rigidity cannot be obtained without having the tree fairly heavy. The necessary width and length of saddle and strength of upper crutch and leaping head are also questions of weight. Hence if we require a saddle for rough and dangerous work like hunting, we must not entertain the ridiculous idea of having a light saddle, so that it may look particularly smart. A fair weight for a side-saddle is one-seventh of the weight of the rider, that is to say, two pounds for every stone she weighs, with a minimum weight of 18 lbs.

SHAPE OF THE SEAT OF A SIDE-SADDLE.

The level-seated fad which some fashionable saddlers try to impress on their inexperienced customers is an absurdity from a hunting point of view, because no one out of an idiot asylum would care to sit for several hours on a perfectly level surface, whether it was a saddle or a chair. The discomfort which such an attempt would entail, is due to the fact that the nature of our anatomy requires a certain amount of dip in that portion of the seat upon which most of the weight falls. The level-seated idea is purely theoretical, because no saddles are made in conformance with it. For hunting we must have comfort, without, of course, any undue violation of smartness. Besides, a certain amount of dip in the seat, similar to that shown in Fig. 16, is an aid to security. A cutback pommel (Fig. 11) improves the look of a side-saddle without diminishing the rider’s grip. The seat on the near side should be eased off, so as to allow the rider’s left leg to get close to the horse; and the near side, close to the cantle, should be made a little higher than the off side, in order to correct any tendency there may be to sit too much over on the near side.

The saddles which I used on Romance (Fig. 4), and Freddie (Fig. 7), about fifteen years ago, were not called “level seated,” but we may see that they are quite as neat and smart as those of the present time, which fact shows that very little change has been made in the shape of side-saddles since the eighties.

THE SADDLE MUST FIT THE RIDER.

The two great points in this requirement are that the upper crutch and leaping head should be in a suitable position, and the saddle sufficiently long, so as to be about a couple of inches clear of the back of the rider’s seat. The right position of the upper crutch and leaping head can be determined only by experiment. If the tree is so short as to allow any undue weight to fall on the cantle, the horse will naturally run the risk of getting a sore back. The height of the upper crutch and the length of the leaping head will vary according to the thickness of limb. We shall see on pages 150 to 152, that the position of the upper crutch which will suit a lady who hooks back her right leg, will not be applicable to one who carries her right foot forward; and vice versÂ. A saddle which suits a rider’s style of equitation will invariably fit her, if its tree and its crutches are long enough. Hence, if more than one member of a family wants to ride and there is only one horse, a saddle which will fit the biggest will suit all the rest.

CRUPPER.

The office of a crupper is to prevent the saddle working forward on the horse’s back, which it will not do if the animal is of a proper shape and the girths sufficiently tight. In ancient days, when riding-horses were more rotund than they are now, and saddles were not so well made, cruppers were generally used, but within the last forty years they have gone entirely out of fashion. A crupper is not to be despised in out-of-the-way parts abroad, when we have to ride animals of all sorts and sizes, and when we have only one saddle.

NUMDAHS AND SADDLE-CLOTHS.

As the principles which regulate the use of these appliances with cross saddles are the same as those with side saddles, I cannot do better than give the following extract from Riding and Hunting, with one or two additions:

“Saddle-cloths are generally made of felt, and their primary object is to prevent the panel from soaking up sweat and becoming thereby soiled and more or less spoiled. The term numdah or numnah, which is applied to felt saddle-cloths, is derived from a Hindustani word that signifies ‘felt.’ A saddle-cloth should be as thin as efficiency in serving its purpose will allow it to be, so that it may give as little play as possible to the saddle. Although the fitting of the saddle should as far as practicable be limited to the adjustment of the shape of the tree and to regulating the amount of stuffing in the panel; the use of a numdah with a saddle which does not fit the horse or which is not sufficiently stuffed, is often a valuable makeshift when necessity gives no other choice. The employment of an ordinary saddle-cloth is accompanied by the slight disadvantage, that the middle line of the back which is covered by the saddle is deprived of the benefit of air circulating along it, by the fact of the saddle-cloth resting on it. An attempt to remedy this objection is sometimes made by cutting a longitudinal piece out of the centre of the saddle-cloth. Here the cure is worse than the complaint, because injurious pressure will be exerted by the edges of the aperture thus made, especially if the edges are bound with tape, to preserve them from fraying out.

“A saddle-cloth should extend about two inches beyond the bearing surfaces of the saddle, so that its edges may not give rise to unequal pressure on the back, which would occur if the saddle-cloth was shorter than the tree.

“Saddle-cloths made of one thickness of leather admirably answer the purpose of saving the panel from injury; but for hunting and other long-continued work they have the objection of retaining perspiration, instead of soaking it up, as felt ones do. It is a good plan before using a new saddle-cloth, to rub a little neat’s-foot oil into its rough (upper) surface, which is much more absorbent than its smooth side. If neat’s-foot oil is not at hand, cod liver oil or castor oil may be used. The oily application can be repeated, according as the leather gets dry.”

As a substitute for a panel, Messrs. Champion and Wilton have devised a numdah lined with spongio-piline and covered with linen, to be used with a saddle, the underneath part of the tree of which is covered with leather. The chief advantage of this numdah is that a saddle which is provided with two or more of them, can always present a dry bearing surface to the horse’s back. A stout numdah of this kind can be used with a high withered animal, and a thin one with a horse which has thick withers. Its inventors claim that it distributes the weight better and keeps the saddle steadier than a panel.

SIDE-SADDLES FOR CHILDREN.

As children are unable to take the necessary precautions against accident, no considerations of fashion or smartness should outweigh those of safety for the little ones. Even the old handle at the off side of the saddle (p. 30) might be a valuable help to a very young beginner. The seat of the saddle and the bearing surfaces of the upper crutch and leaping head had best be of rough leather, and particular attention should be paid to the construction of the upper crutch and leaping head, so that a maximum of grip may be obtained, which is a point that is deplorably neglected by many of the makers of side-saddles for children. Children can ride in any comfortable saddle, supposing that it is not too small. I have taught very small girls to ride in my saddle and jump without reins on a horse 15-3 high. A lady who attended one of these lessons, which were held in Ward’s riding-school in London, made two sketches of her little friends which, by the kind permission of the Editor of the Queen, in which paper they appeared, I am able to reproduce. We may see that the small horsewoman is sitting well over her hurdle and is riding with comfort in a saddle that is far too large for her. The lady friend of the two little girls wrote about our work in the Queen of June 17, 1893, as follows: “I made the acquaintance of the authoress of The Horsewoman one morning in Ward’s ManÈge, where I went to see two little friends taking their riding lesson from her. It was a novel and pretty sight. Mrs. Hayes has inaugurated a method of instruction hitherto unpractised, and which must recommend itself to any one who sees the extraordinary progress which accompanies it. The children are dressed in gymnastic costume (Fig. 29) and it was the third time only that they had been put on a horse—a large horse it was too, and as patient and kindly as it is possible to be. The first thing Mrs. Hayes teaches is how to sit. By the pupils wearing no skirt she can see at a glance whether the position of the legs is right, and this is all-important.

“By the time I saw the children they were galloping gaily round and round, with radiant faces and flying hair, sitting better into the saddle, even at this early stage, than many a woman who considers herself a complete rider. They are not allowed to hold the reins; the hands lie in the lap, holding the whip across the knees, which accustoms them from the first to keep their hands low, besides teaching them to keep their seat without ‘riding the bridle,’ as so many people do. The horse is driven with long reins, like those used in breaking by Captain Hayes, and managed by him with the dexterity of a circus master. After a few turns at the canter, wicker hurdles are put up, and, to my astonishment, the children, without the slightest fear or hesitation, settled themselves down, leaned well back, and popped over without raising their hands or altering the position of their legs (Fig. 30). They had been over the same hurdles at the second lesson, and too much can hardly be said in praise of a system that has such results to offer in so short a space of time. Mrs. Hayes herself, as may be supposed, looks every inch a ‘workman’ in the saddle. She has ridden in most quarters of the globe; and, as if she sighed for other worlds to conquer, and were blasÉe about all sorts and conditions of horses, she rode a zebra at Calcutta which was broken within an hour by her husband sufficiently to be saddled and bridled. Her experiences on his back are entertainingly set forth in her book The Horsewoman, which is well worth the reading, not only for its hints on horsemanship, but for the many amusing sporting anecdotes. Her other book is one which one would hardly have expected from a woman whose life has been in so great a measure devoted to horses and sport. It is called My Leper Friends. A friend indeed they must have thought her, with her devoted sympathy and repeated endeavour to alleviate the sufferings from the most distressing and repulsive malady in the world. Another book is now on the stocks, the preparation of which keeps Captain and Mrs. Hayes for the present in England. That done, they will soon start again on their travels, England being a place that never holds their roving spirits long. The curiosities, and beautiful stuffs and feathers, which they have gleaned in many lands will have to disappear into big boxes and be warehoused, until some fresh store of adventures recalls the wanderers home.

“Meanwhile she teaches the art, of which she is indeed a past mistress, in a way which it is a pleasure and profit to see; and I can most conscientiously advise any mother to send her girls to her if she wishes them to at once become perfect horsewomen while remaining perfect ladies.”

We had so many charming pupils during our short stay in London, that I shall always regard this teaching period as one of the pleasantest events of my life. I often think about them all, and wonder how they are getting on with their riding, and, as their various difficulties have been present in my mind while writing this book, I have done my best to solve them all as clearly as possible. We put up small hurdles and got our tiny pupils to ride over them, because I saw that they had grasped my explanation and demonstrations of balance and grip, and it made them mightily proud of themselves, and keen on learning all they could about riding, when they found that they could sit over fences with ease. Although the school hurdles were small, our grey horse which they rode was a big jumper, which could negotiate a five-foot posts and rails with ease, so the children who rode him were unconsciously carried a far greater height than they imagined, for we all know that a big jumper makes a fine leap, even over small fences. In teaching children to ride we should always provide them with saddles in which they can obtain the grip that we ourselves require, and should see that the length of the stirrup-leather is correct. We should remember that the young horsewoman, however tiny she may be, requires to be provided with the best and safest appliances in the matter of stirrup, safety bar, and safety skirt, that we can give her; and I may say that if I had a daughter I would never allow her to ride unless her saddle was provided with Champion and Wilton’s safety bar, which I use, and unless she wore my skirt or the safe little coat shown in Fig. 57. If reliance has to be placed on a safety stirrup in the absence of Champion and Wilton’s safety bar, only the capped stirrup-iron (Fig. 18) or the slipper stirrup (Fig. 19) should be employed. I have no faith in one-sided safety stirrups for young girls, for we cannot put old heads on young shoulders in the matter of careful attention about placing the foot in the safety stirrup from the proper side. A groom may put the stirrup correctly on the foot of his young mistress before starting out with her for a quiet ride, but these men naturally know nothing about the correct length of the stirrup leather, and during the ride the stirrup may come out of the foot and be caught haphazard by the rider, with the result that, should she become unseated and thrown from her saddle by her horse suddenly shying with her, she may be dragged and killed. I therefore cannot too strongly recommend all mothers to see that their daughters’ saddles are provided with reliable safety bars, and of course that the children are provided with safety skirts, for a safety bar is useless if the rider’s skirt catches on the upper crutch and holds her suspended. In July 1897 a young daughter of a well-known nobleman was dragged by her stirrup and killed while exercising her pony in a paddock. As the stirrup was of a one-sided pattern, it must have been negligently placed the wrong way (Fig. 31) on the foot of the poor girl, who was only fifteen years old. I heard that rider, saddle, and pony were all buried on the same day. I would not be inclined to blame the groom if he were inexperienced, as many are, in the one-sidedness of so-called safety stirrups. Another equally terrible accident occurred in September 1893, when a young lady was dragged by her stirrup and killed while hacking along a road at Kilhendre, near Ellesmere, with her groom in attendance. As far as I could gather from the newspaper report of this sad accident, a butcher’s cart driven rapidly round a corner caused the lady’s pony to shy suddenly and unseat her, with the result that she was dragged by her stirrup and killed. At the inquest which was held on the body of this poor girl, the jurymen devoted their entire attention to the character of the animal she was riding, and as the father of the young lady, who had bred the pony himself, was able to show that it was a staunch and reliable animal, the usual verdict of accidental death was given. These twelve good men and true absolutely ignored the stirrup, which had been the sole cause of this awful occurrence, and concentrated their entire attention on the innocent pony she rode.

SADDLING A HORSE.

As a horse’s loins are ill fitted to bear weight, the saddle should be placed as far forward as it can go, without interfering with the action of his shoulder-blades, the position of the rearmost portion of which is indicated by the “saddle muscle,” which is a lump of muscle below the withers. The saddle can be placed about three inches behind it. Instead of putting the saddle on the exact part of the back it is to occupy, it is best to place it a few inches too far forward, and then to draw it back, so as to smooth down the hair under it, and thus make it comfortable for the animal. The front girth is first taken up, and then the next one, which is passed through the loop of the martingale or breast-plate, supposing that two girths of equal width are used. To prevent any wrinkles being made in the skin under the girths, and to make the pressure even, the groom should shorten the girths to about half the required extent on one side, should finish the tightening on the other side, and should run his fingers between the girths and skin in order to smooth out any wrinkles, the presence of which would be liable to cause a girth-gall. As girthing up, when the lady is mounted, will have to be done on the off side, sufficient space for that purpose will have to be left on the girth-straps of that side. After the rider has been put up, the girths should be again tightened, and it is generally advisable to repeat this operation after she has ridden her horse for a short time, especially if the animal has the trick of “blowing himself out.” With a Fitzwilliam girth, the narrow girth which goes over the broad one is passed through the loop of the martingale or breast-strap, supposing that one or both of these appliances are used. The balance strap should be tightened to a fair extent, though not quite so much as the girths, because the portion of the ribs over which it passes, expands and contracts far more than that encompassed by the girths.

If a saddle-cloth be used, the groom, before girthing up, should bring the front part of the cloth well up into the pommel with his forefinger or thumb, so as to prevent it from becoming pressed down on the withers by the saddle.

PREVENTION OF SORE BACKS.

The chief causes of sore backs brought on by side-saddles are:—

1. Badly fitting saddles. The fitting of saddles has already been discussed in this chapter.

2. Neglect in girthing up sufficiently tight. As the tightness of the girths diminishes according to the duration and severity of the work, the girths should be taken up after the lady has ridden for some time. For ordinary hacking, tightening the girths after, say, five minutes’ riding will generally be sufficient; but this operation should be repeated, for instance at the meet, when out hunting. Knowledge of the necessity of having the girths tight enough, to prevent the saddle wobbling, will enable the rider to take the necessary precautions against putting her animal on the sick list from this cause.

3. Undue weight on the near side, which is generally caused by too long a stirrup, by the leaping head being placed too low down, and by rising at the trot for too long a time.

4. Mismanagement of the horse after his return to the stable, which is a subject I will allude to further on.

CLEANING A SADDLE.

The leather work of a saddle should be kept clean and soft, with the stitches clearly defined, and not clogged up by grease or dirt. No stain should be left on a white pocket-handkerchief or kid glove, if it be passed over any portion of the leather. Beeswax may be used to give the saddle a polish; but it should be sparingly applied and should be well rubbed in, for it is apt to make the leather very sticky. Nothing but specially prepared or good white soap (made into a thick lather) should be employed to clean the leather work, except a little lime-juice or lemon-juice to remove stains. The use of soft soap permanently darkens leather. A small amount of saddle dressing may be put on once a month, in order to keep the leather soft and pliable. The steel work should, of course, be kept bright.

---