THE MODERN SIDE SADDLE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 48, 26 November 1892, Page 1178

THE MODERN SIDE SADDLE.

Somewhere about the year 1830, by an accidental circumstance, women's riding was revolutionised. An Englishman made a wager to ride a steeplechase on a side saddle. A preliminary trial showed him, I imagine, the rashness of the attempt. So, to minimise the danger by enabling him to sit safely, Mr Fitzhardinge Oldacre (I think) invented the third pommel. Looking back, one wonders how it was that women had not long before invented it for themselves under stress of urgent need. But one generation followed another, and no one seems to have thought of it. Once invented, however, it was immediately adopted, and a three pommel side saddle came into general nse. This invention at once re instated women’s riding as a fine art by producing a new departure under improved conditions. For the grip obtainable by its means gives the greatest possible security in exchange for the least possible expenditure of force. Saddles of this kind were cumbrous and very heavy, but during the following fifty years the weight of construction was gradually reduced, and little by little every unnecessary item was cut away, till in the course of time the threepommelled saddle evolved into the long, light hunting saddle actually in use al present. It differs in several ways from its prototype. In this modern saddle the long narrow cantie is built over a sort of tunnel, which takes in the horse's withers and allows the seat of the saddle to lie Hat; while the old fashioned seat sloped up and tilted the rider's knee with much the same effect as riding up hill. All traces of the outer pommel have disappeared, leaving a free space where no resistance is necessary. Finally, the lefthand pommel is placed high up the thigh, where the grip is strongest, the pressure having formerly been placed just above the knee, so that a shorter stirrup was necessary. Now, such greater leverage led to an exaggeration of movement, which prevented all rhythm, for obviously the closer the rider can sit the more possibility there will be of being • one ’ with the horse, of riding so as to blend with his action, of, so to speak, fidlowing the pattern of his movement. In the modern saddle all modifications tend to diminish effort and by greater security to enable the rider to sit very still. Strength of seat seen stometo be the result, roughly speaking, of three grips, caused by the opposing pressure of the two legs against the pommels. Of these grips the first results fiom the downward pressure of the whole length of the right thigh and the upward pressure of the left. The second is the grip just above the knee, of the right thigh against the pommel, involving the pressure of the leg just above the ankle on the saddle flap below ; this grip is counterbalanced by the left leg’s inward pressure at the knee. And, third, the hook back of the right leg over the pommel as opposed to the pressure of the stirrup foot. Moreover, by sitting far back the leverage of these three grips is increased, and the consequent distribution of the weight makes the balance right. The legs must be immovable on the saddle, but above the waist the body sways and gives to the horse’s action, and from constant habit a good rider adjusts the balance almost by instinct.