The Horsewoman: A Practical Guide to Side-Saddle Riding, 2nd. Ed. Alice M. Hayes

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.

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      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.

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      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.

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      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.

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      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.

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      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