Why do you ride side saddle?

Anyone involved with horses will understand that the vast majority of your time is spent doing distinctly unglamorous jobs such as mucking-out stables and generally looking an absolute state with straw in your hair and dirt on your face. When riding side saddle, and decked out in the traditional gear, on a good-looking ladies hunter, a lady is guaranteed to look and feel a million dollars and turn heads wherever she goes.

Didn’t it go out of fashion for a reason?

In one way the feminist movement which led to the demise of the side saddle missed the point of side saddle, which was that women had to make do with what they had for a long time in order to be on a par with men.

Horse riding competitions are rare in that, to this day, they are among the only sports in the world on which men and women can compete against each other and are judged on an equal basis. Consider horse racing, eventing and show jumping versus golf, soccer, GAA, rugby, rowing and so on.

How do you stay on?

This is an amusing question to all side saddle riders as we know how secure the saddle keeps us. It is in fact quite difficult to fall off a side saddle!

You can mount up as if astride, then hook your right leg around the upper pommel and keep the calf firmly gripped against the saddle, while the left leg tucks in under a pommel and the left foot goes into a stirrup as usual.

The rider has to have good core strength and be poised and supple. She has to keep her right shoulder back, her hips level, her right toe pointing down and her left foot completely level to the ground while imagining a thumbtack is sticking up out of the left hand side of the seat and thus keeping her weight over to the offside. When jumping, you can get forward and think ‘left shoulder to the horse’s right ear’.

SIDE SADDLE TURN-OUT

  • Ladies wear a habit. This consists of a beautiful double vented jacket with a cut-away front, worn over a pale waistcoat and an unusual matching skirt called an apron.
  • A cream or white silk stock is worn around the neck, pinned with a plain stock pin.
  • A black silk top hat is worn, with a veil across the face. A lady is expected to wear discreet make-up so that her features don’t disappear beneath the veil.
  • Black leather boots and cream, tan or brown leather gloves complete the outfit along with a spur or dummy spur on the left boot.
  • A cane held in the right hand gives the aids on the offside of the horse in lieu of a leg.
  • For ‘Ladies Hunter’ classes a well-bred light or middleweight hunter, with excellent conformation and pleasing way of going will catch the judge’s eye.

    • A revival of side saddle has begun in recent years, we now have a very active association with members ranging in age from eight to 80!

    We organise outings such as ‘have a go days’, special side saddle hunting days, and training clinics with saddles provided on the day, along with affiliated competitions at shows all over the country.

    Information is communicated through our website along with an active Facebook page, where our members can interact, help each other with any queries and share our events and photos. New members are always very welcome and will be given every assistance to get started.