Although learning to ride in childhood is certainly an advantage, yet age is not necessarily an impediment to a woman’s learning the art. I have known many women who have never been on a horse’s back until they were forty years of age, or even older, who, after a few courses of lessons, have derived much pleasure from their riding, and, with application, have even become proficient. However, the best riders, like the best singers or pianists, are born, not made, and there is a grace about the natural rider that cannot be attained even by the most thorough training.
Form in riding depends chiefly upon a correct seat, and that in turn depends upon balance and correct position. Balance can only be attained by keeping the muscles relaxed and being ready to respond at any moment to every movement of the horse. It is impossible to acquire balance if all the muscles
are stiff all the time. The body should sway in rhythm with the horse’s gait. This not only looks well, but saves both rider and horse from all unnecessary exertion and fatigue.
Correct Position of Body in Side-Saddle
Incorrect Position of Body
Right shoulder too high and too far forward, caused by wrong position of right knee
Quite as important as balance is the proper position in the saddle. The first point, remember, is that the body must be squarely in the saddle, neither to the right nor to the left, and the right
thigh must be kept pointed almost directly to the front. The body is kept in this position by having both legs at all times in their correct position. The right thigh should be well down on the saddle and the right knee should both press down and pull back on the upper pommel. The right leg from the knee down should be kept close, but not rigid, against the saddle-flap and should be nearly vertical, neither
thrust forward nor sideways nor twisted back, and the right leg should not touch the left leg. If the right leg is kept in proper place, the right shoulder—the bane of so many women riders—will be neither forward nor down, but squarely in line.