Riding for Ladies: With Hints on the Stable

by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue

The stirrup-leather of a lady’s saddle is generally attached to it by an iron ring, but I greatly prefer the spring-bar attachment, same as is used with men’s saddles. Many ladies say that it is apt, with pressure, to come away, and if this be the case, a greater objection could scarcely be urged against it, but, for my own part, I have never found it do so.

Peat & Co., of Piccadilly, have brought out and patented a really first-class article in this line, namely, Born’s saddle-bar, a contrivance which instantly releases the foot in case of a rider being either thrown or dragged. I can confidently recommend it.

A very simple way, which some like, is to have the stirrup stitched to a single leather, which is then passed through a ring, and drawn downwards to within an inch or two of the end of the flap. It is next passed round the horse’s belly, and buckled to a single tongue on the other side. This keeps the flaps of the saddle close, and the rider is enabled by it to shorten or lengthen her stirrup from the off side—an advantage not to be overlooked.

Girths are of various kinds. Some are in favour of the elastic webbing; others like the Fitzwilliam, which is a very excellent kind, and thoroughly to be depended on for general work. For myself, I strongly advocate the plaited girths, made of either hide, horsehair, or cord. Being open-work they admit plenty of air, and are calculated to prevent chafing.

I do not, as a rule, care for saddle-cloths, but no doubt they preserve the inside of a saddle very much. If used at all they ought to be very thin. To save a sore back, a sheepskin is best A leather saddle-cloth will keep pliant if in constant use, but if laid by for a while it should be moistened with a little oil. Cod-liver will be found the most efficient for the purpose.

I am not in favour of any of the so-called safety stirrups. Nicholl’s patent is the best of them; but I cannot help regarding them all as danger-traps, having twice nearly lost my life through using them. I therefore strongly recommend all lady riders to adopt a perfectly plain stirrup, such as is used by men, only of course smaller. A neat little racing stirrup served me faithfully for years, and I cannot advocate any other. Safety stirrups are perpetually getting out of order, and my experience of even the best of them is that they are liable to catch the foot and confine it in a dangerous manner, which the plain stirrup never does.

To ride with a slipper, even for a very young beginner, is strongly to be condemned. To allow children to use it is simply to train them to ride from it—thus sowing the seeds of a most pernicious practice. It feels so snug and comfortable under the foot that there is an irresistible desire to rest and dwell upon it: an evil of which I shall hereafter have occasion to speak.

Having now said all that I consider useful concerning saddles and bridles, I think it will be expedient to give a few instructions about putting them on; for, as I have already said, a lady or gentleman who cannot do this without the aid of a servant has yet (no matter how accomplished in every other way) something very important to learn.

To bridle a horse, go quietly up to him, holding the headstall in your hand. Make much of him for a moment or two before putting it on: not at all because you think that he is going to fight against it—no lady’s horse would be guilty of doing such a thing—but because it is a nice and right habit, and one to be put in practice upon every reasonable occasion. The way in which unthinking grooms drag poor horses’ heads about, and force heavy bits into their quiet, unresisting mouths, is enough to make a humane heart feel grieved and angry together. Gentleness is, however, a woman’s attribute, and the kindness with which most women usually regard animals is one of their most loveable traits.

When the headstall has been nicely fitted, take a glance over it, and note that the forehead-band is loose enough, and that the throat-lash will admit at least two of your fingers between it and the skin. Fit the snaffle-rein next, by the buckles, and see that it falls about half an inch below the angle of the mouth. If you are in the habit of riding with a curb, adjust it very carefully, observing the rule laid down in my chapter on bitting, of resting the mouth-piece on the bars of the mouth, just above the chin-groove. I know it occasionally happens that some irregularity about the teeth renders this a difficult thing to do, and where such is the case the bit must of course be slightly moved, but it ought to be placed only just as much above the obstacle as will be necessary to clear it. You must next hook the curb, taking the off side first, and leaving a link in reserve. Then come to the near side, and leave it length enough to afford two links—making sure also that it lies quite flat on the chin-groove, and has not the smallest tendency to rise upwards at the draw of the reins. Ascertain above all things that the chain is sufficiently slack, and that it does not inconvenience the horse. A good test will be for you to insert the first and second fingers of your left hand between it and the animal’s chin: slipping them in, so that the palm of your hand shall go beneath the under lip of the horse, and the back portion of your two fingers be exposed to the pressure of the chain; then draw the reins quietly with your right hand, and if you feel an unpleasant pinching, slacken the chain a link, and try again until you have it right. I said in my last chapter that the action of the mouth-piece on the bars of the mouth was entirely controlled by the branches, which also regulate that of the curb-chain, both on chin and bars. The pressure which it effects on these constrains the horse to obey the will of his rider. Now, when the curb-chain is left to hang in too loose a fashion, the pressure cannot be effected at all, and the branches go backwards, because they meet with no resistance from the curb-chain: and thus the action of the cannons on the bars of the mouth is altogether defeated.