Designed to prevent women from spreading their legs over the horse, sidesaddle supposedly preserved female chastity. It also was meant to display women’s bodies for male appreciation, limit their capability, and keep them dependent on men for assistance. However, women developed strong affectional bonds with horses and used the added contact of their seats when riding sidesaddle to communicate with their mounts with special subtlety and effectiveness—to the point where the humor magazine Puck portrayed women as centaurs whose human bodies had melded with the equine. Soon so-called lady riders were able to equal and even best men in equestrian sports, much to the amazement and consternation of many men at the time.
In the case:
Each object in the cases is marked with a corresponding number unless otherwise noted.
71. The American Horsewoman Elizabeth Platt Karr, originally published 1884
On loan from the Center for Research Libraries
By 1884, women’s riding had grown to the point of occasioning publication of this first equestrian manual by and for American women. Note the correct posture and leg position Karr specifies for sidesaddle riding, along with the carefully prescribed manner in which a gentleman is supposed to help a lady mount her horse. To mount by herself, which would be the first step toward independent riding, the lady would have to throw her right leg over the horse and then cross it back over her left leg. Women figured out how to do this, but it was considered unladylike.
72. Leather horse brush and iron pony shoes
Marra Collection
Vintage leather-backed body brush for horse grooming. Karr advocates that ladies spend time in the stable and not just leave all the horse care to employees; grooming one’s own horse establishes familiarity and intimacy with the equine partner that carry over into more effective riding.
73. Harper’s Weekly (Nov. 21, 1891)
Marra Collection
74. “Fashion’s Fillies,” Puck (Nov. 11, 1891)
Marra Collection