BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Horses Any side saddle riders here?

Hi. My name is Kass and I'm new to BellaOnline. I'm a historical tailor and patternmaker by trade. My big passion is historical riding habits. Since many of my favourite riding habits were made for side saddle riding, my husband gave me a present of a side saddle lesson for my birthday last October. It was so weird not having one leg on either side of the horse! But it was very interesting. Are there any side saddle riders on this forum?

I am not a side-saddle rider but am interested in hearing more. Kass have you continued to take side-saddle lessons or are you riding side-saddle on your own?

I haven't continued to ride side saddle on my own, Susan, but primarily because I don't own my own horse. *blush* I am very lucky that my best friend owns a riding stable, and she lets me ride whenever I go over to visit her. But she lives about 45 minutes away and I don't get out there much. We both run businesses and they keep us so busy. My husband ocassionally says, "We have to get you side saddle riding again." So there is positive impetus for me to do it. It's just tough when you have to borrow someone else's horse and saddle. The saddle is the big deal. Side saddles have to be very closely fit to your body, and I'm very tall. So it looks like I might be buying my own saddle even before I get my own horse.

One word of caution - saddles also must fit the horse so you may want to wait to buy that saddle until you do have a horse in order to ensure proper fit. I am not that familiar with side-saddles but I am sure they have a tree - this is the base with which the leather, etc is applied - if the tree does not fit the horse then it can be damaging to the back muscles and spine.

Outside of that good luck with your ventures in side-saddle riding - and check back in from time to time.

Yeah. That's the other problem -- it has to fit the horse too! I don't have this problem when I ride at my friend's stable because she and I are about the same height. But she doesn't do side saddle. It seems like everyone I know who rides side saddle is at least six inches shorter than me. =(