Editing Sidesaddle (section)

==History==
[[Image:Catherine03.jpg|thumb|upright|Equestrian portrait of [[Catherine the Great]], as a young woman, riding sidesaddle. She also rode astride.]]

The earliest depictions of women riding with both legs on the same side of the horse can be seen in [[Art in ancient Greece#Pottery|Greek vases]], sculptures, and [[Celt]]ic stones. [[Medieval]] depictions show women seated aside with the horse being led by a man, or seated on a small padded seat (a ''[[pillion]]'') behind a male rider. Ninth century depictions show a small footrest, or ''planchette'' added to the pillion. <ref name= "georgialadiesaside.com">{{cite web| url= http://www.georgialadiesaside.com/drupal/?q=node/33 | website= georgialadiesaside.com |publisher= Georgia Ladies Aside | title= Sidesaddle History |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071009175611/http://www.georgialadiesaside.com/drupal/?q=node%2F33 |archive-date= 2007-10-09 }}</ref> These designs did not allow a woman to control a horse; she could only be a passenger.

In [[Europe]], the sidesaddle developed in part because of cultural norms which considered it unbecoming for a woman to straddle a horse while riding. This was initially conceived as a way to protect the [[hymen]] of aristocratic girls, and thus the appearance of their being [[virginity|virgins]].<ref name="truewest">{{cite news|title=The Scandalous Saddle|last=Bommersbach|first=Jana|magazine=[[True West Magazine]]|url=https://truewestmagazine.com/the-scandalous-saddle/|date=2017-10-27|access-date=2019-08-27|archive-date=27 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190827204135/https://truewestmagazine.com/the-scandalous-saddle/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name= "pethood">{{cite book| title= Childhood and Pethood in Literature and Culture: New Perspectives on Childhood Studies and Animal Studies |year=2017| publisher=[[Routledge]]|editor= Feuerstein, Anna and Carmen Nolte-Odhiambo| author= Ashman, Amalya Layla |isbn=9781315386201|article= "Oh God, Give Me Horses!" Pony-Mad Girls, Sexuality and Pethood| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=orU4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT184}}</ref> Further, long skirts were the usual fashion and riding astride in such attire was often impractical, awkward, and could be viewed as immodest. However, women did ride horses and needed to be able to control their own horses, so there was a need for a saddle designed to allow control of the horse and modesty for the rider.

[[Anne of Bohemia]] is known to have made the sidesaddle more popular with ladies of the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{cite book| url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_hvYPAAAAYAAJ | quote= anne bohemia sidesaddle. | last= Strickland | first= Agnes |title= Berengaria of Navarre. Anne of Bohemia | publisher= Lea & Blanchard| year= 1841 | page= [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_hvYPAAAAYAAJ/page/n317 309]}}</ref> The type of sidesaddle she used was a chair-like affair where the woman sat sideways on the horse with her feet on a small footrest. The design made it difficult for a woman both to stay on and to use the [[rein]]s to control the horse, so the animal was usually led by another rider, sitting astride. The insecure design of the early sidesaddle also contributed to the popularity of the [[Palfrey]], a smaller horse with smooth [[ambling]] gaits, as a suitable mount for women.

A more practical design, developed in the 16th century, has been attributed to [[Catherine de' Medici]]. In her design, the rider sat facing forward, hooking her right leg around the pommel of the saddle with a horn added to the near side of the saddle to secure the rider's right knee. The footrest was replaced with a "slipper [[stirrup]]", a leather-covered stirrup iron into which the rider's left foot was placed.<ref name="georgialadiesaside.com"/> This saddle allowed the rider both to stay on and to control her own horse, at least at slower speeds.

However not all women adopted the sidesaddle at all times. Women such as [[Diane de Poitiers]] (mistress to [[Henry II of France]]) and [[Marie Antoinette]] were known to ride astride. [[Catherine the Great]] of Russia went so far as to commission a portrait showing her riding astride wearing a male officer's uniform.<ref>Fraser, Antonia. ''The Warrior Queens'' Anchor: Reprint edition, 1990 {{ISBN|978-0-679-72816-0}}</ref>

===Two-pommel design===
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 | caption1 = Left (near) side, two pommel sidesaddle design.
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 | caption3 = Mrs. [[Esther Stace]] riding sidesaddle and clearing {{convert|6|ft|6|in|m|2|order=flip|abbr=on}} at the [[Sydney Royal Easter Show]], 1915, a feat made possible because of the leaping horn
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In the 1830s, [[Jules Pellier]] invented a sidesaddle design with a second, lower pommel. In this design, still in use today, one pommel is nearly vertical, mounted approximately 10 degrees left of top dead center and curved gently to the right and up. The rider’s right leg goes around the upright, or ''fixed'' pommel, which supports the right thigh of the rider when it is lying across the top center of the saddle. The lower right leg rests along the shoulder of the left (near) side of the horse and up against the second pommel (called the ''leaping head'' or ''leaping horn''), which lies below the first on the left of the saddle. It is mounted about 20 degrees off the top of the saddle. This pommel is curved gently downward in order to curve over the top of the rider's left thigh and is attached in such a way that it can pivot slightly, to adjust to the individual rider. The rider places her left leg beneath this pommel, with the top of the thigh close or lightly touching it, and places her left foot in a single stirrup on that side.

The impact of the second pommel was revolutionary: the additional horn gave women both increased security and additional freedom of movement, which allowed them to stay on at a [[horse gait|gallop]] and even to jump fences while [[fox hunting]] and [[show jumping]]. With this design, nearly all recreational [[equestrianism|equestrian]] pursuits were opened to women yet they could also conform to expectations of modesty. For example a world record in sidesaddle show jumping was set at {{cvt|6|ft|6|in}} at a [[horse show]] in [[Sydney]], [[Australia]], in 1915.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.rasnsw.com.au/timeline.htm |title= The Agricultural Society of NSW, "Country Leader", 6 Nov 1989 |access-date= 20 November 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081205011723/http://www.rasnsw.com.au/timeline.htm |archive-date=5 December 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The leaping horn was the last major technological innovation for the sidesaddle and remains the core of basic design even for saddles of modern manufacture made with modern materials.