Side Saddle

It's Not You, It's DEFINITELY Me!

2012-02-13T20:07:00.000Z

Had a another brilliant side saddle dressage lesson today with Lili Brooksby and we ironed out some of the kinks we'd been having in our Prelim 1 test. Most of it, was due to me not sitting central enough and my right shoulder creeping towards the left which was confusing Hattie. I knew I was doing something that was affecting her but couldn't put my finger on it. I was getting tense with the shoulder turning to the left and this was having a domino effect.

Lili also got me to think of my outside rein as a "side rein" like you would use when lunging to help me keep a nice steady contact and to help me give with my inside rein, to think of it as if you were holding a champagne glass. I can also play with my fingers on the inside rein a bit too to help soften when needed. Another helpful visualization to help with all of this, if to think that on the off-side of me, that there is a wall guiding me when the actual wall of the school goes away like when riding on a circle or going across the diagonal.

I think it sounds strange, but the "wall" visualization really helped with keeping my shoulder back and keeping Hattie going nice and forward where I wanted her to go. She was nice and forward and our canters were nice and rolly with her starting to work in a nice elastic outline. I'm going to have to keep "WALL" in my head all the time now, lol.

Lili pointed out in the mirror for me to look at Hattie as she was carrying herself beautifully. Hattie can do it naturally, I just need to sort myself out so she can get on with it as Lili said that by the end of the year, that she wants me to do a Novice level test. EEEEEKK!!!

Since I don't have any photos of my lesson today, here is another image from my collection to appease you all. It's a stereoview from c. 1862. This image has always fascinated me due to the white bridles and martingales. Look at the tall stove pipe hats the ladies are wearing too!

New Acquisition!

2012-02-12T20:12:00.000Z

The weather has been atrocious here in England and I haven't been able to ride for the past week due to having a frozen school and sub zero temperatures (plus I've been poorly with my low blood cells and now have a stinking cold due to low immunity from my crappy blood!).

We FINALLY got to do a bit of riding yesterday and today as the school defrosted a little. Even though wood chippings tend to be slippery, at least you can still ride on them when it's cold as they crumble apart from each other rather than becoming rock solid like sand. Still couldn't do heavy duty riding in the school due to the frozen footing but we practised a movement from the Prelim 1 test where you walk on a loose rein from K to B then to H (like a V) before picking up the reins and a medium walk at H.

Hattie's free walk on a loose rein is better (not so much "lacking purpose" as before), but when I pick up the reins at H for the medium walk, her head goes up, ears forward and she is busy looking concentrating on everything except the job at hand. Grrrr....

We did this for 30 minutes yesterday and started to make a tiny breakthrough at the end so decided to "reward" Hattie with a canter down the long sides of the school where it wasn't frozen. She liked that.

Today that particular movement was a little better and she started to concentrate more at H but still her mind is on her boyfriend in the field!! We did a bit more cantering today and picked up a nice canter in the corner where it had defrosted with Hattie using her back but then we hit a bit of a hidden slippery spot in the school at the next corner so called it quits to end on a good note. Roll on summer...

I have my side saddle/dressage lesson with Lili tomorrow and will ask her if she could help us work on our Prelim 1 test which is in 2 weeks. Our entries for last Sunday's cancelled dressage show got transferred to March where we will be doing the Prelim 7 test on March 11 but I'm not going to worry about working on THAT test until this month's dressage is done and over. My brain can only handle so much at a time.

The farrier is due out this week (that reminds me, I have to call him) and will get my Beck Morrow head rebent AGAIN. I hope the iron can take it!! I'm hoping the saddler will come out this week with my off-side to test out the panels as well as I'm anxious to start riding in it.

I also have a new acquisition in my antique side saddle photograph collection, an 1880's CDV photograph showing a lady riding in an off-side side saddle!

The image has not been flipped as her bodice buttons on the correct side for females (you can see the seam where her handkerchief is tucked in) and you just just make out the throatlatch buckle beside the cheek piece buckle on the nearside.

The rider is identified as Grandma Jenney nee Ovendon with Walters scratched out. I did Google the name but nothing for that name or time period shows up for England. Maybe one day I will stumble across some information on her like I did with my off-side side saddle. I wonder where Jenney's saddle ended up? Note the lack of balance girth!

If I EVER get to show at the Nationals, I'm going to make a copy of this habit and ride in the historic costume class with this photo as my supporting documents. Hattie is dark like the horse in the photo, getting a double bridle would not be a problem and I already have a bowler, straight cane and the off-side side saddle!

Snow!

2012-02-05T22:39:00.000Z

Our schooling was better yesterday on the waxed sand surface in the indoor school that we booked at the stables down the lane from us. I definitely think Hattie is not keen on wood chippings at our place as her nicely rolly canter came back and she was a lot more forward. I still had to remind her to "make it happen" but it all in all it was good. She was a bit stiff on the right rein and our right rein canter transition was a bit rushed but I'm wondering if it's me as I realized yesterday that I was very tense on this rein and tend to get heavy handed. I'm wondering if the pain in my right hip has something to do with it. I caught myself doing it yesterday and it shocked me. It will be interesting to see what happens when my off-side comes back and I'm riding off my good pain-free hip.

I got my show pictures from the December "fancy dress" dressage show when I dressed as the Snow Queen from the Chronicles of Narnia and one of them made it into the January edition of Equestrian Life Magazine. the results were posted on their website as well (not my pic however). This is my favorite photo out of all of them that I bought and I plan on framing it...

On the Snow Queen theme, we had a good snowfall yesterday evening so it was probably best that Leicester Dressage did cancel their show for today. They are transferring my entry to next month's show so I've got to memorize the Prelim 7 test which has lots of cantering and "free walking" in it.

Pabs, Charlie and Hattie (on the right) about to canter off this morning...

Hattie in the snow...

Roll on summer...

Foiled Again!

2012-02-03T22:28:00.001Z

Woke up this morning to snow on the ground and -2C temperatures so wasn't too hopeful about the dressage show on Sunday happening as when it snows here in England, EVERYTHING shuts down- a far cry from when I used to show in Canada during the winter in -20C temperatures!!

Since I hadn't heard anything from the show organizers yet about the show being cancelled, I decided to practise some of the "easier" movements (i.e. the free walk on a long rein from K to B then B to H) as the school was too snowy and slippery to do anything faster than a bit of trotting. Since all dressage movements are judged out of marks from 0 to 10, if we perfect the easier movements as best we can, that will help to scrape more marks into our score even if we cock up the harder ones.

Our schooling was better than the other day and I took Michelle's advice to "make it happen!" when asking something from Hattie. I get into a rut with nagging her with my leg, doing a wimpy tap with my crop and Hattie just tunes out. I've been trying to ask nicely, then "make it happen" the 2nd time if she doesn't listen. It was starting to work!

In the Prelim 1 test, you enter at A at working trot and proceed down the center line and track right at C. I've been taking Lili's advice about setting Hattie up as if we'd be turning left as C as this keeps her straight down the center line. We always lose marks for drifting so hopefully, the judge will now notice our straightness!

Then at A you do a have 20m circle to the right at A, half 20m circle to the left at X, half 20m circle to the left at C and finish off the figure 8 pattern with a half 20m circle at X to the right before rejoing the track at A.

This figure 8 pattern has been causing me grief as Hattie tends to get strung out and our circles, not to circular. We practised just walking the pattern to see what the heck I was doing, then I broke it down into just two 20m circles, one at A and one at C then joined them up. Then did the same thing but trotting instead of walking. It helps me if I just forget the pattern being a figure 8 and just think that I'm essentially riding just two 20m circles and then my body kicks in somehow and I am able to ride "inside leg to outside hand" better (even on the right rein!!) and Hattie keeps the bend nicely and working across the back with a light contact.

Heck, I found if I rode the whole darn test as a "circle", we both went better. Maybe thinking "circle" is the way to go for us.

I still have the inside school booked for tomorrow at the show venue so can practice our canters and all our transitions better there are nice dry surface but another movement which also causes me grief in the Prelim 1 test is the "free walk on a long rein from K to B, B to H" (which we always get marked down due to Hattie going into plod mode) and then at H picking up the medium walk before asking from a working trot at C.

Usually what happens when we are switching from our free walk to medium walk at H, Hattie gets excited as she knows the trot is coming up, head up in the air, ears forward and then goes on the forehand in trot at C before I can correct her as we are going round the corner after C.

Today, I worked on getting her to walk more forward in the free walk by tapping FIRMLY with my left leg and reminder taps with my "right leg"- the schooling whip as well as using my voice to ask her to "walk on" (can't say this too loudly in the test however!). If I get her walking forward in the free walk, then she already has the impulsion when we go to "medium walk" at H. I also had to think "circle" at H as well to get her thinking and bending to the inside instead of her concentrating about how she gets to "go fast" at C.

It was hard co-ordinating this all but we got it eventually and then we FINALLY got a nice trot at C without wappiness and without me having to nag her.

After all this hard work, the text message came through on my phone from Leicester Dressage letting everyone know that they were cancelling the show on Sunday due to the darn weather. Foiled again by this wintery weather!

At least they are putting out entries through to next months show so I'm going to have to learn Prelim 7 for next month's Leicester Dressage show. Our practise with the Prelim 1 test hasn't been in vain however, as the other riding club, Hinckley Dressage, is running the Prelim 1 test at their show later on this month so I now have a couple more weeks to perfect it.

I took a photo of my winter riding boots by HorZe that I bought in November from Your Horse Live for a bargain £20. I needed some new winter boots as I couldn't stand another winter of having my toes frozen off in rubber riding boots. I was just going to use them for astride riding and stable work as I didn't think the foot part would fit into a side saddle stirrup and thought they would be too bulky for side saddle riding.

How wrong I was! they are so warm, comfy and SOFT for aside riding! the ankles aren't bulky and I am able to point my right toe down easily. The legs on the boots aren't too bulky so I can get my right leg on the safe. I highly recommend them!

More History and Progress On My Beck Morrow!

2012-02-01T22:34:00.000Z

Blech, think I'm coming down with a cold or something as I feel rotten. Not good when you have a dressage show in 4 days!!!

We've been practising our Prelim 1 test with mixed results. I've been trying to ride Hattie more forward, soften the inside rein , ride "inside leg to outside hand" and all that but she just reverts back to being a sluggish old donkey on the forehand.

Last weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), I did not ride side saddle at all and only schooled astride WITHOUT stirrups (40 minute schooling sessions at that!!) and we got some good riding done! Our transitions were good (our canters were brilliant!), Hattie was carrying herself and working in a nice outline, I was working that inside rein to outside hand and I thought, this is great!

Put the side saddle on her on Monday and it was like that good work we did, never existed. It's so frustrating as I think Hattie has figured out that when I'm side saddle, I only have one leg to use and she can ignore me. Beating my horse with the schooling whip, although very tempting when she tries to pull that crap, isn't the solution! She's on the forehand doing an annoying shuffle trot or either that, or she's going around with her head up in the air and ears forward looking at everything that is going on except the job at hand!

The footing in the school was better last week and at the weekend when we did that good work and it's gone slippery in there now with the temperature drop so maybe that is the reason that she has gone back into stubborn donkey mode.

I've booked the indoor school at the stable down the lane from me where the show is being held to see if we school any better on a surface which Hattie likes (the same place where we went for our brilliant lesson with Lili). We shall see...

On a happier note, my saddle came today to try and fit for size, the new felt panels he's made. The panels are still a work-in-progress so ignore how they look. My saddler asked me if I wanted them made into a Wykham pad or laced on like normal panels but can't decide. He said that it's quite a wide tree and I thought if I had them as a Wykham pad, then if I ever got another horse who was wider that I wanted to use this saddle on, that it would be easier for him to adjust the pad.

Even though the panels are rough looking, the balance of the saddle is better. You can see the layers of felt he's had to use to make the saddle level. He is going to think of a way to secure the off-side flap as well as I can't be dealing with the rubbish Victorian overgirth it had where you needed a groom to do it up once mounted.

My saddler is going to shave off the edges of the felt at an angle to plenty of space for her high yet fat withers while still being supportive on her back. A far cry from the thick bulked and bunched up felt that the saddle originally had in the gullet for a horse much narrower than Hattie.

Another view of all the layers my saddler has had to put so that the saddle does not ride uphill on her high Thoroughbred withers and also to support my right thigh. Looks nice and level! I think I went a bit nutty with my farrier opening up the leaping head for me as now it looks like the pommel on a cheap Indian made saddle. When my farrier comes back out, I'm going to have him keep the general curve of it but just fold it a bit forward.

Every single strap on this saddle needs replacing and my saddler needs to bring the billets a little more forward for Hattie but you can see the layers of felt he's needed to make it fit Hattie. Some of the antique felt he is keeping on the panel as it's good stuff.

I had a sit and a walk in it and it felt weird riding in my Beck Morrow after a whole year of riding just in my flat doeskin seated 1930's Whippy. The seat on my Beck Morrow is dipped and perfectly symmetrical unlike my Whippy which has the seat built out in a paisley shape to support your hip and thigh. It's going to take some getting used to again but I don't think I'll be jumping in it, it will be my dressage saddle.

I also found out more information about the Countess Pillet Will who owned my saddle.

Her name was Marie Marguerite Isabelle de Comminges-Péguilhan and was born August 17, 1874 (a bit of a weird co-inkydink as my middle name is Isabelle and my birthday is August 25, 1975).

She married Count Pillet Will in 1892, he later died of a mental illness but it seems early in their marriage, she had an affair with the Haut Commissariat de la Republique Francaise en Syrie et au Liban, Henri Jouvenel des Ursins. This affair was probably going on when my saddle was made in 1898 (she would have only been 24) but ended in 1911 when Henri met and married Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, a French novelist and performer.

Who would have thought and old leather saddle could carry so much history?

Goodness Gracious!

2012-01-23T19:40:00.000Z

Well, I don't know what sort of riding I did yesterday but it was RUBBISH!!!

We've been schooling all the time and then when it comes to the crunch, my brain goes into meltdown and I forget everything. Maybe I'm not meant to jump, probably best if that is left to the young who bounce well and the ~~stupid~~, I mean "brave", lol.

Maybe it's just me that is stupid! I don't even have to watch the below videos to say what I did wrong.

The course at the Sunday clear round show was 8 jumps and they set it at 1'3"- which was fine, some may have even been 1'6" (ok, worrying a bit now but we did 1'9" the other week and we lived to tell the story) but then there was this FREAKIN' BIG GATE jump set at 2'!!! When I saw that, it crashed my fragile confidence and the day went down hill. Riding the course, my legs felt like jelly and Hattie sensed it and refused the gate. Then I decided to "grow some" and tried to ride her as forward and aggressively as I could just to get her over that blasted gated and Hattie did so, even if it was rather begrudgingly.

After that, my mind was in a panic and all the jumps became a blur and my equitation went out the window. the only thing that kept me on Hattie was the pommels and remembering to keep my RIGHT SHOULDER BACK as a few times I started to feel myself twist to the left. Whacking my shoulder back, yanked me back securely into position.

Dressage is so much more relaxing as I can take each movement as it comes, I have to remember to take each jump as it comes and not think of the whole thing as a course. I also have to learn to trust Hattie too as if you look at the videos, she did her auto lead changes and then I would annoyingly bring her back into trot to change her canter leads when she was already put herself on the correct lead.

After the first round, some people wanted the jumps lower and they got rid of the gate so I decided to try and end on a good note for my own sanity. My riding was still rubbish but the round a little less hairy. I forgot the course too.

The good thing about clear round shows is that they are low key and it's only yourself that you are competing against as if you go clear, you get a rosette, if not, then you had £5 worth of jumping a course and using it as schooling.

I think with some jumps like more imposing ones like that blasted gate, I need to ride more aggressively and break down the course into a series of one jumps each so I can plan how I'm going to ride each one. With jump no.s 3 and 6 (the one at the end of the ring on a tight turn), I should have collected a bit more, really looked, rib up, rode inside leg to outside hand and that would have helped us make the tight turn. All the other jumps were straight forward but it was 3 and 6 along with the gate that tested us!

I'm glad I did it though as I didn't come off and I was not the only one that day to have problems with that gate, quite a few horses refused or hesitated at it and at least I did it side saddle! Hear's to Hattie as well as she is such a good horse, she takes care of me and gets me out of tricky spots even when I don't know what the heck I'm doing.

Us after our rounds with my looking exhausted yet relieved!
Do you like my braids? I didn't do my signature 21 braids but instead did 12. I just can't do just 9 braids like the showing judge told me to, Hattie just has too much mane and they would look big and lumpy so I just "compromised".

More Frosty Morning Work!

2012-01-14T21:27:00.000Z

It still was in the minus numbers this morning but the sun was shining and it melted half of the school so we were able to add a teeny tiny bit of canter and trot work in with out walk schooling.

We were mostly working on (well, I was) softening my inside rein especially when on the right rein (which I have been finding the hardest rein to do it on) and working on going down the center lines STRAIGHT.

At first, I practised both things at a walk just to get the feel and is started to click. For softening the inside rein, I really have to think about sitting up and back, right shoulder back and give giving inside hand a little bit forward but still maintaining a VERY VERY soft and gentle contact. As Lili said in my last lesson, it like feeling nothing. When we achieved this, I found that my outside rein softened even more to a slight contact on the rein and Hattie carried herself better. When we were doing this consistently at a walk, we upped it to a trot and practised it by trotted down the center line at A, halted at G from a trot, walked to C and then asked for a trot on the right rein until K when we picked up a canter. We did a mirror image of this exercise on the left rein as well.

I remembered while going down the center line to set her up as if we would be turning left at C to prevent her from drifting to the right off of the center line and I must say our lines were A LOT straighter today!

It's only baby steps just yet but I think today we made real progess with softening the inside reins and having straighter center lines. hopefully if we keep up this good work, we can claw back some marks from the judge next month when we do the Prelim 1 tests.

For those that don't live here in England but that wanted to read the mini article on off-side side saddles that was published in Horse and Hound magazine this week, they have put it online on the Horse and Hound website.

My saddler also called me yesterday to let me know that we will do a final test run of the new panels on my off-side Beck Morrow before he recovers them. His car blew up so he's not able to do any fittings at the moment but will let me know next week when he'll be able to come and finish my Beck Morrow which is good as my poor hip felt very jolted today.

Although the panels were originally covered in leather, I think I'm going to opt for linen lined panels as Hattie seems to prefer fabric to leather on her back. Maybe it is warmer for her and it does offer more grip on my awkward conformation than leather does.

Even though my Beck Morrow is coming back soon (hopefully), I'm still considering investing in an off-side Zaldi for heavy duty riding. I'm worried about wearing out my 114 year old Beck Morrow and although the tree is reinforced for jumping, the flat felt panels and sweepy seat, make it more suitable for dressage and flat work than jumping. It's something I'm going to have to think about.

Talking about 114 year old saddles....

This is a scan of a late 1860's- early 1870's CDV photo in my collection of a horse with a rather large side saddle on his back! The saddle looks new so maybe this photo was taken for posterity to celebrate the buying of a saddle which would have been rather expensive judging by the quality of it (wonder where it is now?). Nevermind coming past this horse's last rib, it's nearly to his croup!

Frosty Morning!

2012-01-13T23:05:00.000Z

It's been a bit spring like for most of December and into January but this weekend, it's supposed to dip down to about -1 to -2C and then go back up on Tuesday to a balmy spring like 6C. Meanwhile, until it heats up again this coming week, the outdoor ring has been frosty in the mornings when I can only school.

Us this morning taken when it was very white and frosty out!

It was too slippery in the school to do anything faster than a walk (and my right hip was hurting too) so just practised walking down our center lines for when we do our two dressage shows next month. Both are offering the Prelim 1 test but I don't know if I'm going to bother doing the Intro A test any more as I find it boring now. Maybe I will do one more at the first show as a warm up to get us back into the swing of things but I will have to see.

One of the comments that we always get on our test sheet is about Hattie drifting to the right of the center line so during my last lesson, Lili made me set her up after we turned at A to go down the center line, as if we would be turning left once we reached C. If I can scrape some extra marks for our center lines, so be it!

To do this, I find that it helps if I look just slightly left of C like as if I'm looking at the corner of the arena, hold her with my right rein and keep my whip on her side and invite by softening with my left rein while just keeping my leg on her slightly so Hattie doesn't actually head off to the left. I have to practise doing this on both reins although I find it slightly harder to master the turn at A to go down the center line when I'm on the left rein. I will practise this again tomorrow at a walk as it's going to be frosty start to the day!

Zaldi Makes Off-Side Side Saddles!

2012-01-12T20:21:00.001Z

Last year Zaldi came out with their newest and nicest model of side saddle called the Lady England which is based on a Mayhew Lissadel even with the correct Mayhew safety stirrup bar.

(Photo from Zaldi)

Becca Holland from the Flying Foxes Side Saddle Display Team, has been to the Zaldi factory and see their Lady England tree and she said that it is a proper made tree. She also suggested that I contact Hold Your Horses, where she is ordering her Lady England side saddle from as they are the UK authorized dealers of Zaldi saddles, to see if they could ask Zaldi about making an off-side saddle for me.

Well, Lesley from Hold Your Horses got back to me after I inquired and she said that Zaldi would make me a custom off-side Lady England with with the reverse Mayhew safety stirrup fitting! She quoted me a price which I thought was VERY, VERY reasonable for a CUSTOM OFF-SIDE side saddle although she did say that if she was able to get 5 orders together for off-sides, then she could renegotiate the price for me. SO if any one is wanting an off-side, then let me know as the more people we can get, the cheaper the price. Email me at crinolinegirl @ corsetsandcrinolines.com for more information (take out the space before and after the @ symbol in my email address).

This week's issue of Horse and Hound also came out today and in it was a mini article on the lack of off-side side saddles and the demand for them. It is talks about Lucinda Sims who is the grandaughter of Betty Skelton, about how she had to give up riding aside two years ago due to her having arthritis in her right hip (same as me) and in her knee and how if she could find an off-side side saddle, then she would be able to ride without pain again. The article goes on to quote Laura Dempsey about how rare they are, how they are not able to be made any more due to lack of trees and how most of them end up going to the USA. Then the author quoted me about me finding my Beck Morrow and being able to ride without pain in it!

I've tried to email Lucinda Sims about the off-side Zaldi side saddle but her email address keeps bouncing. I'm going to try again tomorrow and if not, contact the author at Horse and Hound if she can pass on the message for me as she takes side saddle lessons from Lucinda Sims.

Hopefully, this article will kick start some more interest in off-side riding as the demand is there and in 2012, you would think that the technology would be there to make an off-side tree easily. Hopefully Zaldi will be able to fill this void in the market now.

The Unexpected!

2012-01-10T22:04:00.001Z

I schooled today and were practising transitions and continuing our work with nice active trots and canters. Although I love practising dressage, Hattie doesn't and I could tell she was bored today as she was a lot of work to get going forward and was heavy on the forehand. Not like the nice trots and canters with her using her back like we've been getting. I kept remembering to soften the inside rein and this did help but Hattie just did not want to work today.

We did some parts of the Prelim 4 test where you do a..
-20 metre circle in a working trot on the left rein at E,
-at K, you ask for working canter,
-at B a 20 metre circle in working canter before returning to a working trot at C,
-changing rein at HXF
-ask for working canter at F,
-at E 20 metre circle in working canter,
-then return to working trot at C.

I often use this sequence as a schooling exercise as it peps Hattie up a bit, it's good for practising transitions and makes me practise riding with inside leg to outside hand and forces me to soften the inside rein.

After I managed to get some ok work out of her with that sequence, I decided to whack up a jump just to keep her happy as she enjoys jumping.

I couldn't be bothered messing around with the jump cups and was fed up with doing cross rails as Hattie gets lazy with them so out the pole across at the height I figured about about 1'3"- 1'6".

We did it first on the left rein which is her good rein, and Hattie was nice and balanced with a nice rolling canter. I remembered to sit back, keep my right shoulder back, point that right toe down, hold her with my outside rein and soften the inside. It was fun and Hattie really basculed over it. It's HARD to get forward over a bigger jump in a side saddle!!

The right rein was iffy and I kept having to go back and balance her with transitions and really forcing myself to sit back and soften the inside rein. I'm finding it really hard to do that on the right rein.

After a refusal, a couple of last minute pop ins and knock downs on the right rein, we managed to sort it out. Did some more balancing in the transitions and found that I had to ride her REALLY forward on the right rein yet at the same time, hold her with the outside, REALLY put my right shoulder back to act as my "inside leg to outside hand" and concentrate on keeping that inside rein elastic and soft. We got two good jumps to finish off in the end and we were both knackered and sweaty after our 40 minute session of schooling.

Afterwards when I went to put the jump away, I measured it as it looked massive and I'll be darned if it didn't measure 1'9"! Flippin' heck , no wonder it felt like Hattie was jumping over a mountain!

Photographic proof that we did that height...

I was happy that I finally jumped that high in a side saddle and we did alright but I don't know if I getting too wimpy as I don't know if I like jumping that high. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it but don't know if I would like doing whole courses that high. The odd jump that they have at that height in the Riding Club Horse classes at shows is one thing but I don't know if I would ever feel happy jumping a course at that height. I'm just going to take it slow and work on our flat work with the odd jump added in for fun. I'll be jumping at the next clear round show but I don't want to do 1'9", I'll stick to doing it a bit lower for the time being as you always school higher at home than what you show at.

The saddle felt ok flatting and jumping today though so that is good. It's not gone right forward on her shoulders, just stayed put where it normally wants to settle on her conformation.

Hattie looking in good weight and muscle with all the work we've been doing for the summer shows and saddle sitting pretty level.

I must say though, that a Whippy is truly a good saddle for sitting on, while sailing through the air on a horse!

Ouchies!

2012-01-07T20:04:00.001Z

I'm seriously stiff and ouchy after my side saddle lesson on Thursday. Are stomach muscles supposed to hurt??? Went on a hack yesterday and then decided to do some schooling and see if we could do again what we did on Thursday during our lesson.

Well, I feel like a total beginner again. Who knew that riding correctly would make you regress!

Why is it when you learn something new, you feel like a total numpty all over again? Pain aside from using muscles I wasn't using before (who knew stomach muscles help you ride side saddle?!), I was all over the place today trying to remember to stop nagging Hattie and ask her to move forward desicively, remembering inside leg to outside hand, give with the inside rein....

I found it easier on the left rein to do all this (well, at least "inside leg to outside hand" was) but we struggled a bit on the right rein. I kept having to recheck my position and reset myself BUT we struggled on and despite muttering "ouch, ouch, ouch" with each stride of trot jolting my sore core muscles, we managed to squeeze out a bit of good riding today.

Our trot was more active (much to the disdain of my poor core muscles!) and Hattie was starting to soften and lower her head when I remembered to become more elastic with my inside rein and ride inside leg to outside hand (I find this takes A LOT of co-ordination). Our canter was rolly again too!! I couldn't believe we managed to do out rolly active canter today!

I didn't bother practising our center lines today (sorry Lili!) as I was knackered after 30 minutes of all that forward riding and rolling canters but will try again tomorrow :)

Hopefully, my co-ordination and fitness will come today soon as I have two dressage shows next month. Both are offering the Prelim 1 tests which I know and will be a good thing to practise all this new correct way of riding that Lili has taught me. It will be interesting to see what the judges comments will be.

For your viewing pleasure after reading all my ramblings, is one of my favorite videos from the British Pathe archive showing the Ladies Point to Point race from 1923. There is a good shot of a Champion & Wilton side saddle too!

DIANAS OF THE CHASE

I'm Still Buzzing...

2012-01-05T22:35:00.001Z

...from my BRILLIANT lesson today that I had with my favorite ever instructor, Lili Brooksby. She is pushes you because she knows you can do it and then you are knackered at the end of your lesson (lol) but you end up doing things that you never knew you could do!!

Lili said how well conditioned and muscled Hattie had become since she last saw her and that we had improved since our last lesson together which was last February I believe! I told her that I had kept in mind everything she had and we had practised as best as I could. She said Hattie was a lot more forward and we worked on transitions, riding with inside leg to outside hand, working on our centre lines, softening my inside rein and getting nice active trots and canters with Hattie using her back and me softening my inside rein.

We had some good active trots and Hattie's canters were AMAZING!!! I didn't even know that Hattie could canter like that. She was using her back, I didn't need to prop her up with my inside rein, for once in her life she wasn't on the forehand and it felt like it was riding a rocking horse. Tt was so active and EASY, so comfortable to ride. I caught sight of us in the mirror and Hattie's legs were in the air when she was cantering, it was lovely.

I remembered to scoot up as far forward as I could get in the saddle and didn't have any problems with the saddle slipping to the left or with it irritating Hattie. Judging from how she was going today, the saddle seems to be ok, it was me that was the problem.

So things I have to practise before our next lesson in February...

-Remember inside leg to outside hand (and when riding on the right rein, use my seat more and remember not to let my whip slide too far back as I'm prone to do).
-Keep a contact with my outside rein and soften the inside rein by making my wrist more elastic and giving slightly towards her ear (sounds like gobbildy gook as I'm writing this but in my brain and muscle memory it makes sense!).
-Don't nag Hattie with my leg, ask her decisively!
-Keep the pace active in downward transitions.
-Look where I'm going even before I come around the corner to turn down the center line. Lili said to pretend there is a big Oxer on the center line so that forces you to look. To stop Hattie drifting off to the right of the center line, I need to set her up by looking to the left and opening my left rein so that she thinks I will be turning left at the end of it.
-While on the right rein, I've been turning too late to go down the center line and over shooting it, I need to start turning about a meter before the letter. On the left rein, I need to wait a fraction later to turn so about 1/2 meter before the letter. This is something I need to play around with.

So lots of stuff to keep Hattie and I busy this month!

No piccies of my lesson today (next time!), but here is an unusual late 1860's- early 1870's CDV photo from my collection showing a man and a woman dressed for riding, waiting by the stable door. I like how you can see the groom's head just poking out! I wonder who the horse was tacked up for?

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

2011-12-31T19:37:00.001Z

Looking back at all the side saddle things Hattie and I have accomplished over 2011, I must say we haven't done too badly despite me breaking my rib and Hattie getting that darn bump on her withers from an ill fitting saddle! We finally got to go to some shows where we did very well, did some jumping, FINALLY managed to do a couple of Prelim tests AND despite countless unsuitable saddles, we managed to find our beloved Whippy- without with, we wouldn't have been able to do all this fun side saddle stuff this past year.

So I take this opportunity to thank my saddle...thank you Whippy!

What plans do I have for 2012?

First thing is first, I have the side saddler coming out in January to DE-flock my side saddle. Then this coming year, plan to continue doing the Prelim tests, work on our jumping and attend the clear round jumping show which is held every month- maybe work up the nerve to jump higher than 1' but we'll have to see!! Hopefully we will be able to attend more shows as well if I am lucky enough to get lifts if not, then we'll just stick to the shows we normally do in the summer. Hopefully, I will be able to find another off-side side saddle as well to do some competing on too.

I would also like to join the International Side Saddle Organization and enter their points program too so I need to get my membership sent off to them.

So quite a few things to do this coming year!!

Now, time to get off the computer and pull some left over Christmas crackers but would like to wish all my side saddle friends here and their families, a VERY HAPPY AND SAFE 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Jumping!

2011-12-30T15:57:00.002Z

My friend Gill and I booked the indoor school at Blaby Mill Stables to practice some jumping as the Christmas show that was cancelled on the 18th, has been postponed to a later date so that means we will have two jumping shows in January. Whoo hoo!!

Hattie quite happy to jump today and we had fun! We'll never be international show jumpers but we are quite happy popping our little fences. Keeps Hattie happy as she loves jumping and keeps me feeling alive!

Did some flatwork which was nice and forward (it has really made a difference with my saddle fit and Hattie's way of going with me scooting as far forward as I can get on my saddle), then it was jumping time which Gill graciously filmed (she asked if she could have a go on my saddle next time!). I'm pleased to see how rock solid my right leg has become.

Our first attempt with a straight on the left rein, Hattie was good with this one but she was staring to get hyper so we put the fences down to a cross rail after...

After we put it down, Hattie was still a little frazzled so it is our "blooper" video. I think Gill was being sarcastic at the end, LOL.

Jumping on the right rein, Hattie was starting to calm down...

Our blooper video, I didn't ride her forward enough (and our line was wonky) and she got lazy with her feet.

One more time on the right rein to end on a good note...

And once more on the left rein to end our schooling on a good note!

If I Could Turn Back Time..

2011-12-28T20:06:00.002Z

My first side saddle lesson was a complete disaster. It was a clinic with Roger Philpot in May 2009 at Witham Villa Riding Centre and was going to be my first ever proper side saddle lesson as up until then, my aside instruction had consisted of reading books, looking at You Tube Videos and trial and error! Hattie had only been ridden TWICE aside before as well and that was only walking around in my field with my old C&W with it's narrow panels!!

I was so looking forward to the clinic and it was a bargain at only £25. The side saddler had also come out in February to make a Wykham pad for my old C&W and had promised that it would be ready in time for the clinic in May so I was looking forward to using my newly renovated saddle at the clinic as well.

Well, nothing ever happens like it's supposed to and it all went to pot. It ended up being a BAKING HOT day and the saddler didn't have my saddle ready for the clinic so Roger Philpot had to loan me a saddle on the day (a Mayhew). It fit me nicely and seemed to fit Hattie nicely BUT if you have been reading my blog long enough, you will know how awkward a horse Hattie is to fit, even if you have the correct tree width and everything.

All was well walking around the school at the beginning of the lesson, that is, until the midges came out. It was then, for the first time, that I discovered that Hattie is a head shaker during the midge season in the summer and needs a nose net to be ridden in when it's bad day. I had only had Hattie since December 2008 so had not encountered the hot midge season with her and was not informed of this! That hot day out of all the days, was the worst and eventually near the end of the clinic, one of Roger's assistants managed to find and borrow a nose net from one of the private boarders at Witham Villa as Hattie was unrideable.

Not only did the midges ruin our lesson, but as soon as we started trotting, that darn Mayhew did nothing else but to shoot straight onto Hattie's shoulders which caused her to have a bucking fit. So I had a head shaking bucking bronco to deal with as a beginner aside rider.

The assistant came to my rescue, tried to adjust the saddle again, led me around at a walk and gave me pointers on my position. I was pretty disappointed with the day as I was looking forward to riding and having a canter as everyone else got to canter, even those who had never ridden side saddle before. At the end of the lesson, Roger also told people what saddles they should get, if they were ready for County standard showing, tips for their riding, etc but I was just kind of left out which made me feel even more like useless crap as I needed some guidance. That Mayhew saddle shooting forward, was a hint of things to come!

I made sure to invest in two nose nets when I got home which I still use when it's midge high season.

My husband had video'ed the day but he deleted it as it was crap so I never got to see the little bit of riding that we did. Surfing on You Tube tonight however, I stumbled across a video taken by the friend of one of the other riders in the clinic! You can see the kind of stuff we or shall I say, they, did that day and see Hattie and I just standing there like bumps on a log (everyone else had greys) along with when the assistant finally managed to track down a nose net and tie it to Hattie's noseband.

Roger Philpot hasn't come back to Witham Villa since but if he ever does, Hattie and I will be prepared with nose nets and a Whippy with a point strap on it!!

Telluride Historical Museum: Saddle Up!

2011-12-26T20:14:00.001Z

Found this while Googling "side saddle" as you do, a nice image of a Western side saddle although the author is slightly misinformed that you need two men to "hoist" a woman in a side saddle! A mounting block will do just fine :)

Telluride Historical Museum: Saddle Up!: First invented in the 1380's as a means to protect the virginity of aristocratic girls while riding, the primitive sidesaddle was chair like...

YAY! No Snow!

2011-12-26T20:02:00.000Z

After the show got cancelled last Sunday due to the light dusting of snow, it's been very spring like out. Hopefully it will stay that way for the rest of winter as I REALLY HATE snow.

Last year our annual Christmas Eve pub hack got cancelled due to bad weather (ice and snow) but this year, it was very green!!

Got my top hat and veil out, decided to wear my wool habit as although it was spring out, it would have been too cold for my lightweight Mears habit and put Hattie's pelham bit on her bridle since it was a special occasion. It's a lozenge pelham (like a KK bit but stainless steel instead of Herm Sprenger's Aurigan metal) and Hattie went really well in it. It was the first time I rode her in this particular bit too so I think I may use it as her showing bit in the summer.

I also experimented with double rein placement after reading several ways of holding double reins and decided afterwards that the snaffle rein held under my little finger and the curb between my little and 4th finger was the most comfiest and easiest for my hands.

The pub we go to, called the Glen Parva Manor, was built in the mid 15th century so it has a nice atmosphere about it especially on Christmas Eve. It was a fun day and here are some photos of the festivities!

Cheers!

An Edwardian Sportswoman's Riding Corset

2011-12-18T21:17:00.001Z

Bah humbug, I HATE snow!!! Here in England, if it snows a few flakes, everything shuts down and gets cancelled.

It was supposed to be the Christmas clear round jumping show today run by my local riding club but instead it got cancelled at the last minute this morning due to the light sprinkling if snow we had this morning just as we were about to get ready.

I was so disappointed as the show got cancelled last Christmas but that was understandable due to the amount of ice and snow we had. This year, it was going to be a bit special as we were going to jump side saddle and my 10-going-on-11 year old son was going to enter the kid's fancy dress class on my friend's Connemara, Smokey.

I had started the costume last year but never finished it as the 2010 Christmas show got cancelled a few days beforehand so I ended up finishing it this week in preparation for today's show. Now he will never get to wear it after all my hard work, as it probably won't fit him next December and he will be nearly 12 for the next show and more than likely, won't want to do the class (it took much coercing to get him to do it this year). All ruined due to a light dusting of snow that was gone before I got back home before 10:30 the morning (the show was supposed to start at 10:30).

I was too annoyed to ride today so instead, here is a look at a lovely turn of the century riding corset which was once part of my antique corset collection...

1900- 1905. A sporting corset made from creme colored silk and lined in white jean.

Although there are no maker's marks present, it was most likely made by Symington(Market Harborough, Leicestershire). The Symington corset collection describes the corset as being "an avant-garde design for the sportswoman, this corset includes many features and adaptations to make it suitable for riding, cycling, tennis and golf."

The corset is cut under the bust to allow the body to move with ease and cut high in the hip to allow for the correct position during side saddle riding.

The top and bottom edges of the corset are trimmed with a narrow band of Broderie Anglaise. Extremely narrow rows of cording run parallel with the top and bottom edges of the corset. The boning is whalebone and runs the full length of the corset at the sides and alongside the grommets while shorter whalebones are seen on the stomach and back side panels. These short bones along with the cording, would have given the figure the required support yet still allowed for ease of movement during sports. Stocking suspenders on this corset were kept to a bare minimum of two so that stockings could still be worn but without the constraint of additional suspenders.

The busk is perfectly straight as was fashionable during the Edwardian era. Measurements: Waist 22 1/2", Busk length 11".

What Are The Odds?

2011-12-14T20:30:00.000Z

We did some schooling today for the clear round jumping show on Sunday despite the freezing cold and it went good! I remembered to scoot myself MUCH more forward that I was used to and the saddle didn't feel too bad in doing so. The panels will still need bringing down all over due to being so overstuffed but sitting more at the front of the saddle, caused it not to tilt to the left so much and opened up more room behind for my big bum. Hattie seemed happier and our jumping was quite good. She took off on the correct spot and got her correct leads afterwards. Hattie will do auto-changes BUT, and a big BUT, only if I'm sitting balanced and secure. I think she was happier with my sitting more at the front of the saddle.

It felt weird as I'm not used to it but it did feel secure. I kept having to check that I could get two fingers width between the back of my knee and the fixed head to make sure I hadn't slipped back. In the 20- 25 minutes we were schooling, I pretty much stayed put and only once had to "reset" myself to sit more at the front of the saddle so that was good!

I've got the rest of the week to adjust to my new position so hopefully by Sunday, we will be ready! If this cold weather keeps up however, I'm going to have to wear my vintage 1930's wool habit despite it being a teeny bit short for me and my wool waistcoat as my summer weight Mears habit is going to be FREEZING!

On the subject of vintage things...

For over 10 years now, I have collected old photographs of side saddle riders. The earliest image I have is from the 1850's with most stretching over the entire Victorian period with the latest image dating from the early 1930's. Most of my photos have been bought on Ebay but some have been bought from antique fairs.

One such image was one that I bought probably about 2004-ish. It was before I got back into riding and horses due to life stuff and pregnancy any ways but at least collecting side saddle images kept me connected to horses in a way. An antique dealer that I used to see at fairs, kept it aside for me as he knew I collected side saddle photos and thought I would be interested in it. I think he was asking some silly price like £5 for it so I bought it. I always wondered who it was in the photo and thought it was just a photo taken of some regular unknown woman on her horse as all it had to identify her was, Diana "Beautiful" 1923, hand written in old ink on the photograph. The plain frame and old mount that it's shown in, are original to the photo.

Fast forward 7 years to 2011 and I'm sitting yesterday evening flicking through my To Whom The Goddess book written in 1932 by Lady Diana Shedden and Lady Apsley, when I came across the SAME photo on the frontispiece and identified as Lady Diana Shedden herself!

This is the frontispiece photo scanned from my book...

I have owned this book since last November when I bought it from Your Horse Live but never put two and two together, I may not have even realized their was a frontispiece as I was busy looking for the information on Mrs. Straker, whose several side saddle habits I had owned in 2005.

Mrs. Straker probably knew Lady Shedden as all the hunting ladies knew each other back then as they were all of the same social standing. This is probably why Mrs. Straker's photo is in the book but what are the odds of me owning items from both ladies all these years in the future without realizing it AND buying them even before I started riding side saddle??!! I think this realization is confirmation that I'm meant to ride side saddle! :)

It's Not You, It's Me....

2011-12-10T20:52:00.003Z

We have a Christmas clear round jumping show next so my friend and I had the indoor school booked at Blaby Mill Stables for today to practice some jumping! This is the same ring where we had our disastrous warm-up last Sunday but today Hattie was a different horse with the grippy gel pad underneath the saddle. I had decided to school side saddle today instead of astride to see what was going on with the saddle and if the gel pad does indeed make a difference as I know for a fact that Hattie likes the ring surface at this venue.

We did some good jumping today and Hattie was happy so I think we will stick with the gel pad until I can get my saddle flocking sorted out.

Afterwards, we headed home as we were having a visitor bring their Champion & Wilton side saddle for us to try. Louise arrived mid-day with a beautiful tan C&W in tow and I was in love with it. Anyone who knows me, knows that I ABSOLUTELY ADORE tan tack- all my astride tack is tan and I wish my side saddle stuff was too. Louise also judges side saddle classes and has ridden in side saddle showing classes to a high level so I was lucky to get a few hours of her expertise!

Louise said that ideally, Hattie could do with a slightly smaller saddle but because I'm very tall, that it was a case of making do with the best fit saddle I can get. She said the length of my 17 1/2" Whippy and her C&W (which looked about 17 1/2") were ok though but I wouldn't want to go longer than them so 18" saddles are out for me.

She put her C&W saddle on Hattie's back and it seemed a good fit gullet wise and was away from her withers however riding it in, soon showed that it seemed to be the wrong tree shape and fit for Hattie. It went forward onto her shoulder bone like my old C&W did and pinched very badly. I told Louise this is what my old C&W did and that it seemed to confirm my suspicions that Hattie is not a C&W horse! I think C&W trees curve TOO inwards just below the gullet for her.

However, the short time I rode in it, it was VERY comfortable and the wide seat fit my butt perfectly. It was like sitting on a heavenly saddle and I felt very secure even though the seat and pommels were pigskin. I always wear full suede seat breeches but I felt that seat was very comfortable and secure. If it would have suited Hattie I would have bought it in an instant as Louise said that I sat well in it and it suited my height.

This is the saddle that Louise is selling and is still available if anyone is interested in it. The seat is a generous 17 1/2" (approx. 21 1/2"- 22" US measurements) and the tree width is a medium to medium/wide fit. She is asking £1200 ono and is based in Newark, Nottinghamshire. She said that I could forward her email address onto any interested parties so email me at crinolinegirl @ corsetsandcrinolines.com (remove the space before and after the @ sign) so I can forward her contact details on.

One thing Louise did say was that I sit too far back and I need two fingers clearance between the front of the fixed head and the inside of my knee so she scooted me forward..A LOT forward than I'm used to sitting and it opened up MUCH more seat for my fat butt to sit on. She did this with me on both her C&W and my Whippy. In fact, she REALLY got me forward on my Whippy due to the high placement I have the leaping head set on.

I then did walk, trot and canter riding on my Whippy with this new position and my saddle felt secure. It did not feel like it was tipping, did not feel like I was riding uphill and did not shoot right onto her shoulders. Louise said to try to work on my position with sitting more forward than I have been and see if that helps my saddle but that I should keep using my gel pad in the meantime. I knew that my butt had something to do with the saddle shifting...

Generally, she said that my Whippy seemed to fit Hattie quite well, that it sat quite nice and level on her back and that the shape of the tree followed her nicely BUT that the panels were too bloated and needed an overall "de-flocking" to bring the whole saddle down a bit more on her. So basically, my saddle needs to lose some weight!

That is good news as that means I don't have to sell my beloved Whippy and have to fork out ££££'s for a new saddle but instead probably a couple of £££'s for a complete reflock which is more doable for me.

Louise also gave me some tips on turnout and said that I don't have to do my 21 tiny North American Hunter Braids but that 9 British Showing Plaits are more correct. I'm gutted as I take pride in my even row of tiny braids as I think it looks much polished so that is going to be a MUCH harder habit to break than trying to sit more forward on my saddle!!

Christmas Dressage!

2011-12-09T20:11:00.000Z

My side saddle has been depressing me and annoying Hattie so I haven't been in the mood to blog lately as I'm so fed up with dealing with saddles that don't fit, forking out ££££'s, side-saddlers that don't call you back, a horse that changes shape constantly, etc, etc, etc. I'm seriously fed up and tempted to sell all my side saddle stuff and give up but hopefully it won't come to that just yet.

A lady who happens to be a side saddle judge and that has done all sorts of side saddle stuff to a high level, is coming out tomorrow with a c. 1938- 1939 Champion & Wilton for me to try. It's a beautiful saddle, within my price range and still is the lovely tan color that I love as it was hardly used. The saddle she is bringing is the spitting image of the one in the 1938-1939 Champion & Wilton catalog...

She is going to help me with fit and I asked if she could give her opinion on my Whippy and why it's doing the things it's doing despite being fine all spring and summer and being flocked up. I also feel it's a bit small for my butt. Lengthwise it's fine but widthwise, it's a scant 12 1/2" wide and I have big child bearing hips so sometimes I wonder if it's my arse pulling the saddle over as it's too wide for it. The C&W the lady is bringing, has a wider seat like my Beck Morrow does.

Will let you know how we get on!

Going back in time now, we went to the last Hinckley Dressage show of the year on Sunday and it was a special Christmas show where you had the option of doing your test in fancy dress so I went as the Snow Queen from the Chronicles of Narnia. We won for best costume two years ago when I was Mrs. Santa Claus (it was cancelled last year due to bad weather) but this year, went to a cute little girl dressed as Santa on an equally cute shetland pony dressed as Rudolph. You can't really argue with cuteness!!

We only did the Intro A test this time, no prelim tests because I've been battling my saddle and I'm still not 100% healthwise so decided to take it easy and just go to get dressed up and have fun. Our warmup was not so good as Hattie was really not happy with the saddle as I had stupidly decided not to put her grip gel pad underneath it thinking it would be ok since we weren't cantering. The saddle was rolling to the left and pinching her off-side wither so much that she bit my husband when he put his hand there to see what the saddle was doing. I could have kicked myself for not using that darn pad!!! We had been using the grip pad all week without any problem, Hattie was happy, I was happy and then stupid me decides to leave it off that day.

It's a mystery as when I'm off the saddle, it appears that it's sitting correctly with a slight tilt to the right like it's supposed to. It doesn't even press on her wither when I'm off. It's when I sit my fat arse in it that it all goes to pot which makes me think that I'm the problem.

Anyways, I stopped trying to warm up, got off, ungirthed my saddle pushed it back and more over to the right and did not get back on until I was called for my test. The steward let the judge know I was having problems just in case.

Us as we got called in to do our test...

Well, bugger me if we didn't end up winning the class!!!!

As soon as we went in the ring to do our test, Hattie was forward and although not 100%, she was a lot happier than what she had been in the warmup ring. I decided just to let her go forward and not try to bring her on the bit on anything, just let her do her thing. I could sense a slight head nod on the right rein like something was blocking and annoying her, if you look carefully, you can probably just slightly see it in the video. And bugger me again, if she didn't end the test with a perfectly SQUARE halt!!!! You got to love that horse!!!

We got all 6's (which mean "satisfactory") and 7's (which mean "fairly good") for all the movements and our collective comments were "A lovely partnership!", "A very consistent test, well done.", "Just lacking suppleness and balance at times."- which is hardly surprising how the saddle was annoying her and I was trying my darnest not to hang off her left side, lol!

Here is the video of our test:

Hattie falling promptly asleep after our test and with her 1st place rosette. I have never met such a chilled out horse, so chilled out that she is horizontal...

Along with the rosette, we also won free entry into the next show and Hattie got a well deserved stocking of horse treats. I gave her one whole pack of treats when we got back home as a thank you for gritting her teeth and putting up with an annoying saddle and getting us through the test without mishap. I think she was pleased with her prize...

Despite tack failure, I think we did ok and it's not as if we were the only ones in the class either. We definitely earned our 63.91% as there were quite a few in our class too. Hopefully once I sort out the fit of my Whippy or if this C&W ends up working better for us, we will start doing the prelims again. Until then, our grippy gel pad remains!!

Jessica of Tacky Tack of the Day, This One's for You...

2011-11-27T20:07:00.001Z

Someone sent me a link to this abomination for sale on Ebay, I thought it was Tacky Tack of the Day worthy so Jessica, this one is for you....

I had to do a double take when I saw this, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This is probably the worst Asian made side saddle I have ever seen. A poster child of what NOT to buy when buying a side saddle. How the heck would you even ride in this???!!

To be fair, the seller probably doesn't know much about side saddles and probably only bought this to "have a go" but if you managed to jam your right leg into the extreme curl of the fixed head, you would be fighting riding uphill while trying to balance on a narrow seated astride tree! Your left leg would be at an impossible angle as the leaping head is so far over to the middle side of the seat that your left leg would have to hang nearly straight down due to being blocked by the horn...and what the hell is going on with the "forward cut" flap???!!!!

Sigh, it looks like the manufacturers copied this monstrosity from an ancient relic side saddle with it's cutback-less head and it's vestigial off-side horn.

Don't get me started on the fact the seller advertises that they had "their saddler out to see if we could get it to fit and he told me it's a fairly rare combination saddle. The leg loop unscrews and you can ride as astride."

He got the astride part right!!

My Surcingle Is Back Home!

2011-11-15T17:43:00.000Z

When my saddler came out in August, I gave him my side saddle surcingle to fix as the cinch loop had ripped off over the years and also the stirrup D-ring needed replacing as well.

Well today it came back and looks lovely! Don't know how much riding I'll do in it but at least it's back home in my collection. My saddler wasn't able to replace the stirrup leather D-ring as the surcingle leather is fragile and couldn't take any more bulk put inside without tearing when being sewn back. It don't matter as I can always hang the stirrup leather off of the cinch ring. It's not as if I'm going to be trotting or cantering around in it and I have my big thick felt Western pad to go under it too.

Roger also looked at my saddle and he saw that it was tipping to the left a bit. He also said that there was a void underneath the nearside panel near the withers where the flocking had packed down so he took it away and is going to fix that for Hattie! Yay, we are getting somewhere!

Another one for the collection...

2011-11-14T21:46:00.000Z

For the past few months, I have not been feeling very well. I've been feeling very drained and tired like I've been running on empty. In fact some days, I haven't even felt like riding and even picking out Hattie's feet has been an ordeal. The last two shows I have been to this month (the dressage and the clear round), were ridden through sheer determination as I felt like a zombie.

Fed up with feeling this way, I went to the doctor's and had a blood test done the other week. Today I went to get my result and it turns out that I have low white blood cells. The normal range is about 4000 to 11 000 cells per microlitres and mine is 3000 (this is the info my doc told me and what I saw on the computer there) so a bit low to say the least!

Basically in a nut shell, I have to change my diet and eat more healthily- eat more like Hattie and less like Homer Simpson so hopefully I will start to reap the benefits of this new healthy diet I'm embarking on. I'm giving myself this week off from riding to rest but I'll have to ride tomorrow as my saddler is coming out to reflock my Whippy.

Back to horses now...

Still feeling like crap on Saturday, I managed to schlep my death-warmed-over self around Your Horse Live, which was held at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. As you will remember from my Your Horse Live blog post from last year, it's a mega horse event with demos, LOTS of shopping and horse stuff to do.

Sadly, the horse simulator with the side saddle wasn't there this year- well, the "horse" was but they brought a western and a jumping saddle to try so I didn't bother as I've already ridden Western in Canada and I already have a jumping saddle for when I need to ride astride. there were no side saddles for sale this year like there was last year either.

It was fun shopping but I didn't actually buy very much except for a pair of mucker boots, a pair of long winter riding boots (field boots at that!), a pair of posh navy full suede seat breeches in that trendy Schoeller technical fabric you see nowadays (should have bought two pairs really as they were stupidly cheap), an ear warmer for me and a new lycra hood and neck cover for Hattie.

I also got measured up for these RUBY RED PATENT CROCODILE SKIN riding boots (the ones in the middle of the page)!!! Price wise, they aren't actually that much more than what Ariat riding boots retail here in the UK for and those are non custom and made in China! I told the lady that I couldn't actually buy them yet but she said that it was ok as she would take my measurements for the day I save up enough :) I will get them eventually.

I tried on another pair at their stand and their boots made my big ole feet look like tiny Cinderella feet but without the pain. The leather was so soft, the quality so beautiful...Oh for heaven's sake, I'm dribbling down my top!

Although there wasn't much side saddle at this year's Your Horse Live, I DID manage to find a book that I have been looking for AGES for sale at a second hand equestrian book retailer there. It's the Saddle of Queens by Lida Fleitmann Bloodgood and when I spotted it, I HAD to buy it as I never could manage to win one on Ebay. I have quite a few original copies of books on side saddle riding from the Victorian and early 19th century but this one from 1959 managed to elude me until Saturday.

A Tack Change

2011-11-09T19:08:00.002Z

Apart from adding the non slip grip gel pad, I've also gone back to using my Cope safety iron.

Betty Skelton mentioned in her book, Side Saddle Riding, that her father always made her ride with a safety iron even though her side saddles had safety stirrup bars on them as it would be unlikely that both safety devices would fail if she came off. I used to use this iron on my Champion & Wilton saddle for that very reason and when ever I came off, I always felt the iron release before the safety catch did on the saddle (it was kept well oiled and opened easily).

I'm glad I had this iron on my off-side side saddle when I fell of jumping last August as the saddle had a roller bar on it and once again, the iron opened up before I even hit the ground.

My Whippy came with a normal side saddle egg- eyed Prussian stirrup iron which I do like as it's a nice trim iron but better to be safe than sorry! The only problem with the safety iron, is that it's long and I had to punch extra holes in the stirrup leather to get the correct length for me. It's an OK length for me now although I would prefer it a little shorter but there isn't enough room left to punch any more holes. Maybe when I get some extra cash, I will buy a slightly shorter leather but it's ok for now.

I was really pleased with my three buckle three fold girth made by Owen on Sunday as well. This is another piece of tack that I used to use with my C&W saddle.

I had wanted to use it when I first got my Whippy but because it was newly and heavily flocked up, it was too short. It fits now as the flocking has settled in and Hattie has become fitter and trimmer due to all the schooling and riding we have been doing since actually having a saddle that fits. Hopefully it will still fit after my saddler adjusts the flocking.

This is a really handy girth due to the triple fork in it as it stablizes the saddle. It's also handy for Hattie as the forked ends can spread out to each billet and not cause the girth to drag the saddle forward (you can see how they spread out on her in the photos). The saddle stayed put while jumping on Sunday and it stayed put while schooling today too. I have a normal atherstone elastic ended girth for my close contact saddle (astride) and that has a split end as well so that I can buckle it to the point and 4th billet with ease as the elastic end will spread as does the split side. I think split/forked girths are a Hattie necessity.

It's a shame they don't make three fold girths like this any more as the forked ends do seem to be kinder to the horse and also as an extra safety precaution too. If one billet goes, at least you have two more. The Manorgrove saddler did make me a three buckle girth but it didn't have forked ends so it was always a hassle girthing it up due to the last billet being far back and so fork to reach it.

There you go, to all you saddlers out there, a nifty idea for you to make, start making the Owen three buckle forked three fold girths again!

FOR SALE: 16" Elan Side Saddle

2011-11-07T20:42:00.000Z

Lieke has emailed me some photos and information about her lovely Elan side saddle which she would like to sell. She can be contacted by emailing Lieke Brandt at: linschotenbabe_abel @ hotmail.com (remove the space before and after the @ symbol).

For sale, beautiful light leather Elan side saddle imported from America.
It's a 16" (UK measuring), 20" in USA measuring seat and a medium tree.

It has a beautiful suede seat and the pommels are lined with the same beige suede.
It comes with a stirrup leather in the same color light leather and a messing safety stirrup, also a balance girth in the same light leather color.

I'm selling it because it's too narrow for my round ribbed Arabian, though I've ridden in it three times on a normal sized TB/warmblood mix and it fitted that horse perfectly. The saddle was very comfortable to ride in. I even tried a tiny jump in it and it stayed on perfectly.
I've only ridden it those three times so the saddle is nearly unused and still in perfect condition. It even smells new!

For sale for £800, I'll ship anywhere.

Yay!!! We Did It!

2011-11-06T19:07:00.001Z

It was the clear round jumping show held by my local riding club,BRRA at Blaby Mill Stables today and we jumped!!!!

I have done these shows before on Hattie but only jumping astride and the last time I did one, was last April on a friend's horse when Hattie had that bump on her withers.

The last clear round jumping I did side saddle, was May 2010 at the South Kilworth show and we mostly trotted around the course so I was absolutely kakking myself today as I wasn't sure how Hattie was going to be after being Speedy Gonzales yesterday.

I put the gel anti-slip pad under the side saddle and tried my 51" vintage Owen three buckle-three fold girth and it fit a treat. I was happy about that as it saves me having to fork out ££'s for a new Robert Jenkins girth which I can ill afford this month. I'll save her 52 1/2" girth as her "fat" girth. The saddle stayed put today too and Hattie was back to her old self today as you will see in the video with her ears forward.

Hattie was spooking all the way to the show so I wasn't hopeful about our performance so when I got to the show, I took her in the indoor ring to warm up and get her listening by practising some walk/trot/canter transitions, no jumping to wind her up.

We only did the 1' course and I am pleased with how Hattie went. We did not get any rosettes unfortunately as we had some fences down but our goal today, was to have nice calm ride with no bombing off or jumping WAAAAAAAAAY before the fence. I think next time we'll try a slightly higher height as Hattie was a bit lazy going over these but she seems to respect the higher jumps more. I remembered to keep my right shoulder back, my ribcage up and my right toe down and this helped Hattie with her striding and stopped her from taking off too early.

Here's our video!

Flippin' Heck, What A Difference!

2011-11-05T21:19:00.000Z

My friend Gill and I, went back to Blaby Mill Stables today to use the outside arena (this is where the dressage show was held last Sunday) so we could practice our jumping for the show tomorrow since Gill does not have access to an arena to practice.

We set up two little jumps (only 1' high) and b*gger me, if Hattie wasn't a little speed demon! For the past month, I've been having to boot her along to get her to canter and jump and today, I was having to sit back and slow her down! It was crazy! Her ears were forward and she was enjoying herself just like before.

I definitely think now that there are several contributing factors as to why Hattie has been sluggish and unhappy over the past month...

1)Saddle flocking needs tweaking after having it nearly a year.
2)Hattie prefers the footing at Blaby Mill Stables.
3)I've been a moron and been riding around with a loose girth.

Roger, my saddler is coming out on the 15th so after experimenting with pads this morning before heading off to jump, I decided just to use the thin gel grip pad until he can adjust the flocking. It's so thin that it won't alter the fit of the saddle but is tacky to prevent the saddle from sliding all over the place.

These photos were taken after we returned home after jump schooling. You can see by the scurf mark left by the balance girth, that the saddle has slide forward to rest in it's "normal" (well, normal for Hattie's conformation) position like it normally does but has not gone straight onto her shoulders like it was been doing for the past few weeks.

The gel grip pad really did it's job today as the saddle is correctly positioned at Hattie's withers and did not try to go "up and over" them like it's been trying to do recently.

I had a feel underneath the panel on the nearside and it has flattened out quite a bit from when Roger took out some flocking in May to prevent anything from pressing on that wither bump she had. I guess it's time to pad it back up there now.

After I got on and tightened my girth to where I usually tighten it, I looked down and saw that it still was a little slacker than I remembered it. Usually I just tighten it without looking when mounted but this time, I happen to look down. I could slide my hand easily between Hattie and the girth. I wonder how long I'd been riding like this? It also probably did not help the saddle to stop shifting around too much if the girth was always loose! I suppose it shows I have good balance, lol. There was only one hole left to tighten it and when I did, the girth felt it's normal tightness like before.

I will try my three buckle three fold girth tomorrow. if that is TOO short, then I'll have to order another one from Robert Jenkins again. It looks like I'm going to have a whole collection of beautiful three fold girths in various sizes!

For arena footing, it's tough, as wood chippings is what we have at our stable. Maybe for jumping, I will book the arena at Blaby Mill Stables occasionally but I'm not made of money especially after forking out for new three fold girths so Hattie will just have to deal with it at least for schooling dressage.

I don't know what to think about jumping side saddle tomorrow especially after how speedy and keen Hattie was today but we shall see!

Dressage report!

2011-11-04T20:31:00.001Z

I should be walking the dog but it's cold and rainy outside so instead I'm sitting here blogging (don't worry, said wimpy dog does not want to go out in the rain either so I'll take her out when this is done).

We did our Intro A and Prelim 1 tests last Sunday after a month of struggling with schooling. Hattie has not been right all month- not lame but in a bad mood. At first, I put it down to her being in season (which she is) but then I began to notice a reluctance to go forward when schooling. Hattie loves cantering and jumping and usually when she gets in her bad moods with dressaging, if I add a jump in to a test, she's happy and revved up. Even jumping and cantering weren't helping now with her just hollowing during canter transitions with hear head up in the air, ears back and really angry tail swishing, especially on the right rein. Usually I have to sit back and SLOW her down for jumping but this time, I am having to boot her on.

Last Saturday, when we were doing last minute schooling, I noticed the saddle slipping forward more than usual. I got off and looked at the saddle pad which had slipped back causing the thick binding to pinch in between the panel and her shoulder where the saddle had slide forward.

My Whippy has always slide forward a little but then stays put, this time was quite a bit forward so removed the saddle pad and pushed the saddle back into place. Hattie is not a fan of pads any ways so I gave up using it and will have to accept the fact that I will always have to scrub my panels to keep them clean.

Without the pad, the saddle stayed put a bit better and the next day we did our dressage show.

Considering the trouble we'd been having schooling, we actually did not do too badly at the show. For the intro A test, we scored 64% with quite a few marks of 7's (which mean "fairly good") and 6's ("satisfactory). The only low mark we got a 4 on one movement as Hattie broke into a canter when we were supposed to be trotting (now THAT was a surprise considering how NON forward she had been).

The camera was not working properly for the Intro test so my husband/groom was not able to film but he frantically snapped away and got some good shots of us performing.

20m circle at E (we got a 6 for this, note my calm expression)...

The start of our "change rein on a free walk on a long rein"...

Free walk on a long rein, we got a 7 for this. I like how shiny Hattie's butt was...

Our 20 circle which is done at a medium walk at C to X, then working trot from X to C (we got a 7 for this)...

Changing the rein at MXK in working trot (we got a 6 for this as Hattie got a bit strong on the forhand and lost her outline a little)...

Halt, immobility, salute (we got a 6 for this has Hattie drifted a bit to the right but our halt was fairly square)...

One thing I did notice while doing our test on the shredded rubber surface and warming up on the coated sand in the indoor arena, is that Hattie seemed a lot happier and forward. The surface which is down in the arena at my stable is soft wood chippings which I have been finding a bit slippery to walk on myself. It did come into my mind that maybe Hattie does not like it either due to being slippery, maybe she feels unsafe at faster speeds like cantering or jumping (she is fine at the trot)? I have a feeling that this may be a contributing factor with Hattie's moods lately.

Any ways 20 minutes later, we did our Prelim 1 test which started out good and forward until the judge accidently beeped her horn at us during our test. When the judge beeps you, it means you did something wrong in the test. In the Prelim 1 test, you do a half 20m circle at A to the right, a half 20m circle at X to the left, a half 20m circle at C to the left and finish it off with a half 20m circle at X to the right (simply put, a figure 8 across the whole ring). Just as I finished my figure 8, the judge beeped me so I went into walk and just looked around confused as I knew I had done nothing wrong.

After you finish the figure 8, you are supposed to change rein at KXM and then at M, ask for a working canter on the left rein. I just kept walking and just passed the turn at K when the judge finally decided to tell me that it was ok and to keep going...sigh...

Good thing we had practised this test many a time so although we overshot the turn at K, we still made it across the arena on the diagonal to M and got our left rein canter. Hattie was such a good horse for that. We got a 6 for that movement due to Hattie being "long in the outline". When we had practised this at home, we always made a good turn with Hattie working forward in a nice outline but because we had to rush it and compensate for the overshot turn, we lacked impulsion.

We got a mix of 5's, 6's and 7's (mostly 6's though), with a 5 for our right rein canter due to Hattie opening her mouth and being a bit stiff and another 5 for our halt as Hattie drifted AGAIN!

Gary managed to video out test...

There were quite a few competitors in both classes so I'm pleased with the 4th we got for the Intro test and the 5th for the Prelim 1 test.

Schooling this week has been the same with Hattie being in a bad mood so I got off yesterday and had a look to see what my saddle was doing besides sliding too far forward on her.

Standing her square and looking from the back, I could see that my saddle was dropping to the left a bit. Looking at the off side panel at the front, I could see the tilt to the left with the left panel coming very close to being "up and over" her withers!!! If it wasn't for Hattie's high withers, the saddle would be totally rolling over. The right side off her poor withers was taking the brunt of the saddle and me, no wonder she didn't want to go forward cantering and jumping. If you look at my photos and video too, you can see me tilting to the right, I've unconsciously leaning to the right to counteract the saddle falling to the left. I think too, that the saddle pad was also helping to cause the saddle to slip more which is why Hattie was happier when I took it off as the saddle was able to grip to her back better and stay put.

I still think as well, that Hattie prefers the non wood chipping footing of the show but it's tough luck really as I can't fork out ££££'s to get the surface changed at our arena at home!

With this new observation, I called my saddler so he'll be coming out to us. He said that it's probably due for a reflocking any ways as it has been fine all summer up until now.

Until then though, we have still have two shows and a side saddle lesson with Lili so I will experiment with temporary measures tomorrow to see what helps to keep my saddle level until my saddler comes out. I have the non slip grippy gel pad that I can try along with my special side saddle riser pad. If I pad up the left side of it, that should help keep the saddle from dropping too much until Roger can come out and adjust it.

Hopefully, as we have a clear round jumping show on Sunday on the arena surface that Hattie likes!!!

Senara the Arabian

2011-11-01T23:30:00.001Z

After nearly a month long hiatus, I promise an update this week (hopefully tomorrow!) on our "interesting" dressage show we attended on Sunday! Reading Robin's blog post today though, about her horse Foxy, got me thinking about horses that I've had the pleasure of knowing and riding in the past.

One in particular is Senara who is owned by my friend, Bev. When my son was born, Bev promised me that when I lost the baby weight, that I could ride her Arabian, Senara (or Sen for short). Well, I lost the weight and ended up helping Bev take care of Sen and her other horses.

Sen was 17 when I started riding and taking care of her and when I got my old Champion & Wilton side saddle, well, she took to that with ease! The first time I rode her in the side saddle, I hadn't expected it to fit so only brought it down to the stables to see how it fit. As soon as I plopped it on her back and saw what a good fit it was, I thought "hey, let's go riding!". Unfortunately, Bev does not leave tack down at her stable due to thefts in the area and my own bridle was at home so I put two lead ropes on her halter and rode her down the lane like that!

The next day, I brought my bridle and we went out for a little hack down the lane and back again, this was us on Sen's 2nd attempt at side saddle...

Over the year, we went from a hairy Arab lacking topline and condition to a slick beast.

We hacked everywhere side saddle and eventually did the Miss Blaby Procession.

After a while, I noticed the saddle started to roll and ride uphill. Because of all the work and the conditioning feed I had been giving her, my C&W became too narrow...

I had planned on buying her a wider saddle but that fell through when another friend offered me her cob on loan.

Bev still owns Senara and although I don't ride her any more, she is stabled near to Hattie's stable so I still get to see her everyday.

This is her doing her head twirling thing whenever she REALLY wanted something whether it was food, to be turned out or going for a gallop. I had to ride her with a martingale as she would do this while galloping and nearly broke my nose once! LOL!

Boys Can Ride Side Saddle Too

2011-10-08T15:20:00.000+01:00

I think most little boys whose mothers ride side saddle have probably at least once, had a sit on their mum's side saddles. My son, who loves anything about the military and history, has had a try on my side saddle especially after I told him about the soldiers from both World Wars (and even some men today), that lost their legs and who still wanted to ride and go hunting, rode in side saddles. He wanted to see how those brave soldiers rode afterwards.

I have two photos in my collection showing boys on side saddles and thought that I would share these unusual photos with you all. Both date from the early part of the 20th century, probably about 1910's.

I love this first one as the expression on the boy is priceless, he looks like he would rather be doing anything else but sitting on a horse. Look at the stirrup iron, it's a jointed "Groom's Stirrup"!

The second photo was taken at the seaside somewhere here in England and shows a toddler aged boy sitting in an even-by-this-date, old fashioned side saddle without a leaping head. I've always noticed in photo postcards and photos from the early 1900's and 1920's that that show seaside donkeys, that they are always laden with these REALLY old fashioned side saddles. I guess by the Edwardian era and the 1920's, there were tons of these relic side saddles around that no one wanted so the seaside donkey ride people picked them up cheap for the kids and ladies to ride in. There are still donkey rides at the beaches over here but adults aren't allowed to ride them any more.

A Date!

2011-10-07T15:54:00.001+01:00

Don't you just love it when you find out more about something you have always wanted to know about?

Well, I was having a quick browse of Ebay before heading off to work this morning and a thumbnail photo of a newly listed auction caught my eye...it was another side saddle surcingle! An identical one to mine!!

The only difference is the one on Ebay has doeskin pommels whereas mine has leather covered pommels. The Ebay one still has it's original Victorian foot plate stirrup as well but other than that, it's identical right down to the tooling on it and the grab handle (the Ebay one has broken off however). Even the pommel placement is the same. The Ebay surgingle looks like it was used a lot more than mine though.

The neat thing about the one on Ebay, however, is the fact that the date stamp still remains on it. I knew my one was from the late 19th century but now I know that it was most likely made in 1893 as the one on ebay has a date of March 27, 1893!

I have written to the seller asking if there are any maker's marks stamped anywhere as it would be interesting to see who actually made our surcingles. Hopefully she will write back with some more information.

Crazy Week!

2011-10-05T21:17:00.000+01:00

This blog took a back seat for the past two weeks as I just had too much stuff and stress going on that I was absolutely zonked in the evening. So if you emailed me and haven't heard back from me, chances are I missed your email in the thousands of spam I had to delete so please do email me again! :)

We had our dressage show on Sunday, September 25th and we did the Intro B and our first ever Prelim test, Prelim 4! The week leading up to the show, we were schooling daily and Hattie was an absolute nightmare. She was busy concentrating on everything else going on around her, going around with her head in the air looking at things, picking up the wrong canter leads, resisting on the right rein and just generally being awkward. I didn't even have my jumps to spice up things while schooling dressage as they were at our new digs and we were still at our old stables so I didn't expect much on the Sunday of our test.

The morning of our show came and Hattie still wasn't 100% with me but she was a lot better in the warm up arena than she had been during the week. Her trot was nice and forward and she only missed her left canter lead once. I checked the order of go and saw that there was quite a few people entered for both my tests so the pressure was on!

Well, we did both tests and I felt that I have never ridden so poorly in my life. Hattie went OK in the Intro test but I don't feel that we did our best. We came 4th with a score of 60.43% which I guess is good but I didn't feel right riding and Hattie didn't feel right. Not lame but just mentally not with it, I guess we were both mentally not with it that day. I suppose we would have probably been better off doing something else that day like going for a good gallop.

For our intro test, we got 4 for our "free walk on a long rein across the diagonal" as Hattie broke out into a trot, which is bizarre as usually I have to kick her along, a 5 as we lacked suppleness when we had to turn at E (to be fair, I kind of forgot that I had to turn there so it was a bit last minute!) and then 6's and 7's for everything else. One of our overall comments that we need to work on our suppleness on the right rein which is what had been giving us problems all week.

The Intro B test:

For our Prelim test, that was to me, atrocious.

We came 6th with a score of 59.09% which is ok, I guess, but I felt I rode poorly and by that point, Hattie had just tuned out. We got one 4 which is "insufficient" for striking off on the wrong canter lead between K and A. We had practised and practised this and she still struck off on the right lead instead of the left one! I brought her back to trot and we got our left lead and continued on. All our other marks were all 6's for "satisfactory". Our nice downward transitions from canter to trot went out the window that day as you will see in the video. It was just pure crap to put it bluntly.

The Prelim 4 test:

After Sunday, I gave Hattie the whole week off to chill out and also, I needed to move the rest of our stuff to our new stable. I wonder if the stress of looking for a new barn and moving stuff contributed to our poor performance? Hattie is very good with picking up on my moods so I reckon it affected her too.

Any ways, we got everything moved, Hattie moved into her new stable last Friday and has settled in nicely! she even has three new boy friends, Munchie, Charlie and the ever devoted little grey pony gelding, Jiggy, who refuses to leave her side in the field.

We schooled yesterday for 20 minutes and then again today for 20 minutes, just practising going nice and forward, doing some transitions and 20m circles, a bit of cantering and that's that1 Hattie was nice and relaxed and did it all! I'm also having to remind myself to SIT BACK as I've been noticing in photos that I'm tending to lean forward. I find when I sit back, Hattie relaxes, I can get her using her hind quarters and she gets the correct canter lead each time.

Her is Hattie outside of her stall after we finished schooling yesterday...

I've also decided that we're only going to do one dressage show a month instead of two. It's just to much stress, money and hassle to do two shows so our next show will be October 30. We'll do the Intro A as a warm up and Prelim 1 which is a nice simple test so as not to blow both our minds!!

Last Diamond Horse Show of the Year!

2011-09-19T17:24:00.002+01:00

Showing season has sadly ended for me now as yesterday's Diamond Horse Show was the last one of the year and I can't get to any other shows due to lack of transport- it's dressage and clear round jumping shows at the stable down the lane from me now for the rest of winter. It's too bad as I really like showing too, just dressage and clear round jumping can get a bit boring but at least I can do them all side saddle!

Hattie was a STAR yesterday during our 14 mile round trip hack to and from the show, especially coming back as we had heavy traffic. She didn't bat an eye despite cars beside her, big rumbling trucks, having to go over motorway bridges...

All that and spending all day at the show with her still looking like a million bucks...

She truly is a super horse!

We did Best Turned Out where we got 1st place, got 2nd in Best condition (an inhand class), 3rd in Riding Club Horse and Pony and 1st in Prettiest Mare (a ridden class). I had packed the fleece girth cover but couldn't use it for Best Turned Out and didn't end up using it for the rest of the classes either, as Hattie's girth gall was unaffected by the girth since I had cut that lumpy bit out of it. The hair is growing back on it as so it was the lumpy bit of leather that rubbed her!

Here is us waiting to be inspected by the judge in Best Condition...

The judge was the same from the last show and we had positive comments. He said that Hattie was going more forward and working much better now that I was being more strict with her. He watched us during our warm up for the Riding Club as we were going to have to jump and he said that our jump was more fluid and we presented a graceful image.

When we were in the class and did our individual show which had to include the jump, I messed up a bit and did not collect Hattie enough at the canter (we were on the left rein). She got a little on the forehand and took our jump slightly too long. It wasn't TOO bad and a LOT better than before but was just annoyed at myself that we messed it up. I didn't get left behind either which was good as that class gathered quite an audience, everyone wanted to see the only side saddler rider at the show jump. No pressure!!

I'm starting to really enjoy jumping side saddle as I can feel what Hattie is going to do. I can feel her start to gather up so I don't get left behind, it's wonderful! So much better than jumping astride!!

Gary took an action shot of the jump. Unfortunately, Gary took it a tiny bit too early as our camera has an annoying delay. You can see that I wasn't going to get left behind though! I don't know what height the fence was set at, but it was bigger than what we did at home. Looks about 2' to me as it was more "imposing" than my jump set at 1'9" at home.

The judge came up to us afterwards at the end of the show to say goodbye and said that he was talking with the show organizers of having a Championship show in next year's show schedule so hopefully they will do it as it will give Hattie and me something to aim for!

Well, until then, it's dressage season for me now! I dropped off my entry form for next Sunday's dressage show and it seems that I will be doing the Intro B test AND the Prelim 4 test, eek!
I've given Hattie the day off today to rest and then tomorrow is practice time as I only have 5 days to practice two tests!!

A Three-Fold Problem?

2011-09-15T17:26:00.001+01:00

We schooled in the field today. I like to school on grass as most shows are held on grass and it helps to tighten up our riding too. I think sometimes, that people become too reliant with riding in arenas and I hope that I still get to school sometimes in the field at my new barn.

Hattie's mind was elsewhere today and we schooled for 45 minutes. I think I've found the maximum time that I can ride aside on my right hip for as I felt a little stiff and sore afterwards but not too bad. It's funny, yesterday, we only schooled for about 20 minutes and it was very productive. Today, it took me the full 45 minutes as Hattie was too busy paying attention to people walking on the lane or scary fence posts....

We did eventually, manage to get some good transitions and even practised our working trot to halt movement which we will have to do in our Prelim 4 test. Hattie is good at the halt and stops square! We did the jump too and Hattie did it really well on the left rein but either rushed it on the right rein or did it half-assed and knocked it down. I decided that more flatwork was in order to get her concentrating so we did some walk/trot/canter transitions with 20 metre circles mixed in and rode AROUND the jump so Hattie learns to wait and not expect to blast around if there is a jump in her sight! After a while of that, we attempted the jump again on the right rein and she did it perfectly. A good thing too as my hip had enough.

I'm a true believer that good flatwork makes jumping easy. Too many people ignore the flatwork and charge around a course and then they wonder why their horses are uncontrollable when jumping! At many shows I've been too, you see people riding in dutch gags on the bottom ring or other severe bits in small height jumping classes because they don't have the dressage basics to ride their horses efficiently and rely on a severe bit to get them around. I'm not saying that these bits do not have a place but when you see people getting left behind consistently and unbalanced horses galloping around charging into the jumps despite the harsh bits, then something is wrong.

I ride Hattie in either a French link full cheek snaffle or a loose ring Sprenger KK bit. She can get strong but even out galloping, I have no trouble bringing her back to a canter and trot easily with my voice, small half halts and giving slightly with the reins. As long as I'm balanced, I can keep her balanced and off the forehand. It's when she falls on the forehand, that she becomes strong and why I think she came to me with a grackle noseband bridle and a dutch gag bit!! I've never used that bridle or bit as she doesn't need it with correct riding!

Off my soap box now and back to side saddle...

After riding, I took off her girth and looked at her girth rub. It's starting to heal and our schooling today did not irritate it as we had a dead sheep girth cover on. I also made sure not to do up the overgirth too tight either and tucked that into the girth sleeve too.

I had a feel of my three fold girth and noticed at the edge of the girth right where it would sit behind her shoulder where the rub is, that it felt a bit thick lumpy. I unfolded it and noticed that the leather had not been cut evenly and had bunched up inside the girth. I regirthed the saddle and sure enough the "thick and lumpy" spot matched up where her rub is!
Could it be that this lumpy spot caused the her rub? I wasn't taking any chances to I got out my scissors and cut a crescent shape out of the inner fold of the girth at this area.

The whole girth is made from soft, thin leather and I have never had trouble with any of my girths from Robert Jenkins rubbing Hattie (that's why I fork out and buy them!) but upon inspection of the piece of leather I cut out, it's quite a bit thicker and lumpier than the rest of the leather (the tail end of the piece is thin like the rest of the girth is). You can see the thickness of it in the photo.

The girth feels better now and it curls right back away from Hattie's rub now without any lumpy, thick bits to block it.

A Better Day....

2011-09-14T20:31:00.000+01:00

Today was a better hip and riding day. We practised some transitions, our individual show for the Riding Club Horse & Pony class on Sunday and jumped! Our whole schooling session lasted about 30 minutes which my hip didn't seem to mind and I finally got a light bulb moment while riding and felt my weight drop along my right thigh. I could feel Hattie's gait much easier and the lower part of me moved with Hattie while the top half of my stayed put. Parts of my field are bumpy and I felt so secure and was able to follow Hattie and sail with her over all the bumps.

After this light bulb moment, I felt brave and decided NOT to put the jump down to 1' but keep it at the 1'9" hole Josie had set it on the other day while schooling Jacob.

The jump set on the 1'9" holes...

Our first attempt (on the left canter lead), Hattie ran out on it as I was having a brain fart moment, didn't line her up properly for it and then panicked. The second time, I turned her away at the last moment as I was still panicking. The third time, I decided to trot it to prove to myself it wasn't scary. Hattie trotted over it like it was nothing. Then I asked for her left lead canter and jumped it, no problem!! We did it on the right lead too without incident. I love my Whippy side saddle!

After when we were untacking, I removed Hattie three fold girth and saw something I haven't seen in ages, a girth rub....

Hattie only gets these when she is at her porky weight, 470 kgs and I know she has put on weight recently as I haven't been riding much due to my hip. Because her conformation causes her saddles to slide forward, the excess blubber that she gets behind her shoulder, bunches up and gets rubbed by the overgirth. Although my Whippy doesn't slide forward as much or as badly as some previous saddles I have had, it still goes forward a little bit and that was enough to cause a rub with her excess blubber. As soon as I saw it, I thought "I bet she is 470 again" so I whipped out the weight tape and lo and behold, 470 kgs.

I try to keep her weight at about 432- 450 so am going to have to get that extra 20 kilos off of her. It wasn't so bad when I had my Manorgrove as that didn't have an overgirth and she has been fine with my Whippy since I got it in the winter but she was under 470 kilos at the time. The next time my saddler comes, I'm going to ask him if it would be possible for him to remove the overgirth from my Whippy and maybe make some type of tab attachment for the off-side flap to hold it down.

I have big fluffy "dead sheep" girth covers that I keep for when she gets her blubber girth rubs along with her soothing baby rash creme but I may have to start lunging her as well as riding so she gets that excess weight off. Wish I could lose 20 kilos too!

I tell you what though, I would NOT like to jump in this side saddle or even attempt jumping with this lady's position!

I tried to bid on this last night on Ebay but was unsuccessful which was a shame as it was a neat side saddle photograph from the early 1870's. I doubt whether the actress was a rider judging from her poor position in the saddle but I thought her early leaping headless saddle was interesting as you rarely see side saddles in early photos.

Chaos!!

2011-09-13T19:56:00.000+01:00

This past week has been a nightmare!

First on Tuesday, we had heavy winds and something either hit Hattie in the eye or flew into her eye as when I came down to do the evening feed and poo picking, her bottom eyelid was swollen and there was a clear discharge (like tears) running from the corner of her eye. I had a look but couldn't see anything stuck in her eye so the next day I started on a course of antibiotic eye drops. I figured if they didn't work within a day, then the I would call the vet out but thankfully they kicked in pretty much straight sway. I've left her fly mask on all week as we've had terrible winds and gave her the eye drops twice a day and all is looking fine.

Again on the Tuesday evening, as if a horse with a swollen eye wasn't enough, the man that owns the field and stables that I rent, came down and announced that "he wasn't happy" and that "it wasn't working"....

You know when someone tells you something that makes you so angry and that they have no reason to say it that you are just stunned? Well, that was me. For once in my life, I was speechless.

For the last three years that I have rented my field and stables, I have always paid on time at the beginning of the month straight into his bank account, always kept the fields immaculate and poo free while practising field rotation to prevent over-grazing (and my horses are worm free as the poo never stays on the ground for more than a few hours). Every time something needed repairing, I would fix it or Josie's dad or grandad would fix it, I didn't bother him for anything but apparently, being a good tenant isn't enough.

So I gave my notice in and have been barn shopping all week for Josie and I. Josie will be taking Jacob to the livery stable behind us as they only take ponies, no horses and I will be taking Hattie to a barn down the road from where I live (about 10 minutes cycling). Hattie's new stall is bigger than what she has now and they have an outdoor arena which doesn't freeze in the winter. it's also £10 cheaper than what I pay now and they have electricity and running water, both of which I am lacking at my current premises. A real boon in the winter with my arthritis! We move in October 1!

Talking about arthritis, my stupid back and hip haven't been right all week either. Moving all my hay, straw and rubber stable mats to the new barn hasn't helped matters much either.

On Saturday after we moved the hay, I need a good ride to sort myself out mentally so we cantered and had a bit of a gallop across our field (I had taken down all the electric fencing so we had a nice big clear space). We also jumped a little jump on the left canter lead and that was good except Hattie got lazy and knocked it down. I made the mistake of going out for a long hack afterwards and that finished off my hip. I REALLY need an off-side side saddle NOW!

We are going to the last Diamond Horse Show on Sunday and haven't been able to ride much because of my stupid hip. I decided to rest it Monday and today and then do short 20 minute schooling sessions each day for the rest of the week to prepare for the show. It's the same judge and I need to get Hattie going more forward.

Then the Sunday afterwards, it's our dressage show where we will be doing the Prelim 4 test. I have not been able to practise this much either because of my hip but at least I have the test memorized. I was going to do two tests at the show, Intro B and Prelim 4 but think I may skip the Intro test as I can't face doing a lot of trotting at the moment, at least the prelim test has a good long canter in it to rest my hip. Plus the intro test is ssssoooooooo boring.

I've still not sent in my entry for the dressage show as don't even know how my hip will be. I am still in two minds whether to skip this month's dressage show and rest my hip. I wish my saddler would hurry and finish my off-side saddle. Even better, I wish the bloody things were plentiful as nearside side saddles so I could just buy myself a spare for times like this!!

Too bad I can't go back into this Victorian photograph and have the saddlers make me one...

I picked up this framed photo in a thrift store in the winter. I don't usually look at the photos they sell but the white linen of underside of the side saddle on the work table, caught the corner of my eye! I thought "I recognize that shape!".

There is no information about this photo but judging from the costume of the lady at the back (it's clearer in person), it looks to be from about 1899- 1900.

Not bad for £3.50!

Darn hip...

2011-09-05T22:24:00.001+01:00

It's been back to the old grind here as summer holidays ended and my son went back to school. He's moved up to "high school" which in North America, would be the equivalent of "junior high" and although it sucks for him to have to go back to school, it's great for me as their school day starts REALLY early! This gives me an extra hour of horse time in the mornings before work and I have been taking advantage of the extra schooling time.

I also turned 36 at the end of August but I may as well be 63 as all this extra riding time has been taking a toll on my right hip. The damp weather doesn't help but each year my arthritis gets worse and worse. I can't wait for my off-side side saddle to come back but it's going to be a while yet as Roger has lots to do on it. If I can't find another off-side in the meantime, then I'm just going to have to suck it up and ignore the pain.

Just schooling for a max of 20 minutes seems to not cause me too much grief and keeps Hattie mentally with it. That is what we did this morning and my hip was ok all day. It was a good schooling session though as Hattie was nice and forward (except for two spooking sessions from the monsters in the blackberry bushes beside the arena!). Our canter transitions are becoming more consistent and I will be doing my first prelim test this month too! LOL, just have to send off the entry form but the plan is to do the Intro B test as a warm up and put us in the "zone" and then do the Prelim 4 test.

We have our last Diamond Equestrian showing show this month too so have been working on getting Hattie working properly and not doing everything half *ssed so that the judge will see (he is judging the classes again) that we did take his commments on board!

All this dressaging has helped us with our little jumps too. Hattie is getting better at staying off of the forehand when approaching a jump which then lets her get her spots in a nice came fashion. I did half contemplate taking Hattie into the clear round jumping show yesterday and just have the jumps put at 1' but when I saw the course and saw the one stride combination jump and the skinny upright fence off of a tight turn, I thought "forget it!". My hip was also not very happy yesterday which was also another deciding point!

I want our jumping to be calm and if I put Hattie in that situation with those crazy jumps, it would blow her mind and I would probably come off and break something else. I spoke to one of the show stewards about my predicament and she said that if I call the day before and let them know, that when they are setting up the course, that they can leave the poles on the ground for me to jump at the show as long as I am the first one there. So that is good! I can still "jump" a course riding Hattie side saddle in a show situation but not have to worry about clearing jumps but concentrate on calmness and our approach.

I have no intention of becoming an international show jumping side saddle superstar so am quite happy to do poles on the ground and Hattie is happy too as she still gets to do her favorite thing as a reward for "boring" dressage.

This is the jump we did today after dressaging to prove that we really do jump despite my chickeness!

I had to wrap my fixed head after the last show though, as the hole in the doeskin at the front of the heap tore from the zipper on my boot. I'm going to wear my old zipperless boots to the next show to save any additional wear until I can get my saddler to patch up the hole.

I must say that with all this schooling and jumping, that my Whippy is proving to be a very secure saddle! I love it! I think Hattie is a Whippy horse. Now, if only I could find an off-side one....

Before & After...

2011-08-23T11:39:00.000+01:00

It's raining today and my back and hip are NOT happy at all. It seems that our 14 mile round trip hack took a toll on them. I wish I had my off-side side saddle back so that I could rest the right side if my body and still ride.

The farrier came early last week to shoe Jacob and I had my Beck Morrow leaping head ready for him to rebend to the shape of my Whippy head.

Before (the Beck Morrow head is on the left)...

After...

He gave the Beck Morrow a more backwards sweep and opened it up by taking the extreme bend off of the tip. The head is longer than the Whippy head but Beck Morrow seems to have made their saddles with longer than average leaping heads.

When my saddler comes back to refit the panels, I'll let him deal with putting the leaping head cover back on!!

Just a reminder that there is a side saddle class being held this month at Horse Shows Online. International entries are welcome but there is an extra £1.50 charge. They take Paypal too! Entries close on August 31.

I Jumped! At A Show!

2011-08-22T19:07:00.002+01:00

Hattie has not been co-operating at all this week with schooling, preferring to go around with her head in the air, ears pricked forward and taking notice of everything going on around her EXCEPT the job at hand.

I got so fed up that I made Thursday our last schooling day of the week and just practised our left rein trot/canter/trot transitions and our individual show for about 10 minutes before going on a hack. Hattie was better on Thursday with our mini schooling session although she was still trying to look for any hay making tractors in the distance at some points!

On Friday, I scrubbed up all my tack and my side saddle and went for a hack on my astride saddle as I washed the linen on my side saddle and on Saturday, we went for a good gallop (again astride as I didn't want to dirty my clean Whippy!) to get any spookiness or pent up energy out of Hattie's system before our 14 mile round trip to the show on Sunday.

I find that whenever Hattie starts acting up in schooling sessions or gets really spooky out on hacks, that a good gallop is needed to calm her down. It worked as she was good hacking the 7 miles there and the 7 miles back from the school. We rode over train tracks, through road works, over highway bridges, some kid shouting "BOO" through the hedges at us, busy roundabouts and even a tractor with lights a-flashing pulling a vintage car without Hattie batting an eye. A real transformation from the other day when she nearly sh*t herself because the farmer left the gate near our field open....

The plan was to do Best Turned Out (a ridden class), Best Condition (an inhand class) and Prettiest Mare (a ridden class) but ended up somehow getting talked in to doing the Riding Club Horse & Pony class as well by persuasive horse show folk!

The weather was nice and hot, a change from the last two Diamond Horse Shows we attended where it's tipped it down with rain and very was glad for my nice new lightweight habit.

I was pleased how my new habit rode (the apron didn't flap up when I was cantering and the judge (and lots of people at the show too) complimented me on it but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's gotten a little too big for me from when I first ordered it and there is only so much I can push the buttons over before it loses it's shape. It's a bit big for my taste, in places where it wasn't when I first tried it on in December. Although I don't think I've lost that much weight since ordering it, I've toned up from going to Aquatone classes, etc and now find I can carry heavier loads and have the upper strength to deal with Jacob when he pulls, etc. I'll wear it to next month's Diamond horse show and see how it fits then (I always have my 1934 habit as a back up if it gets much too big for me next month) before deciding what to do.

It's a bit of a bugger really as I waited so long for it and it's the first habit I've had that covers my wrists. I'm glad that I've lost some weight but weight fluctuations are costly!!!

Our first class was Best Turned Out where we came first. The judge said that it shows that I take care of my saddle and tack and I presented a neat workmanlike appearance.

Us walking around in Best Turned Out...

The winners and our rosettes!

Hattie came 2nd in our next class, Best Condition, but the judge said that it was a close call between Hattie and the pony that won it. It was a NICE looking pony so we were beat fair and square.

Then it was the dreaded Riding Club Horse & Pony class. LOL, so much for "scrapping" that class as I had planned to do in my previous post on the subject. I suppose it was a good thing I had practised jumping the other week as I was absolutely kakking myself before the class. The only other competitors in the class were "no sense-no feeling" kids and teenagers that will jump anything and everything and here I am, 35 going on 36 with arthritis and various other ailments, and who breaks something as soon as she hits the ground. I fell off trying to mount on Saturday before our hack. What the hell was I doing in this class??

Nervously waiting and watching the competitor do their individual show and jump before me...

Anyways, the judge said that we could trot the fence as the ground was a bit hard but I elected to canter it as there was less chance of Hattie refusing. I believe in hardening a horse up by doing lots of roadwork and schooling on various surfaces paired up with a good farrier and hoof care so that when faced with a situation like showing on a hard surface, a horse can handle it without any ill effect.

So we cantered the jump, Hattie didn't rush and I didn't fall off! For some reason, she knocked it down. The judge said that I set her up correctly for it but it looked like that Hattie was taking the p*ss and trying to get away with as little work as possible! We ended up coming 2nd despite the knock down and the judge said Hattie relies heavily on me to tell her what to do and that she has to learn that when in the show ring, it's not sleep time. Basically, what the dressage judges tell me on my comment sheet- lacks purpose! I have to be more strict with her and ride her more forward. He said that I am a sympathetic rider and an capable of doing it and that Hattie is MORE THAN capable of doing it but that she's used to getting her own way in the ring and chilling out.

Here's the video of our death defying jump!

The last class of the day and a nice chill out class, was Prettiest Mare where we came 4th but also got a Special red and green tartan colored rosette as well (I think because I was side saddle). There was some mega cute horses and ponies in that class which was won by a lovely very fine boned chestnut mare called Highbent Sharina.

I really enjoy the Diamond Horse Show as it's a good fun show and I got some good comments and tips from this month's judge as well. He said that he will be back for next month's show (which will sadly be the last one of the season till next year) so Hattie and I have to work on being more forward so we can trade in our 2nd place rosette for a 1st place one!

Schooling, Habits & Shows!

2011-08-16T20:58:00.000+01:00

This post is a bit of an amalgamation of the past few days as I've been so busy with things. I've been schooling everyday as we have a show on Sunday and had planned to do the Riding Club Horse & Pony class which includes a jump (about 1 1/2' high) but have decided to scrap that class for now.

Our flat work is coming along but I'm still out of shape from my holiday and it's affecting my riding. I started my Aquatone class again but promptly got an ear infection after my second class, grrrrr. I've have narrow eustachian tubes in my ear and my ear drum is riddled with scar tissue from years of ear infections since I was a child so it's my achilles heel. I ordered some silicone ear plugs, an ear band AND a swim cap with elastic chin strap to protect my ears during Aquatone from the water so I can continue my fitness for riding!

Defective ears aside, we attempted jumping again with mixed results. Hattie likes jumping and tends to rush the jumps and we were ok on the right rein (it was only a little 1' jump) albeit a little rushed but she went wappy on the left rein and had to abort our mission (which she wasn't happy about!). We ended up trotting over it on the left rein a couple of times but even then she tried to rush it.

It's a combination of me being out of shape, not riding for the past three weeks and the left rein being Hattie's weaker rein.

So I'm going to put the jumping on hold for now and work on our transitions to get both of us balanced and her listening to my aids when I say to slow down. We schooled for a bit this morning and it was better, we had a good transition from trot to canter and back again on the left rein so left it at that.

I have till next summer anyways to work on little jumps for when the show season starts again and then maybe we will attempt the Riding Club class.

I also had an unexpected class from my local tack shop the other day as well...

In December, I paid my local tack shop a visit and they had a new Mears "County" model cutaway jacket in navy in my size and a TALL size to boot! I knew I was going to sell my old black habit as it didn't quite fit right anymore so was kind of in the market for a new habit. The tack shop rang up Mears to see if they would be able to make me a matching apron for this particular jacket as they already make side saddle habits with the County model jacket option to begin with. They said "no problem", so I purchased the jacket (which was a bargain!) and sent it off to Mears with a cheque and my measurements for my apron.

My tack shop kept chasing them afterwards wanting updates on how my habit was going and also asked them if they could also add an off-side apron to the order after I had purchased my Beck Morrow saddle.

It turns out that Mears was trying to find an exact match for the jacket as they no longer had that batch of particular material in stock and even went back to the fabric manufacturer to see if they could match it.

Well, it turns out that Mears managed to find a small amount of the left of that particular batch of fabric, exactly enough to make two aprons in my size and that's it!! How lucky was that! They shipped it to my tack shop and the shop called me the other day to pick up my new habit complete with opposite aprons.

It's FAB and for once I have a habit that is long enough for me. The only thing is that I've lost a bit of weight since ordering it so I had to push over the buttons by 3" on the apron to make it smaller in the waist and hips and will have to move the buttons over by an inch on the jacket. I may take up the sleeves an inch or two as the jacket would fit a woman up to 5'11"- 6' and I'm only 5'9"!

Since my off-side saddle is still with Roger along with my side saddle surcingle, I haven't had
a chance to ride in my off-side apron but have been "breaking in" my nearside apron for the past two days while schooling.

These photos were taken the first day before I took the waist in. The waist was pulling forward due to being too big and something funky was happening with my right toe sticking out.

But I managed to sort my foot out and point it more inwards towards Hattie at the end of my left rein canter and the downward transition to trot.

Hopefully it will bring me luck at the show on Sunday!

Speaking of shows...

Remember my blog post in June about online horse shows and if there would be enough interest in an online side saddle class?

Well, our wish was granted and Horse Shows Online has created a side saddle photo class. Horse and rider will be judged on presentation and turnout. Entries close August 28, 2011!

WANTED: 16.5"- 17.5" Side Saddle

2011-08-15T12:41:00.001+01:00

I received this request from Emily as she is looking for a new side saddle after selling her 15 1/2" one to Ceri, who posted her side saddle wanted ad in June!

"I am looking for a 16.5 - 17.5 inch sidesaddle, medium-wide fit and ideally a known make ie Mayhew, Champion & Wilton or Whippy. The saddle will probably be used for a 16.1hh ID type with a fairly short back so 16.3/4 inch would probably be best but as my 15.5inch was too short for me it will be a balancing act! If anybody knows of a saddle fitting this criteria, I'd be really pleased to hear from you."

Please note, the measurements Emily states are the UK way of measuring a side saddle from cutback to cantle.

She can be reached at emilybutterick @ googlemail.com (please remove the space before and after the @ sign).

Here is a photo Emily sent me of her and her horse, Kye to give you an idea of the fit needed...

FOR SALE: 16" Whippy Side Saddle

2011-08-15T12:34:00.001+01:00

I'm just catching up on some of the emails I got while on holiday and received one from Gabriella Hirschprung as she is selling her 16" Whippy side saddle. Please note, the measurement Gabi states is the UK way of measuring a side saddle from cutback to cantle.

Here are the photos that Gabi sent me of her Whippy...

The saddle is currently in Germany and includes the original stirrup leather and stirrup. She is asking €2000 and can be contacted at gabi @ farm4fun.com (please remove the space before and after the @ sign).

Progress on my Off-Side Side Saddle!

2011-08-10T21:52:00.004+01:00

My saddler, Roger Whitehead, came out yesterday to fit Hattie for the new panels thatare going to be made for my off-side side saddle. Like the originals, they are going to be felt instead of flocking but instead of being covered in leather like the original, I'm going to have them done in linen as Hattie seems to like the linen on her when I ride in my Whippy and it will provide a bit of extra grip on her back.

With the few Beck-Morrows I have seen, most seem to have been made with leather panels but I have seen two (a nearside and a reversible one), that had linen panels.

Beck-Morrows have panels which resemble the panels on close contact saddles which Hattie seems to like. Close contact astride saddles with the thin, flat panels are the only style of astride saddle that Hattie likes and my off-side has similar built panels. I remember when I tried my Beck-Morrow for Roger the first time, he remarked on how forward she moved in it. We were picking up canters from a halt and walk! Strange horse thought it was a close contact saddle...

Roger is going to build the panels up with layers of felt and the saddle needs lifting at the back. Once he's constructed the panels (yesterday was just to see what needs to go where), then I'll go for a test ride before he finishes them for good. He said that the tree is a little wide for her but that it is better than being too narrow. You don't want to go TOO wide however, as then you get the rolling problem but my Beck-Morrow seems to be a good medium-wide fit as Hattie tends to take mediums in saddles. He will be able to get a good snug fit with the felt too.

THEN, once that is done, Roger said we could start to think about the rest of the saddle as I'll need all new billets and straps, the annoying overgirth converted to one with a convenience tab and the pommels recovered as the leather is delicate (they look to have been covered in a fine thin kidskin of some sort). He is also looking for some large head saddle nails to replace the old knackered ones that are coming loose.

It needs a lot of work but I think it's worth it since it's an off-side saddle which just happens to fit me AND Hattie!

Roger unstitched the cover off of the leaping head too so that I can have the farrier rebend it to fit my leg instead of Countess Pillet-Wills skinny thigh. You can see in the photo the extreme curve of the Beck-Morrow head on the left compared to the Whippy on the right. The Whippy has more of a backwards sweep with not so much of a point end. I'll bring both to my farrier to show him what I need.

I schooled today in the field as we have a show in a week and half's time but Hattie was a bit useless today with her head up in the air and going on the forehand concentrating on the tractor bailing straw in the next field. Even though Hattie was faffing about, we did get some good canter transitions on both leads so that was good and my Whippy stayed put despite all the ruckus going on.

I REALLY love my Whippy saddle and it's the only side saddle I've ever had that hasn't caused me problems, slide forward, injured my horse, caused her to buck from pain or needed fancy pads underneath it. It just stays there and makes me feel secure even when she does her naughty "I don't want to work" bucks. The shape of it just suits her and the billet straps are placed exactly where they need to be. All the Whippys of the same era as mine that I have seen, all seem to be made the same way.

It got me thinking today as I was trying to school through all the messing about, how I wish I could find an off-side Whippy as if my nearside one is this great for Hattie, then could you imagine us in an off-side Whippy which is our better side? Man, that would be wonderful!! I was kind of hoping when I went to the Nationals, that there would be one there but sadly, all there was, were little nearside Whippys. I don't even know if Whippy even made any. They must have surely?

Oh well, another thing added to my "holy grail" side saddle list along with finding a habit with long enough sleeves....

Side Saddle Nationals at Addington!

2011-08-09T18:01:00.000+01:00

We got back home from Montreal on Friday and still suffering from jet lag, my ever obliging husband graciously drove me 64 miles to the Addington Manor Equestrian Centre so that I could watch the Side Saddle Nationals on Saturday!

There is talk of the Nationals being held in Grantham, Lincolnshire next year due to the increased traffic, etc from the 2012 Olympics in that area and the Side Saddle Association sent out voting slips to the members so that we could vote if we still wanted it at Addington in Buckinghamshire or in Lincolnshire at Arena UK so we shall see.

The weather was ok but in true British fashion, it rained somewhat with the sun peeking out later on in the afternoon. Despite the cruddy weather, there were lots of competitors, spectators and vendors. I didn't do that much shopping as I was a bit low on cash after just come back from holiday but got the show shirt I wanted, another Cope stirrup for my side saddle surcingle and 5 Aerborn brand hairnets for red hair as they were only 20p each!

I looked at all the saddles that were for sale at the various vendors but nothing unusual like any off-side or reversible saddles (I asked!) and I don't need another nearside saddle as my Whippy is just fine! I found saddle prices generally high though, even for saddles needing some work, but this may be because side saddle riding is on the increase and the lack of old name saddles to meet the demand (I noticed that there wasn't as many saddles for sale as there has been at the Nationals in other years). It seems that it would be safe to say, that a saddle bought at these high prices would hold their value, if not increase in the future with current growth in the interest of side saddle riding.

The highest priced saddles seemed to be the small seated (16 1/2" and under UK measurement) saddles and I felt distinctly FAT walking around seeing all these skinny lithe elegant riders with their little saddles. I took note of what sizes people were looking for in saddles at the various vendors and it was all the small seated ones that seemed to generate the most interest with the larger seated ones, left wanting. I guess more choice for me and Hattie!

I thought to myself that maybe the UK and the US could do a swap of side saddles as the larger sizes seem to be in more demand than here in the UK? Brita, I spotted some saddles that would have been long enough for you including an 18 1/2" Champion & Wilton (UK measurement).

I am thinking about buying a new habit as the sleeves on my 1934 Moss Bros one are a little bit short. There were lots of habits for sale but most of them were too small or the few that I could get on, were much too big for me. One vendor had a vintage UK size 14 habit that was long enough in the sleeve but the apron was too short! It was £250 though and had a lot of repairs and wear so not really appropriate for the showing that I want to do any ways. There was an off-side apron for sale too but it only had a 26" waist, boo hoo!!

I tried to take as many photos as I could while I walked around and thank you to all the vendors who graciously allowed me to photograph their stands!

One of the first stands I visited was the Alexander James stand...

I have always admired their riding habits and tried some size combinations for fit. I think that once the shows are over, that I'm going to sell my Moss Bros habit and save up for an Alexander James habit as the fit was excellent, even though the garments I tried, were the off-the-peg range that they offer. I found the price reasonable and they said that they could make me an off-side apron to match. I've got my brochure and price quotes save here beside me to am really to order when the time comes!

Next was master saddler, Saskia von Ehrenkrook's, stand showing new saddles she has made along with beautiful vintage ones for sale...

There were also riding habits made by Ewe Mueller on display and Saskia showed me the modern tree on which she builds her side saddles.

The Headline's stand is always a favorite of mine as they sell everything from vintage clothing & habits to antique tack and collectibles. It's a bit of heaven for me as it combines everything I love into one convenient place!

They also make new side saddle costumes and habits as well and my friend Gill, was particulary smitten by a Victorian reproduction habit of theirs on display outside the stand..

Gill wants to now try my Whippy on her Connemara gelding, Smokey. I think I have converted another!

I liked the burgundy habit outside of Headlines and it looked like it would have just about fit me...

A beautiful antique side saddle that Headlines had for sale...

Their business does not have a website, but their contact details are:
Jan Lines
Hartshill Cottage
Burton Dassett
Nr. Southam, Warwickshire
CV47 2AB
England
01295 770 689
jan_lines1 @ yahoo.co.uk (please removed the space before and after the @ sign).

Thompstone Toppers is another regular at the Nationals and another favorite as they carry vintage habits and LOTS AND LOTS of antique and vintage top hats and bowlers. I lusted after that green habit but alas, it was too small..

They had a small sized Whippy for sale that I was tempted to get for Hattie for Josie to ride!

A glimpse of some of their many hats...

Their business does not have a website either, but their contact details are:
Thompstone Toppers
Ros Thompstone
Grove Farm
Burton Dassett
Southam, Warwickshire
CV47 2AB
England
01295 770 204
Mobile: 07900 272 390

I always enjoy going to the Side Saddles tent as it's one big side saddle only tack shop that sells new and vintage/antique items. I ALWAYS have to buy something from them!

A closer look at the Victorian pilch side saddle that they have for sale (if I had a spare £650, I'd buy it just for decoration)...

After doing the first aisle of vendors, we decided to grab a hamburger, relax and watch some showing. It was still raining at this point and I took this neat picture of some pony riders and their moms aka "grooms" sheltering under some trees waiting for their class to start. The grey pony on the left was wearing a synthetic side saddle.

Dressage in the rain...

and jumping in the rain! These are all of Samantha Boxall riding Parklands Phoenix. I wish I was a fearless jumper like her!

After watching jumping and eating hamburgers, we decided to tackle the rest of the shopping stalls as I really wanted to get my show shirt from the Teque-Style stand. Turns out, I was just in time as they had sold out of all but one in the size and color I needed. This is the shirt I got and they are my FAVORITE and comfiest shirts ever.

We also came across the Field and Country Antiques stand and they had some beautiful vintage habits along with LOTS of antique and vintage hunting accessories like whips, sandwich cases, etc for sale. I looked at every habit they had but sadly, none to fit me although there were some beauties. They also had a small selection of side saddles for sale, this is where I saw the 18 1/2" Champion & Wilton.

Mike Huline-Dickens and Suzie Vandepeer also had a stand there where they were repairing side saddles along with having saddles and accessories for sale.

Suzie showed me a very drool-worthy side saddle that she had made herself and one which I could have happily carried off home with me!!

She also introduced me to a lady name Julie (sorry, I missed your last name!) who is training to make side saddles. The saddle that Julie is standing in front of without the leaping head, is one that she was currently making. It's good to see that there is a whole new generation of side saddle makers appearing.

Afterwards, we wandered into the indoor arena to have a look at the horses and riders warming up and to watch some equitation classes. I didn't get to take any photos of the indoor classes as I did not want to disturb the classes with my camera flash but managed a quick snap of the indoor warm-up area of some elegant riders and their lovely horses.

Coming out of the indoor arena, there was a show hunter class going on in the outside dressage arena and I caught sight of a familiar face, my instructor Lili Brooksby!

I knew Lili was going to be there but didn't know which classes she was entering but I was lucky enough to watch her while she was doing a class. I really like Lili's individual show as it's short and sweet so I think I'm going to steal it for when I have to do an individual show!

She got 2nd in the show hunter class with her horse, Paddy (Silver Mercedes)! Go Lili!

After Lili's class, we headed over to watch the Restricted Equitation class as this is the class I would enter next year if I am lucky enough to be able to take Hattie to the Nationals. On the way there, I snapped this candid shot of riders waiting in the drizzle for the jumping class to start.

These were some of the riders waiting for the Restricted Equitation class to start. I liked the habit that the lady was wearing on the colored cob on the right. It was kind of a charcoal grey/browny color and looked vintage.

There was a very high turn out standard but nothing that Hattie and I don't do any ways for a show, local shows at that! I reckon we would have a chance and the class consisted of walk/trot/canter with a tack & turnout inspection and individual show. Something to aspire to for next year. Maybe I'll do it in my off-side side saddle with an Alexander James habit!

FINALLY the sun came out and we went to see the native pony class. Just outside the class, there was a little girl watching the native class and holding her own cute pony with it's neat antique side saddle.

Ponies in action!

Nearby was Master Saddler, Susan Slade's stand with a nice selection of vintage side saddles. I was lusting after that double bridle hanging up at the front and nearly bought it!!

My favorite part of the whole day was probably the costume classes. First was the children's costume classes and it was cute to see the kids getting themselves and their ponies ready and trying to memorize the historical facts about their costumes ready to tell the judges!

The ladies costume class was right after the children's class. Here are some of my favorite costumes...

This one was an original 1908 habit. In the costume class, you can either wear an original ANTIQUE habit or a reproduction. Last year, an pinstriped olive colored 1907 habit won it (it was a beautiful habit!).

Action shots of the costumes!

A beautiful red habit...

As we were waiting to be picked up by my husband, I took some photos of the gorgeous prizes to inspire me for next year!

Borgia Blooper!

2011-08-04T14:12:00.002+01:00

My mom has been watching the TV program, The Borgias, every now and then since I've been in Montreal. The show doesn't really interest me but the episode that was on the other night, The Borgias in Love, caught my eye as it had more of a horsey theme to it and even a side saddle sighting!

(Photo courtesy of Showtime.)

Can you spot the blooper?

That's right, they didn't have leaping heads in the 15th century! LOL, I know a planchette style side saddle appropriate for the era would have probably been too expensive to make just for one scene but they could have unscrewed the leaping head to make it a bit more authentic looking as Lucrezia was being led by her lover anyways. :)

Horsin' It Up Montreal Style! Part Two...

2011-08-03T14:42:00.000+01:00

We went to the La Ronde amusement park the other day and I was surprised to see that they still have the old merry go round which was built in 1885!

They have moved it towards the back of the park and only families with kids are permitted to go on it now (I guess to save wear and tear on it caused by rowdy teenagers). It also moves ALOT slower than I remember it too but it was still fun to ride AND I got to ride it side saddle (off-side too!)...

To replace the antique merry go round so that everyone can ride on one, La Ronde has acquired a modern one which is now in the spot where the 1885 one originally stood. This new one moves a little bit faster (I stress the "little bit"), and because of our sue-crazy society and "health & safety" gone mad, it also requires you to wear a leather strap around your waist while mounted and the park attendants won't let you ride aside on the horses either (we tried).

My husband made the observation that it's probably MORE dangerous to wear the strap as if you do manage to fall off, then you are more likely to caught up underneath a horse moving up and down and not be able to roll clear of any dangerous situation. The strap is good for little children as long as they are attended by a parent (so they don't get strangled by the strap if they do fall off!) but for adults whose feet are able to touch the ground easily, we found it a daft and dangerous practice. Besides, if you are that unstable as an adult on a slow moving merry go round, then you probably shouldn't be on it!

A dorky looking me shot at an unflattering low angle with the dangerous strap...

We also went to a flea market this week to snag some bargains. It was VERY HOT that day and the flea market is held on asphalt so it was a bit of an endurance feat to go around and look at everything. I was hoping to find an old side saddle there but that was not to be! The only tack I found was a pink nylon halter, a western saddle, an outdated helmet from the 1980's and various driving harness parts.

It was fun looking at everything but what spoiled the day was the lack of regard for animals. There was a "backyard" dog breeder selling two puppies which were out in the full blazing sun laying on the asphalt with a little fence around them but without any shade or anything cooling to lay on- just hot, hard asphalt. They had a little bowl of water but the puppies were very lethargic and were just laying there. People were making comments but the sellers didn't seem to care.

There was some people giving pony rides to little kids at $3.00 a pop. The ponies looked in good condition and had little umbrellas attached onto the hot walker above their heads but due to the extreme heat and the height of the sun, the umbrellas didn't cast much shade on the ponies. I felt sorry for them as I wouldn't ridden Hattie out in such heat.

I did manage to find a Purina Mill this week though that had a little tack shop in it and bought Hattie a new set of pink crochet ear nets to keep her cool and fly free! Such a lucky horse to be getting all these new prezzies from Montreal :)

Horsin' It Up Montreal Style!

2011-07-28T02:41:00.000+01:00

I haven't been able to post much on my blog as we're currently on holiday visiting my family in Montreal (don't worry, I'm home very soon!) and it's too awkward doing blog stuff as my mom doesn't have any photo editing programs, FTP programs and my Blackberry phone is a pile of expensive useless plastic junk!

It's been lovely and HOT here, not like the 16C and rain that we left in England so we have been soaking as much heat up as we can before going back home to the UK's perma-spring/winter (I call it "Sprinter".

There are no places to ride where my mom is so no riding for me and I've gotten incredibly fat and out of shape, can't wait to get back to my Aquatone classes and to riding everyday. I did get to go to my favorite tack shop, Sellerie Lemay, to go shopping!

Ever since I was about 14, they have had a c. 1870's ornate side saddle hanging up above the cash register and I was looking forward to finally being able to take photos of it. I always used to ask if it was for sale and the answer was always "no" as they said it was "broken" (never said what was broken on it though). Well, got there and there is an empty spot above the cash register. I asked the wife of the owner where it was and she said that it got sold while she was away and that she wasn't very happy as she did NOT want to sell it as it was kind of the mascot of the shop. Grrrrrr....

Despite the disappointment of not being able to take some photos of the beautiful saddle, I did do some serious shopping and got a beautiful Reinsman western felt pad with cutback head that is covered in pink microfibre to use with my side saddle surcingle, an Equine Couture light brown square saddle pad with little polo saddles and snaffles printed all over it for my close contact saddle, a pair of navy blue full seat breeches for my habit (hope I can still fit into them!) and some Absorbine products which cost a fortune in the UK.

We've been doing the typical touristy stuff and went to Old Montreal to look around. There are lots of carriage (called caleches) that tourists can ride in to take in the atmosphere of the area. I've only been on them twice in my life (once when I was a teenager and the driver let me drive!) and about two years ago as they are expensive (about $60 for half an hour). Most of the horses I saw this year seem to be draft types with only being being a Standardbred type. I guess because of the closure of Blue Bonnets racetrack (renamed in later years as the Hippodrome de Montreal) where Standardbred racing was held, the supply of ex-Standardbred race horses needing new jobs has dried up.

I did take photos of the owners washing their horses down, watering them, giving them treats, putting fly sheets on them when they were standing in the caleche line waiting for customers to show that the horses were being taken care of during the heat but I can't get the photos off of my useless phone. My mom took photos of some of the beautiful drafters in Montreal that we saw that day...

The City of Montreal also washes down the streets regularly in Old Montreal to get rid of the horse poo and wee so as not to offend the sensitive noses of those who have never seen a horse before but even so, it still smells horsey there, mmmmmmm...like home....

For some reason, there was horse poo on the bike path even though caleche horses aren't able to get on the path! I wonder if someone went riding on it? Police horse maybe?

Afterwards we went to the Sir George Etienne Cartier museum. This is one of my favorite museums as the house has been restored to look like how it did in the 1860's when the Cartier family lived there. They had a photo from 1870 of Sir Cartier's daughter, Hortense, in a riding habit along with some sporting clothing she had in a display case. I tried to take a photo of her photo but they had a spot light shining right on her face so there is some glare.

After a full day of sight-seeing, we headed back home and passed an over-priced clothing shop in Old Montreal (you know the kind I mean, the minimalist ones where they only have one size, extra small?) and they had a saddle in the window for some bizarre reason. They weren't selling anything remotely horsey in the shop except for some REALLY REALLY REALLY expensive Le Chameau wellies but other than that, it was all modern city clothing. I thought it was a neat photo that my mom took though.

Off-Side Saddle Wanted

2011-07-22T13:34:00.000+01:00

Fellow rider and blog reader, Sheryl Gardner, asked me if I could put out a wanted post for her as she is looking for an off-side side saddle. I don't have one for sale as I need mine for my dodgy hip and back but maybe someone out there has one? She is in Colorado and can be reached at sheryl @ reinrescue.org (take the space out before and after the @ symbol). Here is her email...

"I am a para-equestrienne (disabled) and am looking for an off side side saddle so that I can continue to ride. I have a saddle fitter here in the US that can make any necessary adjustments, I just cannot find one and so far have not been able to find anyone to make one custom. I would consider a restoration project. My seat is 20.5 so 20-21.5 would work, I suppose I could have a western saddle modified, so western or english saddle would work."

Austrian Side Saddle For Sale

2011-07-22T13:28:00.000+01:00

I received an email the other day (shown below) from Larry who is selling his grandmother's side saddle. I think he is in the USA and the saddle looks beautiful so anyone interested can email him at funforpdx @ yahoo.com (take the space out before and after the @ symbol). It may be worth checking the saddle out if you are near him.

OK I am selling a side saddle that came from my grandmothers estate. I don't know that much about them I remember this as a kid and her using it a few times I know she had it for 60+ years since I saw pictures of her riding it in her 20's (she died at 88). The measurements are 21 3/4, x 14 1/4 the leather is in good shape, still supple and no cracking, it needs to be cleaned but since everyone has their own preference on how to do this I will let the buyer do it. It has a cover and iron, the marking on the saddle goes as follows best interpretation on some words due to fading or a bit of wear.

S.Wickede & Sohn
Gattler u Hemer
Kukih-u Armae Lieferanten
Wein
Praterstasae Aspeigasse No.3
Retej-Europe
u.Hejel Ifronprinz

I am asking $2500 US for it and can send additional photos and info if needed. any information you may know about this item is welcomed. Buyer pays shipping and handling and insurance if needed.

So Who is Going to the Nationals at Addington?

2011-07-18T12:41:00.000+01:00

I'm looking so forward to going to the National Side Saddle Show this year at Addington! Unfortunately, I won't be showing (maybe next year if I can get Hattie whipped into shape, sort out some transportation and Hattie doesn't decide to injure herself??) but will be going to spectate and shop!!

Who else is going?

For those who have never been, here is an example of the some of more unusual things you get to see at the Nationals...

The shopping is good too as there is not only side saddle vendors (sadly I've been informed that Laura Dempsey won't be there this year), but other equestrian vendors as well. My FAVORITE show shirt brand, Teque-Style will have a stand there so hopefully I will be able to pick up another show shirt from them as I wear my other one to death! They fit me perfectly and the collars aren't baggy either.

LOL, I don't need a saddle this year as I'm sorted with my Whippy and my off-side one but I want to "upgrade" my riding habit to one that has longer sleeves as if I'm going to show next year at the Nationals (*fingers crossed*), I can't have a 2" gap between my wrists and my sleeve cuffs! I need 25" long sleeves, my lovely Moss Bros habit only has 23" long sleeves. Darn my freakishly log arms!!

I'm also looking forward to sitting on the grass with my cheeseburger with fried onions and watching the side saddle jumping!

Lets hope there are no wasps this year!

I Want To Do This...

2011-07-14T21:57:00.001+01:00

Well, my virus and my ear infection went away and Hattie's kicked leg unswelled so I thought "great, we can start schooling again!".

Hah!

Not according to Hattie after deciding to pull a shoe today while schooling. It wasn't even loose and she took a chunk of hoof off with it despite having bell boots on. Sigh...

I swear she does it on purpose to get out of work.

Anyways, the few times I did get to ride this week, were spent practising our transitions and our left rein cantering as we are going to attempt a Prelim test in September. I've been trying to put into practise what my instructor Lili, said about making a nice smooth downward transition (she is reading this! :) ) and this work has paid off as we FINALLY got some good marks for our transitions at our last dressage show.

Any ways, when I come back from vacation (and touch wood that Hattie hasn't found some new and interesting way to injure herself), I'm going to have a lesson with Lili so she can whip us into shape again as we need it!

We also had an interesting hack yesterday when Hattie ran off with me down the lane. I changed her chaff based feed to another brand which I thought was the same but is actually full of molasses and sugar beet (both of which are no-no's for Hattie) so it's sent her crazy. I've been having to school her before hacking out to take the edge off of her. On the plus side, we had some good fast canters!

While hacking out, we passed a man who asked if I was "practising" riding side saddle for a special occasion, I said no, I always ride this way! He couldn't believe it! It reminded me of a photo I came across on the internet a little while ago.

"Side saddle riders, Broad Chalke. A rare and unusual sight these days. The three ladies were beautifully dressed in side saddle habits as they rode their horses down the village street."

© Copyright Trish Steel and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The caption made me chuckle as we side saddle riders are becoming less rare and unusual these days!

I also bought myself a Belly Buster girth tightener on Ebay as my fingers are becoming too arthritic to do up a non-elastic girth, especially when Hattie blows out. I paid £6 for it and it's the BEST £6 I have ever spent. I can tighten the three fold girth easy without straining and Hattie doesn't try to bit me when I do the girth up now as I'm not heaving and struggling to grip the billets. I can tighten slowly which is what Hattie likes without stressing my fingers. It truly is a godsend.

My saddler Roger Whitehead, is also coming out next month to finish my off-side side saddle (YAY!!!), reflock my Whippy and restore my side saddle surcingle. I told him about it and he's excited to see it! If my off-side side saddle is done for September, I may try a dressage test in that as Hattie seems to like that saddle. With the age that it is, I don't think it will be a jumping saddle but purely for dressage. I'm going to have Roger take off the leaping head cover so my farrier can open up the pommel for me too.

Someone posted this video on the Sidesaddle Riders! Facebook page of Aly Howard who has started doing eventing with a side saddle. I WANT TO DO THIS!!!! I wish I was 15 years younger and a bit less stiff as I would love to event side saddle. LOL, I will have to be happy with my little 1' fences :)

A Look at a Riding Corset: Ferris Good Sense Waist

2011-07-06T15:58:00.000+01:00

I have not ridden at all this week due to having a bad virus which I caught from a public swimming pool, and has turned into an ear infection causing me to be dizzy :( So with me being out of auction for a bit riding wise, here is a look at a riding corset which I used to have in my antique corset collection, The Ferris Good Sense Waist...

c.1903-1906. A white sateen Ferris Good Sense Corsetwaist made by the Ferris Bros. (New York and San Francisco). Ferris corsetwaists were seen an a healthier alternative for woman from the traditional heavily boned corset. They were marketed towards all segments of society from working class women to wear as a comfortable working corset to wealthy women who could afford to keep horses and ride to use as a riding corset.

The corsetwaists relied on cording for support although some light whalebone was used and had button up fronts rather than a stiff busk.
Ferris made waists for babies and children right up to adult women and came in different models and lengths (short or long) and bust sizes (slim or full) to suit all figure types and heights. The shoulder straps gave support to the breasts and are adjustable.

This particular corsetwaist is the slim busted/ short length variation of model number 230 which had lacing on the hips which meant it could be used for sports such as horse riding, bicycling, golf, tennis, etc or by fuller figured women who needed more abdominal support.
The model down was the 220, which was identical to this corset but did not have lacing on the hips. Early models did not have the two tabs at the bottom from for pinning on stocking suspenders, these were added onto Ferris waists after 1902. There were fastenings at the hips of the waists for also attaching clothing to but these were removed by the original owner. Early models had button attachments while later 1890's and onwards Ferris waists have a clamp buckle attachment at the hips.
Measurements: Bust 32", Waist 25", Hips 31".

Guess What Came in the Mail?

2011-06-30T21:34:00.000+01:00

A side saddle surcingle from The Side Saddlery!

It dates from the late 19th century and is a neat Western style one with a basket weave pattern purse on the off-side and ornate tooling all around the edges. Linda Flemmer put new latigos on it as they were missing and found me a BEAUTIFUL Jose Ortiz mohair cinch to go with it (which I have to practice cinching up!).

Looking at the construction of it, I'm not sure how the pommels are actually attached to the surcingle. Looking at Nick Creaton's surcingle, the pommels seem to be attached to some sort of tree inside the surcingle but the ones on my one, don't seem to be attached onto anything stiff like metal. I'm not even sure if the pommels have metal inside them or if they are built on layers of stiff leather? They are placed very close together, touching each other and with the leaping head curved so that it touches the fixed head, seems to give it support.

The fixed head isn't as straight up or over to the right as the fixed head is on a normal saddle, this one is very curved seems to just act as a "leg rest" or either that, was made for a lady with a thigh ALOT bigger than mine. Somehow though, I think it was merely meant to act as a leg rest. With the fixed head being moreover to the left than the placement on an actual side saddle, you cannot get a true square seat like you can on a saddle. To be honest, I think it would be impossible to get a square seat sitting aside bareback as there is nothing to support your left butt cheek and thigh (you would have to defy the laws of gravity!). You can physically only sit with both seat bones on the horses back with your right hip slightly more forward than normal so that there is something to support your left thigh if that makes sense?

You can see in the photos that my right hip is slightly more forward than normal but that my right shoulder still is way back. I really had to concentrate on "right shoulder back" and keep it WAY back to keep me as square and secure on the horse as possible. This is why found the genteel little hand hold on the off-side a bit puzzling as grabbing this would make your right shoulder go way forward and cause you to go off balance. It's much easier just to keep your right shoulder WAY back than to mess about grabbing a handle so far forward.

It's all these things put together that make me think that this particular surcingle wasn't made for circus use but purely for pleasure riding, at a walk. Probably a farmer's wife or daughter owned this to ride the family horse around the farm, down to the creek on a hot summer's day, ride to the general store to get some candy, etc. Just general messing about for fun. I don't think the construction of the pommels would have been able to handle any strenuous circus work like trick rearing, etc but just low key riding. A farmer's wife or daughter probably wouldn't have had the best equitation, probably just learned to get on a horse and go which may explain the grab handle on the off-side as she may not have realized to "keep your right shoulder back"!!

I'm really pleased with it however, and it's just the sort of tool I can use for practising to have a secure seat. I can practise walking dressage tests in it while remembering to sit up straight, keep my rib (and core muscles up) and my right shoulder back as these are the only things that hold you on when riding in this surcingle!

I tried it on Hattie first and I think I'm going to have to use a wither pad on her as she has high withers and it comes down on them.

It was weird sitting aside on her with no saddle as she has a typical Thoroughbred sticky up spine but I could feel where my seat bones were on here and feeling her spine, made me remember to stay as centered as possible on her compared to riding Jacob in it which is just like sitting on a comfy couch as he's so fat!

I definitely have a better position on Hattie than Jacob...

I only walked a few steps with Hattie but she "got it" straight away. Jacob kicked her on Sunday in the evening after the show and her leg swelled up where he kicked it so she has been on rest all week. The vet came out today to have a look and he said it's healing really well and he doesn't need to do anything to it and I can start riding her next week when the last bit of swelling is gone (nearly gone now).

The surcingle fitted Jacob better in the withers but although he is comfortable to ride, the surcingle started to roll to the left as he is so round with no withers to keep anything in place. Despite only have been ridden twice side saddle, in March, he started to get it as well.

Better fit in the withers...

But he's so rolly!!

The saddle starting to roll on fat Jacob...

I had a closer look at the construction and I'm going to send it to my saddler, Roger (the one who is working on my off-side side saddle), to restore. It has a large metal ring with a small flap underneath it to protect the horse, on the offside and just a little D-ring on the near side. Linda attached the nearside latigo to the little D-ring as there was nothing else to attach it to but upon closer inspection, the D-ring is actually for a stirrup and you can just see the remains of a small leather flap where a large metal ring was underneath. This must of where the original latigo attached to but the ring and leather flap broke off years ago. I reckon Roger will be able to fix this no problem.I'm also going to have him check the leather and stitching on the off-side metal loop and put a new leather onto the stirrup D-ring as the original is cracking.

The good thing too is that the surcingle fits in my back pack!!

Online Horse Show Side Saddle Class

2011-06-29T18:10:00.000+01:00

How would you all feel about a side saddle class in an online horse show?

The organizers of Horse Shows Online have asked if anyone has any suggestions of classes they could add in future shows and I suggested a side saddle class. They said that they would love to offer a side saddle class but didn't think too many people rode side saddle and if there would be enough interest in it.

I said that I would put a post on my blog and find out!

Although it is a UK website, they do allow people from other countries to enter but they mentioned to me that international competitors would have to pay a slightly higher entry fee to cover the postage to send any rosettes by airmail. All you need is a nice photo and a Paypal account. The photo doesn't even need to be taken at a show so even those that are unable to attend real horse shows for whatever reason, can enter. Just turn you and your horse out to the 9's, take a snap and email it!

So how about it? If everyone could let me know what they think so I can get back to the organizers with approximate numbers, that would be great.

SOLD 17 1/4" (21 1/2" US) Medium Fit Mayhew Lissadell For Sale

2011-06-29T10:36:00.003+01:00

On it's way to it's lovely new home in Michigan with Jeanne!

For sale is my lovely Mayhew Lissadell side saddle. It has a 17 1/4" seat from cutback to cantle (or 21 1/2" from front of fixed head to cantle) and is about 13 1/2" wide across the seat (VERY comfy!). Doeskin pommels and pigskin seat with a Mayhew stirrup safety bar. It is a good solid medium fit as it fits my Thoroughbred mare who has a bit of bone and carries some weight and who usually takes a medium in normal saddles. Will not fit a round no withered cob type.
Mayhew Lissadells are desirable saddles as they were built for hunting. The date on mine is from 1905. I was going to use mine for dressage as it puts me in a nice seat for equitation.

I was going to save up and get this saddle refurbished in the autumn as it fits my mare really well and fits my rather large bottom well but I am facing possibility of a large vet bill due to my mare's evil pony field mate kicking her in the hind leg. Also, I can't justify having two side saddles when I have one riding horse!

The saddle needs all new girth straps (this goes without saying for any used side saddle), the panels need new linen placed over the old moth eaten serge and the tip of the nearside tree point needs building up against as the edge has chipped off. My saddler, Leo Wright Saddlery, says that this is common with the long nearside tree points and that he is able to fix this (and everything else, no problem). Leo does excellent work and can fix anything on a side saddle for reasonable prices, I was going to have him do the work on this. Saddles can be posted to him as well for repair. The saddle will also need to be reflocked for your own horse (again, this is the same for any side saddle).

I am asking £650. The saddle can be seen or tried here in South Leicestershire. I can also ship anywhere at cost.

You can email me at crinolinegirl @ corsetsandcrinolines.com (please remove the space before and after the @ symbol).

SADDLE FOUND 16" (UK measurement) Wide Fit Side Saddle Wanted

2011-06-29T10:30:00.001+01:00

Can you help Ceri, a fellow side saddle rider out?

Side saddle wanted: Any make, 16" seat, wide fit.
To go on a 14.3 Welsh cross with a table back and low withers. Could probably get
away with 15.5" seat but no longer than 16" as horse's back not long enough.
I am 5'3" and a dress size 10-12. At present I have a 16" Champion & Wilton on hire which I can't have altered enough to fit my mare properly.

She has a small hollow in her left shoulder which although its never done either
of us any harm, causes every saddle she has ever worn to slip slightly left,
that's ok astride but not side saddle so I have decided I need to invest in
buying one that I can have fully altered to fit her properly.

Cheri is in the UK, her email address is: cericroot @ yahoo.co.uk (take the space out before and after the @ symbol). If anyone knows of any side saddle or has one for sale, then please could you get into contact with her.

Dressage in the Heat!

2011-06-27T06:12:00.001+01:00

On Saturday, it was jumping in the rain. On Sunday, it was dressage in the heat -just shows how unpredictable British weather can be! Our test was at 9:35 am and already by that time I was melting in my medium weight wool navy habit. I was glad that I didn't have my heavy weight black habit any more or else I would have been a puddle on the floor. Jackets were waived after but I couldn't have shown without a jacket as I was wearing my pink show shirt underneath my habit!!

I decided not to jump Hattie as part of the warm up in my friend's school but instead go straight to the show and warm up in the semi cool indoor school there. We did lots of walking and circles to help loosen her up, transitions and cantering to wake Hattie up and she went really well!

Call me strange, but I find it also helps if I talk to Hattie before a show and then before a class and tell her what we need to do, how were going to do it and if we're feeling cocky, that we want to win, then she always does it. If I forget to talk to her, then we always do poorly so now I've gotten into the habit of talking to Hattie before we school at home what we need to do, our goals and why, etc and we always do better.

I'm not professing to be some sort of horse whisperer and I'm not really into New Age Horsemanship (although some horses probably need it so it has it's place) but it just seems more than coincidence that we do crap when no talking happens and then win or do very well when I do talk to Hattie so now I always do it and so far, so good. Hattie seems to like being spoken to as well as her eyes close and she drifts off - either that or she finds me boring, lol.

Maybe Hattie is just some weird horse that understands the English language or maybe it's good for my brain to put me in the "zone" with riding but talking to each works for both of us! It's a natural aid and beats whips and spurs so why not?!

Hattie before our class waiting to go in...

Any ways, I spoke to Hattie before we schooled and before our class (and I told her that we want to win today as there was some stiff competition from some seriously nice moving horses) and guess what? We won!! 65.22%, probably the highest score in stressage we've ever had!!

Hattie was brilliant today and most of our marks were 6's, 7's and 8's. We got our only 5 as our center line at the end was wobbly, Hattie slipped on some worn away arena surface which wasn't really her fault. The judge wrote "A nice change to see a side saddle test." but said "Be careful not to use your voice as this is not allowed." All I did really was tell Hattie that she was a good girl as she was, well, being good during the entire test but didn't think I was speaking very loudly. I stand by my choice of praising her but will have to remember to whisper it next time, Hattie has good hearing any ways.

Here is the video of our test:

We got our red rosette and won won a voucher for free entry to the next show and a dressage lesson with respected dressage trainer and rider, Danielle Steed (she was also the judge at the show today!) at her barn. The only problem with that is that is her barn is about 12 miles away and since I have no transport and it's too far to hack, it's going to be a bit difficult for me to partake of my prize. I'm going to call her and ask, if I pay her fuel and time, if she would be able to come out to me. Hopefully, she will say yes! :)

Lesson here? Talk to your horse! :)

Jumping in the Rain!

2011-06-25T16:06:00.000+01:00

As usual it's raining here in England. Those two weeks of hot weather we had in April was our summer so now it's gone back to perma-spring/autumn for the rest of the year. Regardless, one much ride on so Hattie and I braved the rain and went on a nice hack with canters along the grass verges and a trot through the ford river! We didn't school as it was Hattie's day off from schooling before the show tomorrow but I did "reward" Hattie with a few jumps at the end of our hack as I know she was itching to jump and so was I!

We did a couple on both reins, I got a little left behind on the first one (my right toe has come up) but not nearly as bad as before...

Our second jump was alot better...

and I think by the third time, we got it down pat!

The Side Saddle For Sale & Wanted List

2011-06-24T16:10:00.001+01:00

Due to the number of emails and requests from people looking for side saddles, side saddle stuff, etc and people wanting to sell their side saddle stuff, I've decided to make a list for ease of rehoming said items like the Side Saddle Association For Sale/Wanted list.

Email me your items at or requests for items at crinolinegirl @ corsetsandcrinolines.com (take the space away from before and after the @ symbol) and I will put them in a special blog post which will get archived. I've created a little category in the Labels section down on the bottom left side of the page called "Side Saddles and Tack For Sale/Wanted" where these special blog posts will get archived for ease of shopping.

Any transactions are between YOU and the Vendor/Buyer so keep your wits and common sense about you when engaging in a transaction!

I'm doing this as a way to help bring side saddle to more people in what sometimes seems like a closed community.

Like the scans? They are from my 1892 copy of How Women Should Ride by C. De Hurst showing what sort of flat side saddle was recommended during the era as opposed to the "catalog" saddle with slipper stirrup which were available in abundance from every mail order company into the early 20th century.

The stirrup shown in the first scan, is a Scott side saddle stirrup which was patented in 1885. This is it in the closed position...

Here is the Scott in the open position.

The Cope is another similar style safety stirrup that was invented in 1885 as well but differs slightly from the Scott. Instead of the inner stirrup arch tipping forward and splitting in two at the top like the Scott, the inner stirrup on a Cope tilts forwards allowing the bottom foot plate disengage to free the foot.

Closed Cope...

Open Cope...

The Jump

2011-06-24T15:02:00.000+01:00

I know I said before that I wouldn't jump side saddle ever again but I'm sorry, it's in my blood.

Hattie HATES dressage and to be honest, I find it boring too so yesterday while in the school trying battle through our dressage test for the show on Sunday, I got off, got out my friend's jump and set a 1' cross rail (the one in the photo). We trotted it first and Hattie was "blah, this is boring" so we cantered it on both reins and she was revved up afterwards and was nice and forward for practising our test.

I got left behind the first two times jumping it as I was trying to get back into the groove of things and Hattie was rushing as she was excited to be jumping, but at the third time, I realized that I was leaning too far forward anticipating the jump and Hattie was falling on the forehand which always makes her take off too early, causing me to get left behind (she does this when jumping astride too).

I thought to myself at that point that "I need to get my sh*t together as this is ridiculous, anybody think I've never jumped in my life". So sat up straight, kept up my ribcage up (this is how I think of my core muscles), right shoulder WAY back, raised my hands a little higher and half halted at the times when I started to feel Hattie want to go on the forehand and kept that right toe pointed WAY down.

It worked, Hattie didn't rush the fence, chip in or take off long before. I could see the strides and feel when she started to gather up herself to jump and was able to get forward and out of the saddle for the take off. We did this today as well while schooling and this time, each jump was perfect.

It just felt so easy.

It's also strange how much your right leg affects the horse's way of going too. My pointing my right toe down, Hattie can feel the resistance on the saddle, slows down and balances herself. I tried this on a 20 metre circle that we have been practising and have been having trouble with.

The circle starts at C in medium walk on the right rein until X, when you have to pick up a working trot. Hattie is in a nice outline for the first half of the circle for the walking bit but then gets excited and anticipates the upward transition at X and goes around with her head up in the air in a "Standardbred" style trot to finish the test!!

So today I got my right toe down at C as I could feel her thinking "whoopee, just need to finish this circle and then I am done!" and did my little half halts and we did it! It wasn't perfect but we picked up a normal "Thoroughbred" trot at X so that is good enough for me for now as I'm giving Hattie the day off from schooling tomorrow as I want her in a good mood for Sunday (we're going hacking tomorrow instead). Before our show on Sunday, I'm going to warm up in my friend's school, do a couple of jumps, then walk down to the show and do a small warm up there to finish our warmup for our test.

I feel that yesterday, a piece in the side saddle puzzle of riding fell into place. We're not there yet but at least it's a start!

More Side Saddle Surcingles

2011-06-16T22:42:00.001+01:00

It was the Diamond horse Show this past Sunday and although it had been forecast heavy rain all day for Sunday, the day before the show, the forecast changed and said that it would be sunny in the morning and rainy in the afternoon. With that hope, I set off at 7am, leading Hattie the seven miles to the show.

We had nice weather walking there and my husband met us at the show with my tack and show clothes to get changed. Well, at 9:30 on the dot, the heavens opened up and stayed open!

Hattie and I only ended up doing two classes as I wanted to get home before the weather got worse (which it did in the afternoon when we were safely home after our long seven mile walk back!) so did Best Turned Out, which we got 2nd place in against 5 other people (got beat by the cutest chestnut show pony) and Best Condition in which we got 1st against pretty much the same 5 people, lol.

I don't think I'll be buying any show photographs as it was a blah day and I forgot to fold down my stupid shirt collar after my husband tied my tie. I was still in the middle of tacking up when they called the Best Turned Out class early so had to get dressed REAL quick while trying to girth up a horse side saddle who normally hates being girthed up at the best of times!

I can't believe I forgot to fold down my collar though, I look a right idiot! The judge didn't say anything about it though and I missed out on 1st place as I don't plait Hattie's tail but instead use a tail rake on it to neaten it as she hates having her tailed pulled or anything doing to it. Turns out that the judge used to ride side saddle herself!

The judge inspecting our tack for cleanliness and me with my dorky collar in the heavy rain and wind...

Hope the weather is better for our dressage next Sunday!!

Jeannie Whited, the best darn side saddle collector/historian/rider/general side saddle all-knowing-goddess, sent me a picture that she has in her VAST collection of a side saddle surcingle used for circus work and shows the Bedinis at the NY Hippodrome.

She says about the photo,"I would put this at between 1905-1915. Barnum & Bailey paid their passage over from England in 12/1903, and after that they also worked for Hagenbeck-Wallace and Sells-Floto."

Here is a close up of the surcingle although with the pommels on the verge of being crushed by the horse, it's not wonder that not many of these side saddle surcingles survive due to the abuse they were put through!!

The fuller, uncropped version of this photo will be published in Jeannie's 2012 side saddle calender which should be available towards the end of the year (let me know Jeannie when you get a publication date!).

ALL SOLD Side Saddles For Sale

2011-06-07T14:58:00.006+01:00

When I bought my Whippy, there was a little hole in the doeskin at the front edge of the fixed head. Unfortunately, with all the riding I have been doing in it, the hole has gotten bigger!

I think I'm going to take it with me when I go to the Nationals at Addington to spectate and shop and see if Laura Dempsey can sew a little patch on there. Until then, it's Vetrap!

We only had a quick 10 minute schooling session this morning as I had wanted to work on my right shoulder and letting Hattie know that she didn't have to be so bendy in the neck! I notice in photos that although my right shoulder is back, that it drops slightly. I've always had this problem as my spine is a bit crooked and I tend to sit that way in chairs too so this morning I practiced, at a walk, just lifting my right shoulder slightly. It felt better and I think Hattie preferred it but boy did it feel strange so we will have to keep plodding on with this.

Also at a walk, I was holding my reins slightly higher than I normal do and just "sponging" the inside rein when I started to see Hattie's poll go down too much which means she then goes behind the vertical. She was getting it so at that point, I stopped as if I do too much with her, she gets brain overload and does the opposite of what I want!

It was a short but sweet schooling session today!

Jeanne, a fellow side saddle rider and follower of my blog, emailed me with some of side saddles that she wishes to sell. I said that I would put them up here in case anyone is interested in any of these lovelies. I do not know anything else about them except what she has emailed me but she did say that she would forward on more photos if anyone was interested or if they needed more information. Jeanne is in the USA and I can forward on her email address if anyone wishes to know more about any of the saddles or to ask if she will ship internationally.

Here is the info Jeanne sent me....

***EDITED JUNE 24, 2011...ALL THE OWENS HAVE BEEN SOLD! THE MARTIN & MARTIN STILL NEEDS REHOMING!!

***EDITED NOVEMBER 18, 2011...THE MARTIN & MARTIN HAS NOW SOLD!!

Martin & Martin:

"All leather saddle with medium pommels and recent leather underside. It is ready to ride, has the dual pommel positions, original M&M breakaway fitting with leather, balance girth and sidesaddle iron. Seat length/width on this saddle is 21" x 13" (17" UK measurements). This is a very nice saddle, budget priced at $1650.00 US."

Wide Owen on a Wykham Pad:

"Wide Owen, with a sewn on "wykeham" panel. The panel was redone in Britain a few years ago but I do not know who did the work. It had been recently redone prior to my purchase of the saddle. 21" x 13" seat (16" UK measurement). $2650.00 US"

Regular Tree Owen:

"Owen with "regular" tree, which has been on an Arabian cross and an appendix Quarter horse gelding. Wide pommels with doeskin on the pommels and seat. Linen undersides and wool flocked panels. Seat length/width of 21" x 13" (16" UK measurement). Comes with stirrup fitting, balance girth and a new sidesaddle iron. The iron was purchased recently from Britain. $2450.00 US."

Wide Owen:

"Wide Owen that has been on a warmblood cross and a foundation type Morgan (very round boy). Wide pommels with doeskin on the pommels and seat. Linen undersides and wool flocked panels. Seat length/width of 21.5" x 13.5". Comes with stirrup fitting, balance girth and a new sidesaddle iron. The iron was purchased recently from Britain. $2650.00 US."

"All of the above sidesaddles have trees that are reinforced for jumping. I would include a new fleece cover with any purchase (yes, I make those). All prices are in US dollars, shipping not included in price. I have lots of photos available to e-mail on all of my sale saddles and can take whatever measurements anyone needs. The seat measurements are the US form of measuring, from the front of the upright pommel to the back edge of the seat."

Side Saddle Sursingles

2011-06-06T21:44:00.000+01:00

I used to have a stereoview photo many moons ago in my collection of a lady riding a rearing horse side saddle but with only a sursingle! I STUPIDLY sold it on Ebay as I only wanted images of "proper" side saddles but later on after I sold it, I discovered who it was in the photo and that it was indeed a side saddle she was riding in. Grrr....

I found out that the photo was taken in 1889 and that her name was Emma Lake and she was the step-daughter of Wild Bill Hickok.

I had never seen a side saddle sursingle (or roller as it's called in the UK) before and then came across one on Nick Creaton's website and discovered that they were used for bareback riding and circus riding.

I have in my collection, a couple of postcards from the 1911 Lady Godiva procession which was held every year in Coventry here in the UK showing Lady Godiva riding her horse in a side saddle bareback pad and I was extremely lucky to find an image of the actual sursingle she rode in!

Since I ride side saddle AND bareback, wouldn't it be nice if I could find one of these elusive pieces of tack???

Hee hee!! ;-)

Horse Show Report!

2011-06-05T21:55:00.000+01:00

I am absolutely knackered tonight from showing today (and hacking 6 1/2 miles there and 6 1/2 miles back bareback) but here are some photos courtesy of my ever obliging husband of our show today.

We were the only side saddle rider there and did Tack & Turnout and Style & Appearance aside were we got 2nds in both classes and then for the inhand classes, we got 2nd for Best Condition, 1st for Best Handler and 3rd for "Horse The Judge Would Most Like to Take Home".

Hattie was a bit wappy due to the strong wind and geldings when we got to the show and wanted to buck and gallop back to the trailer park where all the horses were so had to take her in a remote part of the field and work her in before our class. We did lots of circles and walk/trot/canter transitions but unfortunately, because I had to work her in hard, she scurfed up a bit under the panels so we lost marks in the Tack & Turnout for that. I also lost marks for there being 77 year old horse sweat/grease marks on the edge of my apron seam. These are ground into the fabric where it's worn out over the years so not quite sure what to do about that!!

For Style and Appearance, our transitions were spot on but we lost marks due to Hattie overbending sometimes due to her wappiness and her mind being on the geldings in the car park. She schools nicely at home but at shows, her mind is elsewhere!

All in all, a VERY good day and I hope encouraged some other ladies to ride side saddle today as we had an audience and heard "oo's and ah's" as I was cantering around in our classes!

Hattie and Samson, one of her MANY boyfriends...

Some scenes from today...

Tack & Turnout..

Hattie thinking "What's that? Is that for me??"

Quickly brushing scurf off before the start of the next class!

Our individual show in Style & Appearance...

We jumped!

2011-05-30T21:55:00.000+01:00

Well, sort of...trotted over some little 1' fences yesterday! And I didn't come off!

Never ask a teenager to take your photo as you just end up getting your head chopped off and getting it taken too late. Well, this photo (minus my helmet) shows us just after we jumped but at least it shows me still in the saddle and not on the floor with a broken rib, LOL!

My Whippy is REALLY secure to jump in (well, to do anything in for that matter!) and I really regret not looking for a Whippy a long time ago for Hattie as this saddle does not move on her and gives me a really secure position.

We had some good riding this weekend, did some schooling 20- 30 minute on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but she was SO lazy on Sunday due to being in season and kept wanting to go to the fence to show Jacob her bum and pee. I REALLY had to get after her yesterday and growled and drove her forward with my seat like a cowboy riding hell for leather as she did not want to go away from Jacob!!

After schooling, we went on a hack and she was more forward then and we cantered along the grass verges and were jumping the little drain ditches at the canter that run across the verge. That was fun and it was doing that which gave me the "jumping bug" to try some diddy fences when we got home. I may start incorporating tiny jumps and more trotting poles into our schooling again but nothing higher than 1' at the moment and then maybe 1'6" when we get into our groove again after being out of work for so long.

My new three fold girth from Robert Jenkins came on Saturday as well and it's beautiful! I had him make me a size 52 1/2" and it fits Hattie really well. I really rate Robert Jenkin's girth as they are so soft and well made, they never give Hattie rubs either.

Hattie modelling her new girth after schooling on Saturday...

Her bump has really gone down as well and I don't need to use a pad underneath her saddle either now, it's just a scab or callous under the hair which is peeling off slowly. I still put the creme on however, to keep down any left over swelling (so far there has been none anyways) and to keep the scab soft so that it peels off. You can see in the photo (I circled it to show where it is/was) that it doesn't touch the panel of the saddle.

The one and only Hattie!

An 1870's Riding Corset

2011-05-29T08:38:00.000+01:00

Julie, a fellow blogger who runs the the fabulous Riding Aside blog will be doing an entry on riding corsets this week and coincidently after speaking with my side saddle instructor, Lili Brooksby, about riding in a corset yesterday, I thought I'd share a riding corset that I had in my antique corset collection...

"c.1878-1880. A black sateen corset altered for riding. Although specially made riding corsets were available all through the 19th century, they were very expensive. Less wealthy or spendthrift women often had old, broken in corsets cut down and remade into comfortable riding corsets.

Originally, this corset would have had a deep, curved abdomen and came well over the hips keeping it in style with late 19th century corsetry. To renovate it into a riding corset, the front and back was cut away and the hips completely cut away to allow for the correct sidesaddle position and leg movement during riding. The side steels were removed completely when the hips were cut away and the busk was cut shorter for comfort during riding.

The corset is boned with watchspring and is lined in white cotton. Diamond patterned yellow flossing decorates and reinforces the bone casings on the flared bust line.

Measurements: Bust 37", Waist 28", Busk length (as it is now), 10"."

Not mant people know that in 2006- 2007, that I had to wear a corset everyday due to a prolapsed disc (L5/S1) in my lower back. I didn't wear a medical corset (which tend not to fit as they are designed for men with no hips) but instead wore a Victorian reproduction corset made by my friend Melanie Talkington of Lace Embrace Atelier.

I mucked out, rode, did housework, everything in my corset painfree! The corset supported my body and let my discs heal without stress and prevented me from overexerting myself by accident.

Although I don't need to wear a corset everyday now, I still wear them occasionally when my back flares up to let my discs settle down.

I never rode in my antique 1870's riding corset as I do not believe in wearing antique corsets due to their age, rarity and fragility, I did try it on and it was VERY comfortable!

We Have Our Work Cut Out For Us!

2011-05-27T21:42:00.000+01:00

Eeeek!!!!

Our next show is next Sunday and Hattie and I certainly have out work cut out for us!

We were supposed to go to the Burbage Show (the one that is 10 miles away) but my friend Gill, saw a poster at the feed store for another show, The Mulberry & Zenith Fun Charity Horse & Dog Show which MUCH closer so we decided to go to that next Sunday instead (the Burbage show is on twice a month anyways so we can always go later on in the month).

I'm going to take Hattie in "Tack & Turnout", "Style & Appearance" (both are ridden classes) and then in "Best Condition", "Best Handler" and the "Horse/Pony The Judge Would Most Like To Take Home" in- hand classes. I'll ride side saddle in the ridden classes and was hoping to the "Riding Club Horse & Pony" class but there are two jumps in it and after our little schooling session today, I don't think we will be ready in time. "Style & Appearance" is like "Tack & Turnout" where your turnout is judged but you are also judged on your riding as well and have to do walk/trot/canter plus an individual show.

I schooled Hattie for about half and hour today (walk/trot/canter) and it was "interesting". Although we've been hacking out and schooling bareback for the past month and started hacking out side saddle earlier this week, I could tell that Hattie and I have lost our side saddle fitness while schooling! The last time we schooled side saddle was early February and I felt very stiff on my right side and well, Hattie was stiff on both reins.

I've been suffering bad over the past month with my arthritis in both my knees and in my right hip. The bareback riding helps it ALOT but while side saddling today, I could feel my whole right side stiffen up. Riding on the left rein was even worse as my stiff right side caused my left heel to come up and I was bouncing around. I really need my off-side side saddle at times like these but it's still at the saddler's getting restored as I wasn't able to have Roger come out while Hattie's bump was huge.

Because Hattie has been out of work so long too, she was a bit stiff and gave two almighty bucks while cantering (I love my Whippy, you just don't move in that saddle!!!!) but then settled down after.

I think with my arthritic stiffness and Hattie's lack of fitness stiff, I think LOTS of stretching for me before riding and lots of walking warm up for Hattie plus short 20-30 minute schooling sessions everyday (and bareback hacking!) is the order for the week to prepare us for the show on Sunday and for the rest of the month for the other shows.

Hattie's bump is nearly gone now, I don't even think there is a bump now but it feels just to be a hard pile of dead skin (like a callous) waiting to peel off. I tried peeling off a tiny edge but it's not ready to come off yet so I left it but am continuing to put the cream on it. I'll see how it goes and maybe I'll have Roger come out with my off-side side saddle to finish fixing it as my poor body needs it.

Hoping to find another off-side side saddle to use as a "spare" while my Beck Morrow is away getting restored, I came across this one on Ebay the other week. The seat was way too small for me (16 1/4" UK measurements) and the tree VERY narrow, even for high withered Hattie so I didn't bother bidding.

It had a "Bartley Bros & Hall Saddlers 20 Portman Street Portman Square London New York" metal plate on the nearside tree point and a roller bar stirrup fitting.

A nice upright head which I find comfy too!

Well, although I didn't buy another side saddle, I had to order a new three fold girth from Robert Jenkins as my 51" Owen 3 buckle girth is currently too short for Hattie and my 54 1/2" that I bought from Robert Jenkins 2 years ago, is a tad too long (I can buckle it on the top hole on each side of my saddle) so I ordered a nice wide 52 1/2" girth. Now Hattie has a girth for every season weight gain/loss!

Side Saddle at the Diamond Horse Show

2011-05-17T21:01:00.001+01:00

Woke up at 4:30 and left out at 6:25 from the stables to walk (not hack!) the 6 miles to the Diamond Horse Show where we came 1st in the Tack & Turnout class, 2nd in Best Condition and 3rd in Prettiest Mare (we had stiff competition from cute lil ponies in that class!).

I decided to walk to the show and lead Hattie as my new astride saddle hadn't arrived yet and I wasn't too sure how Hattie's bump would be with the side saddle over such a long way. I wasn't familiar with the route either to ride bareback but on the way home we ended up riding bareback and Hattie still had loads of energy left at the end of the day! As it turns out, my Whippy was fine and came no where near her bump thanks to my saddler's excellent unflocking skills.

I really enjoyed showing, it made a welcome change from dressage and it was nice just showing without having to worry about doing perfect 20 metre circles or a straight center line. I think I actually prefer showing to dressage as I like making us look pretty and Hattie is like a big Barbie horse that I can brush and brush to make look nice.

The Tack & Turnout class was hard work though, it took me two days to scrub up my saddle as the linen had to be clean and I don't like using tennis show whitener on saddles, I like them to be white through my own elbow grease.

My saddle drying in the window after being scrubbed...

In T&T, the judge inspects all your tack to make sure there is no soap residue in the holes, that your keepers on your bridle are lined up evenly, they even check your gloves and the bottoms of your boots and stirrups for any dirt! Basically, you have to look like you just stepped out of your Rolls Royce and had a groom help you up onto your horse! Even the soles of your horses hooves must be oiled as well.

The judge looking at my soles and stirrup for cleanliness!

I guess T&T in the UK is similar to Appointment classes in the US but the only difference is that sandwich cases and rain gloves aren't used over here unless you are actually on the hunt field hunting.

The judge was pleased with my turnout and asked if I rode at county level!! She said the only thing to correct my turnout was no bling on my spur strap (I had on my pink diamante studded spur strap) and to wear a hairnet. I was actually going to wear a hairnet but it was raining and windy and I couldn't get the darn thing on my head due to the wind so just tucked up my hair into my helmet as best I could.

The stupid wind kept blowing the apron over the toe of my right boot so that was a bit annoying but looking on the internet for tips on how the top county level showing people turn out their horses and going to the Burbage show to watch how the pros do it, really paid off. One tip was to use Absorbine Supershine hoof polish first on your horses hooves and then put hoof oil over that right before you go in for a hi-gloss shine! LOL, I'm not a county level competitor, I may as well look like one!

The class walking around for a final time while the judge decides how to place everyone...

Awarding the rosettes...

I got a red 1st place!

My husband didn't realize I had the Best Condition class after T&T, so he went back to the car to sit out the rain so he didn't get to take any photos but the show photographer took some of Hattie of which I will be ordering, but in the mean time, they can be seen on their website. I'm the only one in a side saddle habit so Hattie and I won't be hard to miss!

We came 2nd to a lovely black and white Gypsy Cob mare. The judged asked how old Hattie was (she's 15) and remarked how in good condition she is. It was tough running around the field in the rain, wearing a wool skirt. I got some cat call whistles as I was running, LOL!

I wanted to keep things simple and low key since I hadn't ridden Hattie in a saddle for 2 1/2 months so we skipped the Riding Club Horse class which required w/t/c, an individual show and a jump (we'll probably do that next month all being well!) so our last class was a fun showing class called Prettiest Mare.

Us waiting for the class to start. I know Hattie is a bit overbent in the photo but she was being a real pain in the butt on Sunday as she is in season and kept wanting to show Jacob her bum! When we got to the monring, after we tacked up and I got on, she kept wanting to go back to Jacob, swing her bum to him and buck when I wouldn't let her. Thank goodness my Whippy keeps me in a solid position! The only way I can keep Hattie from blowing her mind when she gets like this is ride her forward on the bit but sometimes when she is in the wappy mood like she was on Sunday, she overbends herself (I keep a soft contact on the rein when she does this so she can bring her head back up when she wants to) but bizarrely, it keeps her calm as she chomps her bit!

Lining up to see who will be the Prettiest Mare, in the end the little grey Shetland won it...

It wasn't all horses though, there was a dog show going on at the same time and my son took our dog, Pepper in and won 6th for Prettiest Bitch and 1st in the Fancy Dress class!

Hattie chilling out waiting to be untacked before the 6 mile walk back home.

All in all, it was a good day and we had quite a few people come up to us and ask about our saddle and how is it like to ride side saddle, etc, so hopefully even though we were the only aside rider there, it will have sparked some more interest in side saddle riding and we'll see more aside riders at the show in the future!

Lots to Catch Up On!

2011-05-13T18:14:00.000+01:00

I've been mega busy over the past month and haven't had time to blog so decided to sit down today and do it after just spending 45 minutes pulling Hattie's mane!

Got my Whippy side saddle back during the Easter holiday time and am so pleased with the work my saddler did replacing all the billets. Roger always does an excellent job and managed to move them a bit more forward for Hattie as well. He also reinforced the old linen that they are stitched onto with a nylon backing for extra strength. Here are the photos of Roger's excellent work..

The cortisone injection that Hattie had last month, seemed to have taken the bump down in size but there was still a bump there but just smaller. I continued using the Arnica cream but to be honest, sometimes you just need pharmaceuticals instead of natural remedies to get the job done! I knew the bump was a Hygroma (thanks for clearing that up for me Robin!) and Googled that and found out that it is also Bursitis which people get in their knees from kneeling on the floor doing housework, gardening, etc. This is the same thing as capped hock which the vet said it was, but "just in a weird place". So I thought to myself, "how would you treat this in a person?" and found that treatment in humans is the same for horses, a cortisone injection and that you can also use Difflam cream (benzydamine hydrochloride) to treat it as it is an anti-inflammatory.

Unfortunately, finding a UK online pharmacy that sold it without a prescription was hard but I managed to acquire two tubes of it and have been using it for the past 5 days and the bump has gone right down and is more of a flat underskin bump thingey now. I am amazed how quickly it started to work and Hattie falls asleep when I massage it in. One of the side affects I read about was a rash and photo sensitivity in the area where it is applied but so far no rash but I have been keeping a light weight summer sheet or a fly rug on to protect it against the sun, mutual grooming from Jacob (it says do not ingest) and bugs biting it.

I have to apply it 3 times a day for 10 days (this is the directions for humans) and then I will reassess and see if I need to use the 2nd tube after a short break as a horse may need a longer course due to their size but so far, so good. I really wish I would have been better at math and science to have become a vet like I so wanted to as a kid!

These photos were taken on April 22, a few days after the vet came out and the day I got my Whippy back from Roger as I wanted to keep a record of how the bump went down and the fit of my side saddle on the bump. The photos were taken before I stared using the Difflam cream.

April 22 bump (I circled how wide it was):

You can see a small spot on the numnah where her bump rubbed against it...

I also found out that the tack shop ordered my new astride saddle at the end of April as they were waiting for 5 more people to order their saddles too (VERY ANNOYING as I paid for my saddle a month before and stated that I needed it for May) so haven't had a saddle to ride in. I took up bareback riding for the first time in my life and have been enjoying it! It means that at least Hattie and I can hack out and take a break from boring lunge work until her bump goes away and my new astride saddle comes. We even had a canter out too!

Fed up with the South Kilworth Riding Club moving their show far, far away, I did some more Googling to see if there were any other riding clubs in South Leicestershire that were within hacking distance and came across the Burbage Riding Club! I hadn't even known this club existed and it's the same distance (10 miles) to hack to their shows which we were originally going to hack to the South Kilworth show! Infact, the hacking to the Burbage show is safer as it's all residential country roads or rural lanes unlike the busy A-road we would have had to ridden along to get to the South Kilworth show.

Excited about the prospect of showing at the Burbage show, I emailed the organizers to see if riding side saddle was permitted. For those of you who read the Tack Tack of the Day blog, you will know of the discrimination that Jessica is receiving from the Arkansas Gaited Horse Show Association with regards to riding side saddle. There doesn't seem to be such discrimination towards riding aside here in the UK like there seems to be in other countries like the US or New Zealand, infact, I can only think of British Eventing that forbids the use of a side saddle but just wanted to email the Burbage Riding Club to make sure it was ok to ride aside. I received an email back saying that the committee was in favour of it and that they hoped to see more side saddle riding there!

We'll be going to the June 5 show all being well and hope to show side saddle in the "Best Turned Out", "Style and Appearance" and "Best Senior Rider" classes as well the "Best Condition" inhand class. So that I would know what to expect in these classes, we went to their show last Sunday to get an idea on what tack/clothing people and horses are wearing, what to do, etc. I got the show schedule, the list of club rules and turnout and tack guidelines. It says for Best Turned Out class that you need a blue helmet (mine is black) with a blue jacket (my habit is blue so that is fine) and that there is extra points for quarter marks on your horse.

So over the week, I've been practising my quarter marks....

and managed to find a 2nd hand blue velvet Charles Owen for £20 out of a local horse magazine! The lady that owned it used it for showing and it has never been in a accident or dropped, she was only selling it as she bought a new Patey hat!!

This Sunday is the Diamond Horse Show which is only 6 miles away so I'll probably lead Hattie there and ride bareback some of the way on quiet roads. My husband will meet us there with all my show stuff (including my "new" helmet!), grooming stuff and tack but I will plait up at home. We'll be doing the "Best Turned Out", "Veteran" (need to check to see if Hattie is old enough for it, I think the cut off age is 15 years) and "Prettiest Mare" classes riding side saddle and the "Best Condition" class which is inhand. I also emailed the Diamond show organizer to see if side saddle was permitted and it's fine!

With all these inhand classes Hattie and I will be doing, I thought "when in Rome..." and got myself a proper leather show lead with brass chain which is what I saw people using at the Burbage show for the inhand classes. It looks neater than holding a pair of reins and is more convenient.

When the vet came out last month to inject Hattie's bump, he said that I could start riding her and bringing her back into work slowly as long as the saddle did not touch that area. Since I do not have my new hi-wither astride saddle yet and my Whippy is heavily flocked up, I couldn't ride her with a saddle due to her bump still being largish (another reason why I didn't go to the last Burbage show). Since seeing the noticeable improvement with the Difflam creme over the week, I had Roger Whitehead, my saddler, have another look at my Whippy on Hattie to see if there was anything he could do to the panels so that we could at least do those few easy classes (they are all walk/trot only) at the Diamond show on Sunday.

Roger said that he could take out some flocking at the spot where her bump was and to cut a portion out of one of my fleece side saddle numnahs at that spot so that the rest of the numnah lifted up my saddle a bit and took the pressure off of the bump. He did this and I got my saddle back yesterday again and it seems as if the plan will work!

I had a ride in the field in it yesterday and the panel does not touch her "flat bump" and even when I put my fingers in that spot when riding, there is no pinching or pressure. Roger said that eventually, the flocking will migrate up but to keep an eye on it and it will help to harden her up gradually in that area.

I won't do any long distance hacking it it just yet but will be ok for bringing her back into work slowly and for the easy horse show classes at the moment. It hurt me to cut my numnah though!!

It's not all bad though as I also saved up and bought us a lovely tall mounting block which is handy for playing on (as you can tell by the child & dog!) and for getting on a side saddle! All I do is step onto the top step, swing me leg over and I'm in the Whippy. Best money I ever spent and my hip thanks me too. Yes, before you ask, there IS a Stargate on them!

Leaping Heads! Part Two!

2011-04-19T22:03:00.000+01:00

Paul, my farrier, came out today and shod Hattie which is a good thing as Hattie managed to lose her loose shoe last night. I don't know where it is but she had it on last night and this morning it was gone, nowhere to be seen. I had a look around the paddock as the grass is low, bit no shoe so maybe Hattie ate it...

I showed Paul and his son (who is training to be a farrier) my Mayhew leaping head and asked if they could reshape it to look like the c. 1930's- 1940's one I had (I brought that one to show him what I meant). Paul's son took it and reshaped it for me and now it fits perfectly! I guess this is the first step in restoring my Mayhew.

The leaping head used to be too acutely bent for the size of my leg and the tip of it dug into it but now you can see that there is a proper hands width with the end of the horn pointing outwards and not digging into me!

The vet came out afterwards (it's been an expensive day) and had a look at Hattie's bump. He called it a Hydro-something or other (I cold just about make out the Hy and an O but the rest went over my head) and said basically that it was like capped hocks but on her wither. Having never dealt with capped hocks before, I asked him about it and he said that it was caused by something putting pressure there and then fluid built up there to protect it (which is why it felt squishy). He said it's like when horses get capped hock when they lie down on concrete floor stables that don't have that much bedding.

The vet said we could leave it or we could drain it and then inject cortisone into the bump but that he recommended the latter so that is what we did. Nothing came out when he tried to drain it, he said that there was very little liquid in it now (which explains why I was now able to feel her wither bone whereas before I couldn't so it looks like the liquid drained out) so the bump that remained was just scar tissue. He gave Hattie the cortisone injection and said that it should start to work in a couple of days.

The vet said that it may or may not come back and that if it did, then an injection wouldn't make much difference soooo, I'm just going to have to be extra careful with saddle fit and call Roger out probably a few times a year just to check Hattie's saddles as she changes shape with the seasons and workload.

I think if Hattie is healed in time for the Diamond Horse Show, I may just do it astride with our new high wither saddle and give her an extra month off for everything to heal 100% internally before side saddling again.

Leaping Heads!

2011-04-18T20:47:00.000+01:00

The vet is coming out tomorrow to look at Hattie's bump. When I went down to the stables tonight, it does seem to have flattened out a little bit, I can feel the edges of the vertebrae at the top of her withers now whereas before, it was all one big bump. I've been keeping Hattie out 24/7 as I noticed that if she is in the stable overnight, the bump tends to get puffier whereas if she is out moving about, it seems to help it drain. Hopefully the vet will be able to give me some sort of magic potion as the Diamond Horse Show that we had been planning on going to, is on May 15 so we have less than one month.

Roger, my saddler rang me today as well as said that my Whippy is ready. He put all new straps on it (billets, balance, etc) and also moved the billets forward so that they are as close to the tree points as possible which is the only thing that stops saddles from shooting forward on Hattie. Once her bump is gone, I'll have Roger come out to make sure it still fits her BEFORE I ride in it so as not to give that bump any cause to come back!!

It's going to be an expensive week as the farrier is coming tomorrow as well. Hattie was due to be shod but decided to "speed things up" by nearly pulling her off-fore shoe off. It's just hanging on by the two front nails and she also managed to clip a chunk of hoof out of the inside of that hoof. Her other three hooves don't behave like typical rubbish Thoroughbred hooves which crumble, but that off-fore hoof is always the one that gives us problems.

While the farrier is out, I'm going to have him hammer out the leaping head of the 1905 Mayhew (left). As you can see in the photos, it was bent acutely for a skinny leg. Compare it to a more "modern" c. 1930's- 1940's leaping head on the right.

There is no way I'd be able to ride with such a skinny bent leaping horn (look at the big gap it leaves on my leg!) so hopefully Paul, may farrier, will be able to shape it too look like the c. 1930's- 1940's one.

I wish I had my Beck- Morrow leaping head handy as even though it's not as bad as the Mayhew one, it's still a bit too curved for my "ample" thigh. The problem with that one, however, is that the leaping head cover doesn't come off. When I see Roger this week to get my Whippy, I'll ask him he could unstitch it so that next time Paul comes to shoe Hattie, he can hammer out that one too.

Side Saddle Stuff for Sale!

2011-04-17T20:54:00.002+01:00

In the spirit of sharing side saddle info (and the fact that Jessica from Tacky Tack of the Day emailed me!), I decided that my blog entry today would helpt hose looking for side saddle tack, buy some side saddle tack!

I came across this Craigslist ad for a redone off-side side saddle and although I do not know this person and cannot vouch for them, for $950, it may be worth checking out if you are in the Denver, USA area. I would if I lived closer!

Here are the photos if you are not able to view the ad. According to the seller, it's marked "Wilton" so is probably a Champion & Wilton, medium width and was recovered with synthetic material from England (maybe the stuff Thorowgood uses?).

Jessica who writes the interesting and often hilarious Tacky Tack of the Day blog, is selling her side saddle shaped Cashel cushion for $50.00 US (only used 3 times and sell for $65.00 US new) and a 46" tan English leather 3 fold girth (only used a few times) for $70.00 US (retail new for $85.00). She ships internationally and her email address can be found on her blog if anyone is interested.

I've got a lovely Mears Pytchley cutaway side saddle jacket made from black wool with a velvet collar. I bought it on Ebay but the seller neglected to mention that the sleeves had been altered for someone ALOT shorter than me. The sleeves are 5" too short and I'm 5'9" so would suit someone 5'4" and under. It's a good size too, I'm a UK size 16 (a US 14) and this fits me perfectly except the sleeves! It's the same as the County model that Mears makes but has a velvet collar instead of a plain. I paid £34.01 for it including shipping on Ebay and would be happy to get that back for it (plus shipping).

This is the County model but mine has a velvet collar and is black:

I also have the current Side Saddle Association For Sale list if anyone wants it forwarding it to them. There are side saddles in size 13" to 17 1/2" along with a couple of habits and accessories.

The Groom's Stirrup

2011-04-14T17:45:00.003+01:00

I called the vet today to come out and have another look at Hattie's bump as it doesn't seem to be going down any and I'm wondering if it needs draining and maybe some sort of anti- inflammatory injection. They will be coming out in the next few days so hopefully something can be done other than "wait and see". Also called the hay man to order some more hay for summer and he's all sold out and won't be getting any till June!

That is just fine and dandy as I've only got 4 bales of hay and 3 bales of straw left and apparently the farm shop where I get my feed from, is sold out of hay too. Jacob is ok just living in the paddock with a bit of chaff as a token feed as he can live on air, but Hattie needs her hay. I'm going to have to get a hay replacer like Fast Fibre until my hay man can cut this years's crop.

Just thought I'd share this nifty little stirrup in my collection called a "Groom's Stirrup".

This little stirrup would have had a pouch (similar to a sandwich case) which attached onto the nearside of a side saddle. This photo in Alice Haye's book, The Horsewoman, shows how the pouch containing the stirrup would have attached onto the saddle.

The stirrup itself, buckled onto one of the offside billets (or nearside billets if the groom was riding in an off-side side saddle) and enabled the groom to ride the Lady's horse astride without having to change to an astride saddle or mess about with attaching a bulky groom's pad onto the side saddle.

My stirrup is made from white folded linen or cotton fabric with brass grommets (painted white) with a white doeskin leather keeper. The stirrup iron is made from a plated metal with a hinged footplate so that it can fold flat to put in the case. The footplate only measures 3 1/2" across so obviously the makers weren't expecting any huge men to ride the lady's horse!
Unfortunately, my stirrup is missing it's leather case so it's a bit of an orphan at the moment but maybe one day I will find an orphan case to put it in!

As you can see however, my Mayhew is staying with me ;-)

Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia

2011-04-12T22:26:00.000+01:00

Not much going on horse or side saddle wise lately as Hattie still has her bump on her withers and my saddles still aren't back yet from the saddlers. I'm going to call the vet this week to see if they can come back out when I'm off work next week and maybe see if they can give her an anti-inflammatory for me to put on the bump as it's gone down a little bit over the past 3 weeks but not alot.

It's not squishy but feels kind of solid-ish, it feels exactly how my bad bruise feels like that Jacob gave me when he booted me but there is no pain with it and Hattie quite likes me rubbing it when I massage the arnica cream into it! Her eyes start to close!!

I called the saddler too to see how my saddles are doing and he'll be bringing me my Whippy over the Easter holidays (all it needed was all the billets replacing) but fitting my off-side side saddle will have to wait until that bump goes on Hattie.

Bad news about the South Kilworth show that we had been planning on hacking the 10 miles to. They changed their venue this year to the beautiful Stanford Hall.

Although Stanford Hall is only 15 miles away, it may as well be 100 miles as riding there would require us to ride over cattle grids, jump locked 5 bar gates or ride down the M1 motorway!! So with not having any transport, that show is out. It sucks not being able to drive.

I put some side saddle Ebay auctions up on Sunday night, my lovely Swain and a rare c. 1870's- 1880's travelling side saddle along with other side saddle bits and bobs.

It has D's on the off-side flap for attaching bags, etc to it. Note the grab horn! It's very narrow however, I tried it on Hattie and it was just perched on her.

While on Ebay tonight, I came across an auction for an Edwardian postcard of Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia (13 September 1892 – 11 December 1980) riding side saddle dressed in her ceremonial uniform as Commander of the Leib-Husarenregiment No.2.

A history of Princess Louise (or Luise in German) along with other photos, can be found on Wikipedia.

I found a c. 1912 postcard of her riding side saddle:

Her Champion & Wilton side saddle was offered in 2006 by a Munich auction house. I was going to bid at the time but with an estimate of €1,500 - €2,250, I gave up trying to bid!!
The auction house seemed to have been a bit confused as to where the stirrup was supposed to be attached...

Her royal insignia on a label glued onto the gullet lining of the saddle. The auction house gave this description of the saddle:
"An English side saddle made by Champion and Wilton London. There is a label stuck to the underside with the impressed crowned cipher "V" and the typed designation: "S. Nr. 2 LHR2 Inv. Nr. 14.
Victoria was the proprietress of the Leib-Husarenregiment No. 2, and in this role, she wore the regimental uniform and occasionally led the regiment on parade. The inventory label shows that this saddle belong to her equipment as commander of the Leib-Husarenregiment No.2."

I've Gone And Done it, The C&C Side Saddlery is OPEN

2011-04-05T20:28:00.002+01:00

Fed up with Hattie and I being "broken", my side saddles being away at the saddlers and not being able to ride, I went and made my own little side saddlery on my vintage clothing site. I'm no Laura Dempsey when it comes to saddle fitting and repair but I've got WAY too much stuff here and only have one horse so took the plunge and now Corsets and Crinolines has it's own side saddlery section on the website.

It will be stocked with side saddle odds and ends I come across in my travels and stuff I don't need (still deciding whether to keep an off-side apron I bought which has a 28" waist in the hopes of getting down from a 34" waist!!!).

One of the things I have decided to part with (with a very heavy heart too as I'll probably end up needing it one day!), is a vintage Champion & Wilton side saddle numnah of which I have never seen another.

The date is unknown but C&W list them in their 1938- 1939 catalog (shown here) for £2 and 10 shillings but there are similar ones are listed in the late 1880's Mosemans catalog from the US but for astride saddles.

Cute Pony Alert!

2011-04-03T20:58:00.000+01:00

He's the devil in disguise but you can't help but love Jacob (even if he did double barrel me), especially when he's in a side saddle.

We took these photos of the other week of him in the 19 1/2" (UK 15 1/2") extra wide Swain I got. Josie and I schooled him for 20 minutes in it (Josie 10 minutes, me the other 10 minutes) before deciding that he would do the dressage show in it the next day as he was such a good boy!

It is ever so slightly too narrow in the gullet for him (it's just shy of being an extra, extra wide tree which he needs) but the tree points are wide enough and he didn't seem to mind it one bit. Like the black Swain I had, Barry Swain built this one on a vintage tree as well and replaced the old roller bar fitting with a normal standard stirrup bar for safety. It's got a bit of a sweepy seat but not as sweepy as my black Swain had but still very comfy to ride in.

LOL, I used Hattie's 50" girth on him but it was too short by about 4" despite him being 14.1hh and Hattie being 15.3hh! Luckily I had a girth extender handy!!

Check out the beautiful buffalo hide pattern on the leather!

The Mayhew Lissadell

2011-04-02T16:10:00.001+01:00

Well, despite looking like a modern side saddle made between the two world wars with it's very wide thick comfy pommels and broad, flattish seat, it was actually made October 26, 1905!

Once again, the measurements listed on the tree label bear no resemblance to those of the seat. The seat measures 17" on the nose from cutback to cantle or 21 1/2" from from the front of the fixed head to cantle. The seat measures 13" across.

Mayhews do not normally work for Hattie and I was going to sell it because I just assumed that it would not work and was just gathering dust in my tack room, that is, until I made the mistake of bringing it to the stables to try on Hattie yesterday to photograph it. This one seems to actually be a good fit out of all the Mayhews I have ever tried!

The flocking is all over the place in it and has bunched up over the years at the withers like what happened with my off-side Beck Morrow. The actual tree width is a generous medium fit like my Beck Morrow.

Once I got the panels sorted out (they need to be relined too as moths have eaten the serge), I think it would be a good fit! There is no bridging with the panels and I can feel a nice contact with Hattie's back with no pinching when I run my panels along the panels.

The leather on the saddle is in good condition and I have a pot of German Effax leather oil which is a miracle worker, that I'm going to use on it. The pommels are doeskin and scrubbed up nicely with my suede brush while the seat is pigskin which I also like. I ride in full seat breeches any ways and tend to like a pigskin seat as I don't feel claustrophobic in them.

The girth straps are not as far back on the saddle and most other side saddles I have tried but I will still need a point strap put on the off-side point.

Moth eaten panels aside, it's not in too bad condition. The things that need to be done to make it riding and show worthy is:
1) All new girth straps including a new balance billet and a point strap put on the other side.
2) Replace missing elastic and hook on convenience tab on the off-side.
3) Reline panels.
4) Repair nearside tree point end.

The wood at the extreme end of the nearside tree point has chipped off from age so I spoke to my side saddler, Leo Wright, and he gave me a quote which was actually VERY reasonable to fix this (and to fix everything else as well). He has rebuilt completely broken trees where horses have rolled on them, so that they are completely safe and strong to ride in again. Leo said that anything on a side saddle can be repaired and that these chips on the end of trees are common.

It's Leo's reasonable quote and the fact that the saddle seems to fit Hattie nicely (and fits my bum nicely too) that is tempting me to keep it.

The problem is that I already have a beautiful Whippy which also fits Hattie and I and a nice off-side saddle but only one horse!

I DO NOT need another side saddle!

Guess The Date!

2011-04-01T19:47:00.000+01:00

I'll post more about this lovely Mayhew Lissadell tomorrow and my dilemma with it (idonotneedanothersaddle, idonotneedanothersaddle, idonotneedanothersaddle...) but meanwhile have a guess at the date this thoroughly modern looking Mayhew was made?

Yes, I know it needs reflocking BADLY at the back but check out the size of those pommels, it's comfy riding time!!!

Side Saddle Scam Alert

2011-03-30T11:11:00.000+01:00

It has come to my attention that on the various free ad websites like Gumtree, Loot and Adoos (and probably others that I don't know about), that my black one-of-a-kind Barry Swain side saddle that I sold on Ebay, is being sold by someone in London using MY photos.

Only one of these saddles was ever made as Barry Swain made it on a vintage tree, it is the only one of it's kind and it was bought by a nice lady in Europe for her VERY wide horse which she said fits it perfectly. She has no intention of selling it either!

I reported the Gumtree and the Loot ad but can't find a way to report the Adoos one but please, if anyone is considering buying the Barry Swain saddle from any ad site, DON'T, as you will be scammed.

I've done some screen shots of the ads to warn people:

Gumtree side saddle scam ad:

Adoos side saddle cam ad:

Loot side saddle scam ad:

Booted Back to Square One...Again...

2011-03-28T11:16:00.000+01:00

It has not been a very good week, infact it's gone from bad to worse....

Had the vet out this past Monday to look at Hattie's pressure bump and the vet said that he didn't think it was infected or had any puss inside of it but more of an "underskin blister". Hattie is not in pain with it and she started to fall asleep when he was feeling the bump. The vet said that the bone was not damaged which was good news, and to keep doing what I've been doing (massaging it with Arnica cream) and also to keep an eye on it in case it's gets painful or gets worse. The bad news is that I won't be able to ride Hattie for 2-3 weeks until the bump heals flat.

I've got the saddler coming out this Wednesday to measure Hattie for a Kent & Masters adjustable saddle. They are made by Thorowgood but are the leather model and have flatter panels that Wintecs do, a nice wide comfortable gullet channel to clear the spine, cut back pommels and point straps which Hattie needs! I'm going to get the GPD (General Purpose Dressage) model as I can still jump in it but it doesn't have as forward placed flaps to annoy Hattie.

All was going ok until Saturday when Lil' B*st*rd Pony (LBP), Jacob, decided to double barrel me in the back!!!

I went in the paddock to get him for Josie and because of the way he was standing while eating his hay, I couldn't go in front of him but had to go around the back.

I've been around horses long enough to know that you don't pass right up behind a horse if you have to go at the back of them but to give them a wide berth just in case they strike out with their hoof.

Well, LBP decided that no one was going to take him away from his hay and make him work so he literally trotted backwards as I was passing behind and gave me a double barrelled kick.

I have a big back bruise on my bum (luckily I have a fat bum, sometimes it's a good thing being overweight!) but he also got my upper back right under my shoulder blade slightly to my right side. I have to go see the doctor today as I can't lay down to sleep and it hurts more than when I broke my rib last time. Can't cough, sneeze, laugh or take deep breaths either and my right arm feels a bit funny so I'm not happy at all.

I REALLY could do without another 2 month recovery as the shows are starting soon!!!

Side Saddle! Dressage! Pony!

2011-03-20T21:13:00.001Z

I originally intended on riding Josie's pony, Jacob, astride for our dressage test today but woke up in agony with my hip this morning and thought "I can't do this!" so at the last minute, we did the test side saddle!

Jacob is a 14.1hh Welsh Section D and is an extra extra wide fit in saddles. He is BIG, ROUND and HAIRY and have been schooling him this week for the test. Unfortunately, I'm finding with my hip, that I am unable to ride very wide horses anymore without being in considerable pain so whatever horse I end up getting after Hattie, will have to always be a narrow Thoroughbred type like her for the times that I do ride astride.

Luckily, one of the side saddles I have waiting in the wings to sell, is a generous wide/extra-wide Swain in a kid's size 15 1/2" seat (19 1/2" in US measurements) which fit Jacob pretty ok. Josie and I tried it on him last night to size the saddle and had a little ride on him for 10 minutes and he took the side saddle like an old pro! Didn't even notice the balance girth either. Ironically, 15.3hh Hattie's three fold girth was too short for stumpy Jacob so had to use a girth extender on him.

The saddle is a touch narrow on him but it's not too bad. If it had a Wykham pad on it, it would be wide enough but as it is, it was acceptable for the short amount of riding we'd be doing. I would probably say that the Swain fits Jacob better than my old C&W did on Hattie which pinched her.

Although I take a 21 1/2" seat (US measurements) seat, I found this little 19 1/2" Swain quite comfortable to ride in! My seat bones were on the saddle, not hanging off of it like they used to on my 20 1/2" off-side side saddle. It's a little saddle that fits a big butt! Like the black Swain I had, Barry Swain built this one on a vintage tree but one a little later in date than the black one I had. Probably about 1910's- early 1920's as it has a flatter seat and wide pommels.

So with the thought that we would do the test side saddle today and my hip would not have to hurt another day, I jumped out of bed, steamed the creases out of my "new" 1934 Moss Bros habit and armed with Hattie's girths and a really wide Swain, we set off to the stables, went to the show and did out test!

We scored 63% and were 6th out of 10 riders but unfortunately, there was a joint 5th place and so they did not award a 6th place ribbon (I REALLY wanted a pink 6th place rosette too!). I was surprised that we even scored that high as I hadn't thought we'd place at all as it was Jacob's first ever dressage show, let alone doing it side saddle!! My right shoulder wasn't as back as I would have liked it to have been and Jacob was busy looking at EVERYTHING and not concentrating but hey ho, we did good all things considered!

Of course, Josie rode him and she got 2nd place with 67%. LOL, I must remember to never show against a 13 year old and stick to the old lady's divisions and leave these youngsters to get on with it!!

My Moss Bros habit was warm and comfy today too. The sleeves on it are a tad short as is usual with all clothes (habits and normal clothes) as I have stupidly long arms but it is generally a good fit.

It was a good day and nice to actually ride side saddle again!

Back From the Abyss...

2011-03-19T22:34:00.000Z

It's been a rough couple of weeks due to stuff at work, stuff with my business, no side saddles back from the saddlers yet, Hattie going lame in the back due to a pressure sore on her withers (my close contact saddle no longer fits her) and my son breaking his arm going skating with the Cub Scouts!!

I started riding astride, even did a couple of clear round jumping classes at a recent show (only 1' baby jumps but still, it was terrifying for me!) and was planning on doing a Prelim class at the dressage show next week as our flat work and canter transitions were coming along. Then one day I took off Hattie's saddle and lo and behold was a big swollen blister of a pressure sore at the left side of her withers.

My close contact saddle had always been a little big for her but with a Wintec front riser pad, it fit good and never moved on her despite every other saddle shifting forward on her. Unfortunately, Hattie lost her excess blubber over the winter and she fittened up quite nicely with the flat work that Lili gave us so the saddle became too big and dropped down causing the Wintec riser to rub a sore spot on her withers.

I stopped working her (only lunging now) and have been putting Arnica on the spot and have the vet coming out on Monday to have a look (it's going down a little bit day by day though). It's just so frustrating as always when our riding starts to improve, something happens that puts us back to square one. I'm always the "perpetual novice" due to constant set backs and it's getting to be VERY ANNOYING!

The stuff with work has passed and my son likes showing off his new fangled splint cast, Hattie is on the mend and I'm currently looking for a new astride saddle (probably will go with a Thorowgood T4 or T6 High Wither saddle with changeable gullet as they can be flocked and the new ones have point straps on them which Hattie needs) so all is not so bad now.

I've also decided to start a new venture with my existing business and combine my love of vintage clothing and side saddle riding and open up my own side saddlery!

In my travels with looking for vintage stock, I often come across side saddle things so decided to combine both. I'm still going to sell vintage clothing as I get many side saddle riders shop with me for things to add to their costumes for costume classes, but now have a dedicated category on my site with side saddle things for easy searching like habits, accessories and tack!! I have three side saddles waiting in the wings to go up too along with some other bits and bobs that I've accumulated over the years.

After 11 years of running my antique and vintage clothing business (and 20 years+ of collecting "stuff"), I felt that it needed an injection of something new and different so am really excited about my new venture!

We have a dressage show tomorrow and Josie has kindly ride her pony, Jacob, in it so it should be interesting to see what comments the judge gives us as I'm 5'9" and he's 14.1hh!

Just Browsin' and Shoppin' on Ebay...

2011-02-28T20:29:00.000Z

I have a love/hate relationship with Ebay...

I love it because it's fun to look at stuff and you can find really obscure things on there (like side saddle things!) yet I hate it as it makes you spend money, often on things you can't afford!

I won two side saddle images recently, one is a postcard dated February 24, 1914, showing a lady in a walking outfit (too bad it's not a riding habit although she is holding a whip!) holding a grey horse. You can just see it's side saddle with the pommels rising out of the top of the lady's head!!

The other image is a c. 1900 cabinet card from France showing a lady in her straw boater hat riding her Thoroughbred type horse. Her side saddle has a vestigial off-side pommel but note her neat saddle pad with "C" on it! I wonder if "C" was one of her initials or of her horse?

These two items were pretty cheap to buy, only a couple of £'s but I have been eyeing up this Mayhew off-side side saddle on Ebay for the past few days that it has been on there.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for my husband), it's WAY too small for me and Mayhew trees don't suit Hattie anyways, so the temptation for me to bid on it is gone but oh how I'd like to add it to my "collection"!

A Mayhew stirrup fitting made in the opposite direction...

I love when saddles have their original labels on the underside of the trees...

This one has a date of June 30, 1903 (my grandfather would have been 3 months and 1 day old when this tree was made!). Interestingly, the label states a seat measurement of 16" but the seller
states that the seat is 15". It's like my Beck Morrow where the label gives a seat measurement of 18" but the seat actually measures 17". They must have measured differently back then.

Thanks again to Google Maps, I found the building where Mayhew was located, it's now a Lebanese restaurant!

The tree maker's address, 26 Horace St., Queen St., Edgware Rd., was a little harder to find but wasn't actually that far from the Mayhew premises. It turns out the Queen Street was renamed to "Harrowby Street" and Horace Street renamed to "Cato Street". Actually, it seems that it was Cato street until the early- mid 19th century, then renamed Horace Street and now is back to Cato Street.

Unfortunately, most of the buildings on Horace/Cato street look to be from the 1950's- 1980's which may mean that the street was heavily bombed during WWII and reconstruction began in the 1950's. There are only a couple of older houses left on this narrow little street right at the top of Cato Street where it meets Queen/Harrowby Street under a little old pedestrian archway.

The numbering of the old houses goes up from no. 19 so the tree maker at no. 26 may have been located near the archway if the numbering did not change on the street.

Montreal Horses & History

2011-02-27T18:58:00.001Z

We're hoping to get to go to Montreal again this summer to see my family (all being well!!) and one of the things I would like to do, is photograph horses and horse related stuff (especially if it's side saddle related stuff!!) like old stable buildings, etc.

One of my favorite tack shops that I used to go to all the time (and still go to when I visit Montreal, is called Lemay Saddlery. They have a Victorian side saddle hanging up from the ceiling by the cash register that has been there ever since I was 14 (that was a long time ago!!). It's havana brown with a fancy stitched safe and a small off-side horn that I have been coveting since they got it over 20 years ago but they won't sell it as they say it's "broken". I'm hoping that they will let me at least take a photo of it this summer.

I also would like to visit the Montreal Cavalry stables on Mount Royal as well. This is another place I used to go to when I was a teenager and annoy all the policemen with questions about their horses. One policeman even let me groom and saddle up his horse once! They used to only have about box stalls in the barn and the rest were nice big standing stalls but it looks as if in the video, that they have renovated the barn made it all box stalls.

You also used to be able to just pop in and visit as the barn was always open but when we went last year, it was closed to public and visits were by appointment only, I guess to stop annoying teenage girls from coming in and pestering the policemen about their horses!! ;) I'll be prepared this year!

I would also like to photograph the Ravenscrag stables as well. The stables are made from beautiful grey stone work and were part of the Ravenscrag estate which was owned by Sir Hugh Allan, a Scottish industrialist, who made Montreal his home.

All the photos are from the turn of the century but the buildings still stand and are now part of the Royal Victoria Hospital's psychiatric unit.

Here are some of the stables...

Front view, there is a stone horse head at the top of the archway. When I visited the stables in the late 90's, the horsehead was still there.

Back view of the stables...

Interior view with a carriage and a sleigh on either side...

Close up of the horses in the standing stalls...

Stall area...

Missie Allan and her pony...

When we went to Montreal in 2008, I was lucky enough to visit my old school, a historic private girl's school called, Villa Maria which was built in 1804 and became a school in 1854 when the Congrégation de Notre-Dame nuns bought it.

The school still has their old stable standing at the back of the main building and I took a sneaky photo of it before one of the caretakers came running out shouting that the nuns would not like it! LOL, I spent 5 years of my life there studying hard and I'll be darned if I didn't get a photo of the stables! ;)

I was the "tour guide" for the stables when I was in my graduating year there as the older girls had to tell the younger girls about the school and show them around. It was last used for horse sin 1949 and the Stucco on outside walls, is original! I'm going to go back and try to get a back view too!

I'm also hoping that I can go around the Pointe St Charles and Griffintown areas of the city and photograph some of the historic stables too where the caleche horses which pull the carriages in Old Montreal, live and speak to Leo Leonard, who owns the Griffintown Horse Palace too.

Until I get to go back to Montreal and get some more horse related history for you all, check out my previous blog posts on my home city...

The Montreal Hunt Club & Equestrian Building History

The Mount Royal Riding Academy and Club

Owen Side Saddles in Museums

History of a Saddle Tree

2011-02-26T16:12:00.002Z

I had my saddler, Roger Whitehead, come out to check both my new saddles that I bought from Sandon Saddlery to make sure that they would be good for Hattie and also to fit the panels on my off-side side saddle.

It turns out that my off-side side saddle was padded with layers of felt with flocking in-between each layer. He removed one layer of flocking from between the felt and immediately, it dropped the saddler down, becoming a better fit for Hattie. Roger said that it probably was originally, just padded with felt but that the flocking was added later on at some point, to make the saddle smaller for a narrower horse. He also said that it made his job a ALOT easier when he opened up the saddle and saw that he could just peel away layers!

Now that we know the tree width is finally correct for Hattie, it is now the tricky part of balancing the saddle. He had me ride around in it and shimmed it out with bits and bobs to see where it needs lifting and took the saddle back to the workshop so he can cut felt shims to put in-between the panel layers.

Roger is going to put a full panel length shim on each side and taper it to nothing towards the front to raise the back of the saddle. He is then going to build up the off-side with layers of felt shims but he needs to come back to see me ride in it so that he can add or remove shims as necessary. He is also going to build up the front of the panels at the tree points a little and move the girth straps forward as he says that Hattie needs this with her particular conformation.

He had me ride with the girth on the point, 1st and 2nd billets on the off-side and attach the balance girth onto the 1st billet and it did make a difference with the saddle staying put!

So things that need doing to my off-side side saddle:
1) Balance panels.
2) Recover panels (not sure about whether to go with leather or linen).
3) Replace all billets and move the back ones more forward closer to the tree points.
4) Reattach the over girth I cut off and add a convenience tab.
5) Try and rebend the leaping head to take a little bit of the curliness out.

Although my Beck Morrow is still a long way off from being finished, at least we are on the right track with fit and making it perfect for Hattie. Roger feels that it is worth it with this saddle as Hattie seemed very forward in it and he said that the tree is actually a good fit for her, better than any of the other saddles (astride or aside) that I've had. We walked, trotted and cantered on both reins in it with ease and without the weird bending sideways thing she did in my last lesson so even with the panels in their current state, the saddle is a million times better in fit than it was!!

Next Roger looked at my Whippy and he said that the panels were fine and they didn't need any flocking taken out (I guess I was paranoid after all the flocking I had to put into my Manorgrove I guess). In fact, he said it could do with a tiny bit more at the extreme back but he said just to see if my side saddle riser pad with out any stuffing in it does the trick as the empty pocket may add the tiny bit of lift that it needs. He said that he couldn't take any flocking out of the front as you could already get two fingers clearance between her withers and the pommel and anymore would make it drop down too much.

He said that my Whippy was probably one of the best fitting nearside side saddles that I have had and to keep it as he is all too familiar with Hattie's awkward conformation. He said the only problem was that the seat was a bit narrow for my wide bum but that he meant it in the nicest possible way! LOL! Roger said though that it was a case of working with what you have since vintage saddles tend to have narrowish seats anyways and that Hattie is such a hard fitting (i.e. needle = haystack) so I must continue with my diet to get my 42" hips back down to the 38" they were in 2007.

We walk, trotted and cantered on both reins and Roger had me put the girth on the nearside point strap and attach the balance girth to the 1st billet and I didn't end up needing my non-slip pad underneath. He took the saddle back with him as well and is going to replace all the billets on it and move the back ones closer to the tree points as well.

The news wasn't so good with my lovely Swain though...

Roger said that is REALLY well made quality saddle but that is was unfortunately WAY too big for Hattie. He said that it would need too much doing to it to make it a narrower fit and that it would probably end up rolling anyways due to it being too wide. He said he had never seen a new black side saddle and that it was very unusual. Roger said it was too bad as the seat fit my bottom!

So with a heavy heart, my lovely Swain is up for sale :(

On a happy note, when Roger took off the panels of my Beck Morrow, he found the original maker's labels on the saddle tree!

The first label gives the date of 1898 and the maker as being W. Slatford & Son with an address of 44 Greek Street in the Soho area of London as well as a former address of 15 or 16 Gerrard Street.

From the Society of the Military Horse website, I found out a bit of history about the Slatfords:

"This family originated in Oxford, James Slatford (1824-1893), a Freeman of the City of Oxford, brought his family and saddle tree business to London around 1850. They were in Gerrard Street in Soho. James was succeeded by his son William who in turn was succeeded by his sons William James and James Cornelius. The business seems to have died out after them about the time of WW1."

With Beck Morrow closing in 1907, it is no surprise that Slatford ceased trading shortly afterward. World War One and all the horses being requisitioned, would have been the final nail in the coffin for the business.

Thanks also to Google Maps, I also found the area where the tree was originally made although the actual 44 Greek street building got demolished in the late 1920's to build the Prince Edward Theatre which opened on April 3, 1930. The addresses on Greek street skip from no. 40 to no. 47.
I hihlighted with a little grey box down the street on the left side, approx. where number 44 would have stood.

The building(s) on Gerrard Street where Slatford was originally located are still standing right in the heart of Chinatown!

The building is also a historic one as well and has a plaque on it marking it's history. It looks like it got turned into a restaurant after the tree makers moved out!

Interestingly, the saddle measurements on the label give the seat as being 18" and the seat width being 12 1/2". I do not know how they measured the saddle as I get 17" from cutback to cantle or 21" from the front of the fixed head to cantle. The seat measures 14" across it, 12 1/2" is what my Whippy is and that is ALOT narrower than my Beck Morrow. After reading Brita's blog post about side saddle seat sizing and seeing the measurements written on the label, I'm starting to think maybe they measured seats a different way in the Victorian era than how we do today.

The tree fitting is also stated as being a "general" fit when the actual tree is quite generous fitting!

The second label gives the abbreviation of Ctsse and the name Pillet-Will. The only thing that I can think what Ctsse stands for is the French word Comtesse (which is Countess in English). Pillet- Will is a French name and there was a Comtesse Pillet- Will around the time the saddle was made too. She was a rich Parisian socialite and apparently very well known according to a 1901 article in New Zealand's The Evening Post newspaper.

With Beck Morrow being a high class London based saddler with a branch in Paris, she certainly would have been able to afford to have such a specialized saddle made and since France is only over the channel from England, Beck Morrow may have had their trees made in London (or maybe even their entire saddles too) and then sent over to Paris in a fairly short time.

If it is the Comtesse's saddle, then she was about my height but probably a bit skinnier than me! I found this portrait of her painted in 1910 by Paul Albert Besnard which was sold at an auction in Lyon, France in 2006.

Oh if saddles could talk!

Side Saddles!!

2011-02-22T20:37:00.002Z

I got to test out my new acquisitions on Sunday and hacked out in my Whippy on Monday and today.

All in all, I am pleased with both saddles but both of them need some tweaking and fixing to make them perfect.

Let's start with the Whippy...

A REALLY nice looking saddle in show condition that looks like a Mayhew but not a Mayhew (thank goodness as Mayhew trees are totally the wrong shape for Hattie)!

I rode with the leaping head on the lower hole on Sunday and Monday as I could not budge it. It was comfortable but I find with the pommels spread so far apart, that I could not get my right leg back enough so that I ended up with my right leg nearly on Hattie's shoulder.

Ignore the poor photograph as my new camera takes blurry out of focus photos. My butt wasn't really hanging off the end of the saddle that much even with Hattie standing halfway up a hill! I don't know what was up with that photo with my bum but you can see I was unable to get my right leg back.

So armed with a screw driver, a butter knife and a pair of big pliers, I got that leaping head off and put it onto the top hole. MUCH more comfier with the leaping head set higher and I was able to get my seat more forward onto the saddle and bring my right leg back easily. When I rode out in it today, we had a canter along the grass verge, trotted through the 3' deep ford river and had a good time in it!

The saddle sits a little up hill as it was HEAVILY flocked up to fit a medium width horse but it does have a nice wide gullet channel between the panels which suits modern horses. The panels are completely covered in linen which is handy for cleaning. The flocking is completely lump free so I think it must have been recently reflocked before whoever decided to sell it.

I'm going to need some of the flocking taken out at the front to set it down a little bit. Not too much though as when I'm on the saddle, I can just get two fingers width between Hattie's withers and the saddle. The gullet is very wide though and measures 6" across the top. You can also see in the photo how far apart the arms of the tree are. No wonder it was so heavily flocked up to fit a medium horse but is good news for medium/wide Hattie though!

The saddle fits nice and level with a slight tilt to the right. I do not feel like the saddle is rolling at all when I ride in it and I feel very secure. When Hattie trots, I do not move at all in it even when she is doing her "race for home" trot when we are heading back. Josie laughed at me yesterday when we were trotting home as she said that she could see Hattie's speedy legs moving along but I was sitting there motionless!

The forward billets on the Whippy suit Hattie's conformation too and there is a handy off-side point strap too. The overgirth (which I generally find annoying), doesn't annoy me so much as it's set further forward than usual which suits Hattie. It also has a longer strap than normal which also suits her as since the buckle comes up higher than her shoulder, it does not rub so no need for a fiddly fleece girth cover.

I'll have to get the billets and the balance strap replaced for safety however.

So things that need doing to the Whippy:
1) Replace all billet straps and the balance strap.
2) Remove excess flocking.
3) Replace stretched out elastic on the convenience tab.
4) Have a hook cover sleeve made for the stirrup leather.

I only rode in my Swain on Sunday as it needs a bit more doing to it than the Whippy (despite it being a brand new saddle!) but is SO comfortable! The leather feels like butter and it feels like you are sitting in butter as the saddle was starting to mould to the shape of my legs and bum.

These photos were taken of the Swain after I rode around in the field in it, trotting and cantering on both reins. You can see the how on the flap, it was starting to mould to Hattie's and my shape. I LOVE the wide sweepy seat and how close the pommels are together, perfect in comfiness for me. It was like sitting in a big easy chair. I could get my right leg back easily as well.

The Whippy made me sit proper in a show ring seat but the sweepy seat vintage tree that the Swain was built on, was built for long distance comfort riding. I think my body was made for Victorian saddles.

I had to use my new thick red fleece numnah with the Swain as it is a wide fit tree and it came down onto Hattie's withers when I was riding in it. Before I got on, I could get two fingers between Hattie's withers and the saddle but after, I could not get any in. I also tried it on my friend's 15hh chunky Shire cross cob type horse who takes the red wide gullet in Wintec saddles and this fit him perfectly. The actual gullet width is about the same as the Whippy so I reckon with proper flocking up, we can get it to a medium/wide. Josie suggested that I get it fitted when Hattie is at her fattest time of year from June to early November and save it as her "fat" saddle. This wise 13 year old said that with Hattie's conformation, I may need "seasonal tack".

Although the tree is a vintage one from c. 1900 which was salvaged and refurbished by Barry Swain, the actual saddle had never been ridden in prior to me riding in it on Sunday so the flocking is all new inside as well (the panels are serge with no linen covering). Because it is essentially a new saddle and was never fitted to a particular horse, the flocking packed down quick when I was riding in it. The left side dropped down a bit and will need building up.

Although it is a Swain saddle, it was not made entirely by Barry Swain but by one of his employees. He did tell me which one of his employees made it but the name escapes me now. All I know it was a male name! I wonder if it was made as a apprentice piece or as a display saddle for trade shows, etc which would explain the peculiar little short billet straps it has.

I REALLY do not like these little billets as they only have 3 holes on each strap and because they are so short, with my arthritic hands, I cannot get enough leverage to do them up. They are too short for my three buckle Owen girth and too long for my Rob Jenkins girth. In the end, I had to use some girth extenders with my three buckle girth but didn't have a third extender for the last buckle.

The overgirth is also too short for Hattie and Josie could barely do it up on the first hole when I was mounted.

I love the Swain but the things that need doing to it are:
1) New longer billet straps.
2) Longer over girth strap (my saddler may be able to splice a matching extension onto the buckle end).
3) Needs to be flocked up.

We'll get there in the end!!

Well, It's Better Than Being Addicted To Drugs!!

2011-02-19T20:38:00.001Z

My name is Leila and I have a problem, a side saddle problem....

Not done much this past week as the back lady told me to give Hattie this week off and that I could start riding her on a 20 minute walking hack on a long rein this weekend. Unfortunately, it was raining, pouring today and my coat was leaking badly so instead THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD
took me to the BEST DARN TACK SHOP IN THE WORLD today and shop I did!!

Armed with a wither tracing and scraped together money, I came home with this...

A NEW black Swain side saddle, a Whippy, 4 side saddle numnahs (don't you just love the red one?) with the Whippy coming with it's Mayhew style stirrup leather, stirrup iron, side saddle cover, girth extender and balance girth. I also bought a grazing muzzle for Hatster to stop her from turning into "Fatster".

I was speaking to Barry Swain yesterday as I called him to see if he had any 2nd hand side saddles in stock that would work for Hattie and I but he said that he had sold 60 side saddles to someone in Germany to get rid of them all and took the last two to Sandon Saddlery. He said that he brought a black one there and that he thought it would work for us and that if I ended up buying it, that he would come out and fit it to Hattie.

We had a nice chat about side saddle fit and Mr. Swain said that a mistake alot of side saddlers make is over stuffing the saddles which causes rolling and all sorts of problems. He said that on a nearside side saddle, that the flocking has to be "denser" but not "thick" that it tilts the side saddle. Alot of saddlers make the mistake of building up the nearside too high he said.

Very interesting points he made and I guess if you have been making and dealing with side saddles for 52 years as he has, then you certainly know your stuff!

Luckily, I rang Sandon Saddlery as soon as I got off the phone with Mr. Swain and Miss Dodd-Noble, the 80-something owner owner of Sandon Saddlery, informed me that she still had the black Swain and that she would be expecting me on Saturday!!

It's BEAUTIFUL and the leather is new and buttery soft with doeskin pommels and seat. You rarely see new black leather side saddles, it's so unique! The girth straps are also quite forward placed too which should work for Hattie. The serge panels are so new that they are not lined with linen and will need to be flocked up as they settle.

Barry Swain also brought another side saddle to Sandon Saddlery as well and that was beautiful as well. It was smaller than my saddle (about a 16" seat UK measurement) but a very wide fit with doeskin pommels and seat but the flaps were made from a havana brown buffalo patterned hide. It was GORGEOUS!

Both Swain saddles were built on vintage side saddle trees that he refurbishes so no two saddles are alike. He took off the original stirrup bar fittings on both Swain saddles though (they probably were roller bars) and put modern standard stirrup bars on them so I will have to use a breakaway stirrup.

I think my saddle has a slightly older tree than the other Swain did, as my seat is slightly dipped just how I like it and has a longer and wider seat which turn of the century side saddles like my Beck Morrow, tend to have. The seat measures 16 3/4" from cutback head to cantle (UK measurements) or 21" from the front of the fixed head to cantle (US measurement) with a 14" wide seat and is SO COMFY. Infact, the seat has the same dimensions as my off-side side saddle.

While the Swain is flocked up to be a generous medium/wide, my Whippy is heavily flocked up to be a medium but if Barry adjusts the bloated over-stuffed panels, it would also fit a medium/wide as well as the points measure a nice 13 1/2"- 14" across which seems to suit Hattie. Comparing the tree shape to Hattie's wither tracing, the tree shape seems to fit her body shape as well.

The seat is 17 1/2" from cutback to cantle (UK measurement) or 21 1/2" from the front of the fixed head to cantle (US measurement) with the seat being 12 1/2" wide. Even thought this saddle is 1/2" longer and 1/2" narrower in the seat, it's just as comfy as the Swain. It has a flattish seat but has a very slight dip to it which is comfy for me.

I like the fixed head position on it too, not too curved so it suits my leg. It does have a dual position leaping head on it but the head is stuck fast in the lower hole and I don't want to force it. When Barry Swain comes out, I will see if he can do something with it. As it is though, it fits me fine anyways so I am not too fussed as I won't be jumping anyways.

I really like the Whippy as it has a point strap on the off-side as well as having forward placed girth straps so a bonus for Hattie!

Brita, I took measurements of the Mayhew for you and will email you pictures and info. Anita, I checked for queens for you but it seems that alot of side saddle stuff got sold since my last visit and there wasn't any queens like the ones I bought last time, just some old foam and vinyl one.

I also got a few photos of the "Side Saddle Corner". Some of the saddles are for sale but others like the little pilch side saddle that can be ridden on the near or off-side, aren't.

A bigger view of the corner, the buffalo hide Swain with the light doeskin pommels and seat, is next to the embroidered antique saddle on the bottom shelf.

Our Plan For This Summer, Part Two....

2011-02-13T22:29:00.000Z

One of the other shows Josie and I would like to go to are run by Diamond Equestrian. They do dressage, clear round jumping and small eventing shows but these would be a bit difficult for us to get to without transportation as they are often held in the week (although the dressage shows are sometimes held on Sundays). The show we would REALLY love to do is the big Fun Show that they hold at the end of August. this was the schedule for it last year but it's pretty much the same every year.

I'd like to do Class 1 - Clear Round Jumping, with poles on the 1st hole as a fun warm up for me and Hattie (but only if I end up with a side saddle reinforced for jumping) and then it's showing on the flat classes for me afterwards with us trying our luck in Class 9 - Best turned out (ridden), Class 10 - Best condition (in hand), Class 13 - Riding club horse/pony (ridden) and Class 18 - Prettist mare (ridden or in hand).

We would do the same as for the South Kilworth shows with me hacking Hattie to the show astride and then changing to side saddle at the show. My husband would meet us there like at the South kilworth shows with all our stuff!

Since Josie lives halfway between our stables and the show, we would bring Hattie and Jacob to her house the evening before and they can stay in her large backyard overnight (subject to her parent's permission, LOL!) and I would section off a stall sized area for each of them with electric fencing. He dad says as long as it doesn't rain, then they can go in there! Hopefully we will get nice weather as it would only take us an hour to get to the show from her house...

View Larger Map

If not, then we'll hack straight from our stables to the show and would take us about 1 and 45 minutes to 2 hours to get there.

I just hope I have a side saddle by the time all these shows start as I'm starting to get a bit disillusioned with saddle shopping at the moment. I just want to RIDE my horse and it seems that everytime my riding starts progressing, that I end up having some kind of "saddle crisis" and then go back to square one.

Grrr....

Our Plan For This Summer...

2011-02-12T20:43:00.000Z

Since I do not have any transport to get to shows, no driver's license and no 4x4 to tow a trailer even if I rent a horse trailer, Josie and I have decided that we are going to hack Hattie and Jacob to the two local shows that are fairly nearby. We are fed up with everyone else getting to go to shows and us just being stuck at home while the others get to have fun.

With all the time and money I spend on Hattie (schooling, lessons and tack), it just seems like a bit of a waste if all we get to do is hack out and go to the dressage shows down the lane from us which are mostly only held during the winter months anyways when I don't get to ride and school as much!

Unfortunately, one of the shows (a good and fun one too) is exactly 10 miles away from us. Here is our route to the field where the show is held:

View Larger Map

It is the South Kilworth Riding Club show and they have all sorts of classes from show jumping to "Family Horse & Pony" classes. I went to the South Kilworth show last year in a friend's borrowed trailer and we did the clear round jumping class side saddle but this year, I may try our luck in the Showing classes and do the "FAMILY HORSE/PONY" and "STYLE & APPEARANCE" classes and MAYBE the "RIDING CLUB HORSE OVER 15HH" and "RIDDEN HUNTER (exc 15hh)" classes if they don't involve jumping (which sometimes they do and the jumps are usually set at about 2' or a little bigger).

With the Ridden Hunter class, sometimes the judge rides and if they don't ride side saddle, I would need to provide an astride saddle which all I have is a tan close contact saddle which isn't really appropriate for a UK hunter class!

Those are the ridden classes (I would do those side saddle) but I would also probably do some inhand showing classes as well like the "BEST CONDITION" and the "HUNTER TYPE IN HAND" classes.

There are four South Kilworth shows and they also have some fun classes which they change at each show. Last year they did "Prettiest Mare" at one show and "Best Turned Out" at another. We'd do those too as well at having a go at the Clear Round class if whatever side saddle I happen to have then, is reinforced for jumping (I'd only do 1' little jumps).

The South Kilowrth show would take us 3 1/2 hours to get there at a walk and we'd have to leave out at about 5:30- 5:45 am to get to the show in good time as it starts at 9:30am. The show is always on a Sunday so the roads wouldn't be too bad that time of morning and shouldn't be that busy on a Sunday afternoon when we come back anyways.

There are grass verges at the side of the road for us to walk on away from the cars but we would also be wearing hi-viz equipment to make ourselves as visible as possible to cars! I plan on ordering a bunch of pink hi-viz stuff from V-Bandz, I already have their pink reflective noseband cover and would also wear my back protector our hacking as well.

My husband would meet us at the show with the car fully stocked with hay and water for the horses, food and drinks for us, my side saddle and show clothes for Josie and I as well as mounting block, water bucket, halters, grooming and first aid kits.

I'm going to ride Hattie to the show and back in my astride saddle to save her back (and mine) so that I can post to the trot over the long distances and in case I want to get off and walk on foot for a bit. I'll wear my dark breeches that match my habit and my show shirt hacking but won't bother with the jacket as it will be late spring and summer that the shows are held in.

Weather will be important as well as we will not bother if it's raining (the show would probably be cancelled anyways as it is on grass) and if it looks like it's going to be a scorcher, then forget it too as I don't fancy all 4 of us getting heat stroke 10 miles from home!

More about the 2nd show we plan on going to in my next post...

Saddle choices- Martin & Martin? Knoud?

2011-02-09T20:20:00.000Z

The back lady, Kate, came out today to Hattie and all went well. Hattie had a few tight spots at the back of her poll and along the top of her neck, at the base of her withers and on her back towards her loins mostly on the off-side. She said that Hattie wasn't too bad and that it was a good call to get her out before anything got too serious. Kate also recommended me giving Hattie another week off and then start riding her in straight lines (so hacking out) at a walk on a loose rein for a few days for about 20 minutes at a time just to get her stretching out and using her muscles correctly again, then start adding in the trot.

Since I don't have any usable side saddles at the moment, she said I could use my normal saddle while I do this and that way it shouldn't cause too much problems with my hip (she also trained as a human physiotherapist!).

Hattie loved her massage and started to fall asleep at the end although she wasn't so sure about it at the beginning!!

I've been browsing side saddles for sale and the ones that always seem to catch my eye tend to be Martin & Martins or Knouds. I remember reading somewhere (can't remember where for the life of me), that sometimes saddlers from Martin & Martin used to work at Knoud which is why both brands of saddles tend to resemble each other. Knouds are rare in the UK and Martin & Martins not so common so I've never ridden in one but from what I've seen of them, they seem to tick all the boxes of what I want in a side saddle.

The billet straps on these two brands of saddles is one that Hattie needs as well as they tend to be forward placed and have off-side point straps and the seats tend to have a bit of a dip to them which suits my conformation as well.

I always admire Brita's Martin & Martin as that saddle would suit me and Hattie to a T. Even the pommel shape is one that I like too. Brita, if you ever consider selling it, please let me know! ;)

Another thing that I like about M&M's and Knouds is the spring loaded flap. I HATE overgirths as they are a pain in the butt to do up and they always rub Hattie so I have to end up putting a fleece girth cover on which is another hassle.

Does anyone have any comments on M&M's or Knouds and/or how they ride?

This is another antique photo from my collection that I scanned for your viewing pleasure. I bought it 11 years ago from the Leicester Market for £1 and is one of my favorites as you can see the saddle. I love this grey hunter and how perky he looks and the saddle looks to be a comfy close contact one, I would have loved to have ridden this horse in that saddle!

Reversible Side Saddles Galore!

2011-02-08T20:38:00.000Z

The arthritis in my right hip and in my hands (today it is my left hand's turn to ache) has been bugging me today. I don't know why as it's not particularly cold today but I reckon my right hip is getting a bit stiff from not riding this week.

With my left hand out of action and my right hip bugging me, I thought how nice it would be to have an off-side Western side saddle so that on days like this, I could ride with one hand and on my non-buggered hip. Unfortunately, there is probably even less of those around than English off-side side saddles! I'll probably find one one-of-these -days though as I seem to have a knack for sniffing out off-siders.

Hundred Oaks are able to order in off-side Steele side saddles and even have one in stock. I wonder how seat sizes run in Western side saddles? Hmmmm, very tempting....

Well, until I have a lottery win or something and can buy myself an off-side Steele, I'll have to make due with watching my favorite video of a lady riding on an off-side Western side saddle on a Tennessee Walking Horse for a demonstration given on the historic Mackinac Island in Michigan:

Lately, there seems to have been lots of reversible side saddles popping up. It started with the reversible Martin & Martin on the Side Saddlery (I really wish I could have bought that saddle as it would have fit Hattie and I!) and over the past week, two more have appeared on Ebay!

You know what they say, good things come in 3's!

The first one resembles the Martin & Martin that was on the Side Saddlery but was made by A J Gardner probably in the late 1890's- early 1900's.

I was tempted to buy it but looking at the tree, it would have been too narrow for Hattie.

The the seat measured a scant 18" from the front of the fixed horn to the cantle and only 11" across the seat which meant it was probably originally made for a girl or young teenager to ride in.

I find it interesting the difference in pommel shape on all 4 pommels. You would think because the saddle was made symmetrical, that the opposite pommels would have been made the same. The left fixed head is more curved than the off-side one and the off-side leaping head, looks shorter and definitely has less of a bend to it. I wonder if the original owner was disabled somehow, maybe suffered from polio or something that made her left side weaker with less muscle mass?

The second reversible side saddle is earlier, probably late 1870's? 1880's? It's gorgeous though with it's ornate stitching!

I found an engraving in my Moseman's Illustrated Guide to Horse Furnishing goods book which dates to c. 1889, of a very similar reversible side saddle. Both these saddles on have one leaping horn which you swapped over unlike the other turn of the century saddle and the M&M, which had two leaping heads.

According to the auction description, this saddle is sized to fit a child or small adult. It seems to be that most reversible side saddles were aimed more for girls. I guess unless you were VERY rich and could afford to keep buying matching off-side and nearside saddles each time a girl outgrew them, it made more sense just to buy one saddle and just keep replacing the one saddle each time she outgrew it. Maybe that is why you tend to find off-side side saddles in adult sizes as since a woman would not grow anymore, then she could afford to spurge and have two different saddles made as they would be "keepers".

I can't believe how symmetrical and NARROW the seat is! Although beautiful, it couldn't have been very comfy. The fixed heads look perfectly symmetrical though, unlike the other turn of the century saddle.

A close up of the detailing...

This is another model of an off-side side saddle that was advertised in the Moseman's catalog but with this saddle, EVERYTHING was removable, even the "fixed" heads. I don't know if I would like the idea of having a removable fixed head though!! What if it gave way under strenuous riding? I can't imagine many of those survived.

An 1880's Portrait of an Equestrienne

2011-02-07T21:56:00.000Z

Not much going on riding or side saddle wise this week while Hattie is out of action. The back lady is coming out on Wednesday so pamper Hattie with a nice massage, wish I could get one for my poorly back!!

We went to see a new pony for Josie on Sunday, a 14.1hh Welsh Cob named Jacob so he will be coming to live with us soon! He is bay like Hattie but with a VERY full mane and tail (Josie will be able to show him in the native pony classes) and has 3 white feet with feathers on each leg. He is lacking a topline at the moment from not being worked but we will whip him into shape!

I also took the plunge tonight and decided to put my beloved Manorgrove side saddle up on the UK Ebay tonight along with my black riding habit. I feel sad as I did love my saddle but I just have to face the fact that it's too big for Hatster and I can't afford to keep the saddle in case I get another horse it fits, as I need to buy one NOW to fit Hattie and I'm working with very limited funds!!

I scanned this photo from my antique photo collection which dates to the late 1880's and is of a lady on her grey horse.

What has always fascinated me about this photo, is that you can see her legs (or "limbs" as you would have referred to them if you lived back then!)!

Even now, you shouldn't be able to see your legs through the apron and I'm sure I've read in my antique books on side saddle riding, that a habit should be of sufficient weight as not to show the "limbs".

Oh well, the lady in the photo can rest in peace knowing that we are looking at her with 2011 eyes and are not offended by that-sort-of-thing but it gives a rare glimpse into Victorian riding position.

Some books of the era advocate the right leg on the horse's shoulder but this lady adopts a position that would not look out of place today with her right toe pointed down and her calf firmly against the safe of the saddle. Her left heel also appears to be down as well.

Hmmmm....

2011-02-03T20:23:00.001Z

I had my side saddle lesson yesterday in my off-side side saddle and it was fun except for the saddle shooting onto Hattie's shoulders! Hattie didn't try to buck me off or anything like she used to with my old side saddle, (thank goodness for that!) but I kept having to get off and reset it.

We did some good forward trot work and did some beautiful trot to canter transitions (have to work on the downward ones by preparing Hattie more with half halts) when the saddle wasn't shooting forward, but at the walk throughout the lesson, she started really overbending and doing this weird sideways walk thing away from my right leg while I was on the left rein. Towards the end of the lesson, Lili just had walk on a loose rein only on the right rein in an attempt to end on a good note. Hattie would not walk straight while on the left rein but she was ok at the canter and trot on that rein.

Some things we need to work on is turning with the outside rein NOT the inside rein (but it's so easy to turn with the inside!!), half halts around the corners but keep my leg on her as she tends to get strung out around them, soften my inside rein and not to let my reins get too long!!

Lili took some photos of me riding during my lesson so that I can track my progress and she said that Hattie was ALOT more forward and working alot better during this lesson than in our lesson last week and ESPECIALLY during our last dressage test!

The new title photo at the top of the page is one of the ones she took of us riding but here are some more....

Some trotting at the beginning of our lesson...

And getting better throughout our lesson...

A nice forward trot towards the latter part of our lesson. Lili told me that I have to becareful as sometimes Hattie wants to rush and makes the metal horse shoes clipping sound which she called "forging". She said for me to half halts and balance her which we worked on.

Cantering was fun in my off-side side saddle and so easy, Hattie seemed to enjoy it too as all I had to do was shift a little to the inside and raise my inside rein and off she went!! Lili said I was "showing off", lol. So much more easier than in my other side saddle (more about that later on)...

Then I had my own saddler come out today to get his opinion on both my side saddles, and his opinion he did give, and some of it not what I wanted to hear...

For my off-side side saddle, he said the tree looks wide enough for Hattie (he said it was definitely wider than my old C&W) but that it was too flocked up narrow for a smaller horse. What he is going to do, is take some of the padding out at the front and see how the balance is then. He had to take it back to the workshop as it's padded with layers of felt and was too big a job to do it at the stables.

My saddler says that if it looks to be right on Hattie after he removes some of the excess padding, then he will make a new panel for it and will also make the gullet between the panels wider. He said that because the off-side was overly padded out for a narrower horse (he said the tree was probably much to wide for the horse and they tried to heavily pad it out to fit it), it "bloated" the panels inwards and made the gullet channel too narrow for Hattie's spine.

He said that once he does that and if it's a good to go width wise, then once he starts making new panels then he will also put new and more forward girth straps on it to stop it from sliding forward.

*FINGERS CROSSED* that the width is good for Hattie once he takes off the extra padding!!

For my Manorgrove side saddle, it was not such hopeful news...

My saddler said although it was a nice modern lightweight side saddle (he was surprised at it's weight when he picked it up), that the fit and shape of the panels is all wrong for Hattie now.

He said that it would suit a bigger horse with more shape (he said with higher withers) and bigger shoulders so like a big hunter type not a ladies hack type like Hattie! He picked up on all the problems I'd been having with it without seeing me ride in it (like it dropping onto her withers and rolling to the left) and it boiled down to Hattie being too narrow for it now.

I stupidly had her measured for it when she had grown fat from grazing unmuzzled on my friend's field (I have since bought her a grazing muzzle) and with me going on holiday and then breaking my rib, she was REALLY overweight when she got measured. After I healed up and started riding regularly, of course, Hattie became more fit and lost the excess weight which is when I started having fit problems. It all makes sense now.

He showed me where the saddle was pressing down on her withers and where it was making her sore. I noticed she's been a bit flinchy these past few weeks when grooming in that area since I've been riding more due to the weather getting better, but it turns out it was the saddle pressing on her as it comes down at the front onto her withers due to being too big. That correlates with those horrible ruffled patches I got on her when I took off the saddle.

Maybe that is why she went all weirdly over bent and side-ways during my lesson yesterday as she was still sore from my near-side saddle pressing down on her and the off-side one was just aggravating her when it started to slide forward onto her sore spot.

I told my saddler how forward Hattie was yesterday in my off-side side saddle compared to how she was in the lesson before and also the dressage test (both of which I rode in my Manorgrove) and he said that he's not surprised as it was digging into her and rolling to the left due to being too large in tree size. It was just like Laura Dempsey told me that if a tree is too large, no amount of padding will stop the rolling.

So what I'm going to do since she was such a good girl yesterday and performed so well despite being a bit ouchy, I'm going to give her this week off to rest her back. I'm also having the back lady come out on Wednesday to give Hattie a nice massage.

Sigh, looks like it's saddle shopping again...

Me And My Dinky Pommel

2011-02-01T20:29:00.000Z

Hattie and I had a good schooling session today and she really seems to like my off-side side saddle as she was forward going today (I just had to think trot and she did it) and we even cantered on both reins! Even the dreaded left rein canter was good and forward and without effort to keep her going which makes a change from our 3 stride shuffle canters.

I REALLY like riding on the off-side and I think I would go as far as to say, I prefer it. It feels more natural to me and free. Hattie seems to prefer it too, maybe because I feel more at ease in it. It could be that the saddle just fits Hattie and I better than my lovely Manorgrove one too (I really do prefer a dipped seat too). Infact, I'm going to use it in my lesson tomorrow and do the two dressage shows in it later on this month.

I'm also pondering about if I should attempt, just for fun, the Prelim 1 test which calls for a canter on both reins on a 20 meter circle just to see how we do.

Brita aka Smart Alex who also has a sidesaddle blog called Upon A White Horse, started an interesting thread on the Chronicle of the Horse forum (yes, I'm a COTH'er too) about if whether you are right or left handed, if affects your side saddle position and a preference for near or off-side riding.

Personally, I don't know but Brita is going to blog about it more in depth. I know for me, although I am right handed, I do come from a family where left handedness and ambidexterity runs in it on my dad's side. My son is left handed and my dad is ambidextrous.

I have a tendency towards being ambidextrous as I prefer to carry heavy things or do manual tasks like pouring (bottles, pots, etc), with my left hand but fine motor skills like writing, with my right hand. At one point, when I lived at home, my mom banned me from using the can opener as I kept breaking them trying to open it with me left hand which felt more natural. I have a normal can opener now but if I ever find a left handed one, I'm going to buy it for my son and I!

Back to saddles...

Since buying my Beck Morrow, I have only ever ridden in it with the queen on the fixed head but decided today to see how it rode without the queen. I find the queen comfy and it's useful for my my arthritic knee is acting up but it stops from from bringing my left heel back and keeping the side of my calf against the saddle.

I took off the Queen and chuckled to myself at the dinky pommel my saddle has!

LOL, it's TINY! But, just like other things in life, it's not the size that matters...

Without the queen, the narrow little pommel, was actually quite comfortable and I was able to keep my leg on the saddle. The leaping head is a bit wider than the fixed head and is the old fashioned style of head which curls right over the width of your thigh.

Although I can feel metal running along the underside of the tree, I don't think this saddle was meant for hunting and jumping. I'm pretty sure it was meant for park riding and *maybe* for leaping over an occasional little fallen log on a bridle way path. It's just too delicate looking a saddle, especially with it's itty bitty fixed head, to do anything remotely active like hunting in it. That is fine by me as it works well for dressage!

The actual angle of the fixed head is what I like too with it veering towards the saddle in a more upright position.

The leaping head needs to be adjusted though as it's a bit too curved for my leg. I can get it under ok and it's not uncomfortable but I just need it a bit less curly as shown by the pink dots in the photo. The only problem is that it doesn't have a removable cover so I'm going to have to ask the saddle if he can fix it for me.

I also put a rubber martingale rein stopper on the leaping head screw to stop it from twirling around when I ride and to raise it up a bit. Works a treat!

OK, off to memorize the Prelim 1 test!

That Was A Close One!

2011-01-30T22:12:00.000Z

I tried to school today and was experimenting with the bed roll shims in my riser pad as they are causing my off-side side saddle to bridge a bit. The saddle doesn't bridge when I put it on Hattie's back without a pad on but it does with the riser pad. The panels keep a close contact with her back and the front of the panels fit well with her withers without pinching (although it could do with a tiny bit more padding on the side of her off-side wither). Unfortunately, the back of the saddle needs lifting until Roger can come on Thursday and fix everything so I have to use the darn pad! Plus the saddle kept sliding forward when we were doing nice forward trots so I gave up, got off, reset the saddle and went for a hack with Josie and my friend Gill.

It was a nice hack and thought since we didn't get any work done in the school, that I would practise making Hattie do a nice forward walk and keeping her in an outline on a soft contact. We also did some nice forward trotting too and the saddle stayed put for some reason. Hattie really prefers hacking to schooling so maybe we should do our schooling out on hacks!!

Got back to the stables to untack and went to undo the girth and to my horror, I realized that I had forgotten to tighten it when I re-positioned the saddle! It was only on the 2nd hole and was hanging loosely around her belly which meant it would have been even looser with me on the saddle!

Bizarrely, the saddle never shifted or even slid forward even when were were trotting! I was even riding up and down into ditches on the grassy bit on side of the lane to give my saddle a "good action test".

I guess that means the saddle is a good fit as even the balance girth wasn't done up exceptionally tight either!

It also proves that it is the position of the girth straps on Hattie's saddles that decides whether a saddle will slide forward or not. The girth was only loosely buckled to the billets causing it not to ride forward to settle into her forward girth groove and pull the saddle along with it.