52 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SIDE SADDLE. 



It is of first-class importance that a lady's saddle should be 

 made by a respectable and thoroughly competent saddler. 

 Seeing the number of years a well-built and properly kept 

 side-saddle will last, it is but penny wise to grudge the 

 necessary outlay in the first instance. Those constructed 

 on the cheap machine-made system never give satisfaction 

 to the rider, are constantly in need of repair (grooms, if 

 permitted, are everlastingly in and out of the saddler's 

 shop), and are a prolific cause of sore backs. 



With all saddles the chief cause, the source and origin, 

 of evil is badly constructed and badly fitting trees that take 

 an undue bearing on different parts of the back. At a 

 critical moment, when just a little extra exertion would 

 perhaps keep the horse on his legs, a somewhat tender 

 muscle or portion of " scalded " skin comes in painful con- 

 tact with some part of an ill-fitting saddle, the agony 

 causing him to wince, checks the impulse to extend the 

 " spare leg," and he comes down. It does not matter how 

 hard or heavy the rider may be, how tender the skin, a sore 

 back can be prevented by a proper system of measurement 

 and a good pannel. Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, in her 

 very interesting letters upon " Ladies on Horseback," 

 unsparingly condemns the elaborate embroideiy which 

 adorned (?) the near flap of every old-fashioned saddle, point- 

 ing out that as it is always concealed by the rider's right 

 leg, the work is a needless expense. "There might be 

 some sense," that brilliant and bold horsewoman says, 



