Ladies' Stirrups and Leathers. 



327 



By way of precaution, the stirrup-leather should have three or four numbers deeply 

 punched — in the way already described for men— into it, say the figures i, 2, 3, an inch apart, 

 the first number at the point which the lady considers her proper length ; she will then at any 

 halt be able to learn by feeling with the finger whether the stirrup-leather has stretched, and, 

 if needful, can take it up a hole. If a lady rides a great deal, the leather should be cut off 

 at the joining with the stirrup and re-sewn at the beginning of every hunting season. 



Colonel Greenwood, as far back as 1839, made the following suggestion for improving 

 ladies' stirrup-leathers, but I cannot find that any side-saddle makers have experimented on his 

 ideas. Yet he was a great authority amongst the officers of the household cavalry and their 

 wives and daughters. 



He says : " The saddle should be kept in its place by elastic webbing girths. The leather 

 surcingle is used to prevent the small flap on the off side from turning up, and the large flap 



THE VICTORIA, FOR PARK 

 RIDING ONLY. 



THE LENNAN. 



THE LATCHFORD. 



-THESE ARE BOTH FIT FOR HUNTING.- 



on the off side from being blown about with the wind, and it should only be drawn tight 

 enough for these purposes. But the strap on the near side should not be attached to the small 

 flap, as is customary, but to the lower part of the large flap on the near side. This will leave 

 the small flap on the near side loose, as in a man's saddle, and will allow liberty for the use 

 of the spring-bar. It will also lessen the friction, by rendering the side of the saddle perfectly 

 smooth except the stirrup-leather. 



" To lessen the friction, I recommend a single thin strap, as broad as the stirrup-leather of 

 a man. It may have a buckle, for lengthening or shortening, just above the stirrup-iron ; or the 

 strap may take on and off the iron by a slip-loop, and passing over the spring-bar as usual, be 

 fastened by a loose buckle, only attached to the strap by the tongue. For hunting. I [the 

 Colonel] always use a single strap, sewn to the iron with a D above the knee, and with a 

 double strap and buckle between the D and the spring-bar." 



The slipper-stirrup for side-saddles has been entirely discarded since the hunting-horn 

 crutch was adopted. Three other forms of stirrup are in common use : — First, the ordinary 

 pattern of a man's stirrup, with the inside of the ankle protected by padding. Secondly, the 

 invention of Mr. Latchford, the celebrated London loriner, which is a stirrup within a stirrup, 



