SIDE-SADDLE VS. CROSS-SADDLE 77 



(8) That in a side-saddle a woman is barred from 

 playing polo. 



In answering these charges in the order in which I 

 have placed them, I will begin by saying: 



(1) That properly adjusted and properly ridden, 

 there is no more reason why a side-saddle should rub 

 a horse's back than a cross-saddle. The fault is 

 usually in the rider and not in the saddle. I have 

 ridden hundreds of horses here and abroad, often 

 using my own saddle, which, as a rule, was not 

 especially fitted to the mount, and I have never but 

 once given a horse a sore back. That once, with all 

 due apologies to my very kind host, was owing, not 

 to the saddle but to the fact that the horse's blood 

 was overheated, and that he became saddle-galled and 

 girth-galled even under a man's saddle. In fact, I 

 have owned horses who were naturally inclined to 

 sore backs, and sometimes had raw backs when I ac- 

 quired them, and yet with a properly adjusted numnah 

 I have cured them while riding daily, and even hunt- 

 ing them in a side-saddle. The next time that your 

 horse gets a sore back, don't blame the saddle, but 

 rather blame yourself for carelessness in not having it 

 properly adjusted, or, worse yet, for poor riding. 



(2) If a girl becomes one-sided from side-saddle 

 riding, it is, I venture to say, not the fault of the saddle 

 but of an incorrect style of riding. I believe I will be 

 backed up in this statement by most riding-mistresses. 

 If a woman rises at the trot on the proper leg, and 

 maintains her square position in the saddle by means 

 of keeping her right thigh at the correct angle instead 

 of twisting around from the waist up (see Chapter VII) 

 she will not become one-sided. While I can naturally 

 only quote my own particular case with authority, I 



