82 HACKS AND HUNTERS 



pommel in front, and usually huge slipper stirrups — 

 all features totally unsuited to hunting, jumping, or 

 Eastern riding. Marvellous as the cowboy and cow- 

 girl are in their own setting, they would be hopelessly 

 lost in an English saddle. 



The woman on the side-saddle may run a greater 

 danger of being hurt, if her mount falls with her, but 

 her sister, riding astride, has the equal disadvantage 

 of having ten falls to her one. If a horse refuses, off 

 she goes, and if he pecks, in nine cases out of ten she 

 either goes over his head or has so far lost her balance 

 as to fly up on the horse's ears, thus bringing him 

 down altogether and turning what otherwise would 

 have been merely a hard rap into a fall. This is true, 

 not only of the poor riders, but also of some of the 

 very best. 



Moreover, the most important advantage the side- 

 saddle rider has over the cross-saddle rider, is that, 

 owing to her far firmer seat, she is apt to have superior 

 hands. This may account for the fact that, whereas 

 in theory she is at a disadvantage in riding a refuser, 

 or a mean one, in practice she seems to do pretty well — 

 in most cases as well as the woman astride. At all 

 events, the women of England, who nearly all still ride 

 side-saddle, hunt as hard as the men do, and are as 

 often "in at the death." I do not think that I am 

 far wrong when I say that the American woman in her 

 much-vaunted cross-saddle would have her work cut 

 out for her if she attempted to follow the average 

 English woman across Leicestershire. 



So much for the practical side of the matter. When 

 it comes to appearances, even a blind man wouldn't 

 argue the point ! There are few places where a grace- 

 ful, well turned-out woman looks better, or appeals 



