42 SIDE-SADDLES. 



long as she keeps her seat, she cannot pull the 

 leather out of the bar by drawing back her left leg. 

 The only thing which prevents this safety arrange- 

 ment from being absolutely perfect, is the liability 

 the leather has of falling out of the bar and 

 becoming lost, in the event of the rider severing 

 her connection with the saddle, in which case the 

 retaining action of the flap on the bar will cease. 



For this emergency, Messrs. Champion and Wilton 

 provide side saddles with a small leather case which 

 contains an extra stirrup, and which is attached to 

 the near side of the saddle, so that it is concealed 

 from view, when the lady is mounted (Fig. ly). The 

 weight of the stirrup and case is only half a pound. 



SAFETY STIRRUPS, 



both for men and ladies, have been in existence 

 for hundreds of years. Apparently the first variety 

 of this contrivance was the capped stirrup-iron, either 

 simple (Fig. 18) or in the form of a slipper (Fig. 

 19), which was provided with an arrangement on 

 its sole that prevented the toe of the slipper from 

 yielding to dowiiward pressure, but allowed it to 

 revolve upwards, and thus to facilitate the release of 

 the foot, in the event of a fall. The simple capped 

 stirrup was used by ancient Spanish Cavaliers, and 

 is still employed by many of their descendants in 

 America. In apparent oblivion of these facts, the 

 Christie stirrup (Fig. 20), made on the samc^ prin- 



