Riding lor Women luid Children 135 



body, unless the reversible saddle i^ used, and the 

 equestrienne sits alternately upon the right and left 

 side of her horse, or varies the method radically by 

 taking up the fashion which is now coming into 

 favour, of riding astride. 



Than this last, no style is more practical, more 

 appropriate, or more genuinely modest. The modern 

 riding-skirt is really little more than an apron, and, 

 taken in conjunction with a tightly fitting waist, 

 leaves little to the imagination when it is, by the 

 rider's position in the saddle, drawn tightly round 

 the figure. The divided skirt, on the contrary, is 

 most modest when walking, and when astride the 

 horse, its flowing outlines are such as to conceal 

 gracefully the limbs and feet. There is little doubt 

 but that, if the custom receives a little more en- 

 couragement from the " right people," so as to 

 include it among the list of fashionable fads, the 

 side-saddle will shortly become as extinct and as 

 much a matter of curiosity as the pillion of colonial 

 days. 



Naturally, the ordinary man's saddle is not appro- 



