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Id imagine itd be nice to be able to switch sides every now n then on the long ride across europe lmao Did a quick search & found a bunch of them 3-500$ range

Just found your channel. Subbed immediately! Terrific topic! Greetings from the Little Desert region of Victoria, Australia. 😊

There's a good reason women used to ride amblers until their breeding was discontinued in Europe in favor of coach horses that could trot fast but were less comfortable to ride.

I have been riding SS for about 20 years. A gaited horse like a Peruvian can help with confidence and comfort. #TLAlifer

Didn't know there used to be a death penalty for stealing horses in Britain! 😱

Our late Queen Elizabeth always rode sidesaddle when leading her troops down The Mall at the Trooping of the Colour. In (I think) 1981 she was shot at from the crowd and her control of her horse, Burmese, was superb..

Love this video on Stroller!! Also that you mentioned Theodore O’Connor!!

Please tell us the story of 'Mari Lwyd' and its traditions surrounding the Welsh legend💖

Oops wrong Anne of Bohemia in the portrait! The portrait c1519 is Anne of Bohemia and Hungary. The Anne you referred to lived 1366-94.

Back then, the ladies weren’t “riding” as such. They were being transported

Thank you. This is very interesting and informative. 😊

1:34, remember, most were corseted, which helped. I rode one for a short time, you really discover your weaknesses.

Thank you for making this lovely video on the Side Saddle! Have a look at Izabela from Prior attire who makes riding habits throughout time and wrote a lovely book on the topic and how to make such type of clothing for women. Please note that : Women in side saddle is still being done recently at Golega Horse Fair Portugal with Lusitanos , During Sicab Sevilla Spain and also in Friesland on Friesian horses with the Fryske Quadrille 💖#IfYouLoveBaroqueHorses

That was fun!!! You covered info that was new to me...great stuff! Thanks for doing that!!! ❤❤❤

What a great topic. Following wars, soldiers who had lost a lower leg would be able to ride side saddle safely, whereas riding astride missing a lower leg is extremely dangerous. Just a note regarding posture, and I might have misunderstood, but there is no twist using a sidesaddle, at least over the last 100 years. If the rider does not have the pelvis square to the front, either the saddle is wrongly sized or fitted, or the rider needs lessons.

Regarding the abdominal strength needed for riding side saddle, I wonder if the wearing of stays or corsets makes a difference as these garments can provide abdominal support.

I was lucky enough to take up side saddle as a teenager with borrowed early 20th century tack. It felt v secure but of course I was very small and fit and had rubber bones. We even jumped. I miss my lovely old mare. Thank you so much for your research and information!

The older side saddles are much more comfortable, a wider seat and feel more secure than the modern ones. Worth investing in an older one.

Back in the 70s, when I was young and limber, I bought a horse with a serious bucking problem caused by poor training in an ill-fitting saddle, poor socialisation to human company and a trainer who took a very cookie cutter approach to horse education. My coach recommended that I ride him sidesaddle until he settled down and learned to listen. The reason my coach gave was that first and foremost this horse needed to know that the rider was there to help him and could be trusted to stay in the saddle no matter what. I only did sidesaddle in the arena, but it really worked well. He did coach me carefully in how to manage the horse, who did improve to the point where he could be ridden astride as per normal. I found the double pommels really helped me stay in the saddle when he cut loose his wolf. Shying or spooking just wasn't a problem. You just clench your knees and lean back a bit and you are perfectly secure. My coach did say that the most serious danger of sidesaddle riding was when the horse fell down or fell backwards, as it is REALLY difficult to get out of a sidesaddle fast - unhooking your legs from the pommels takes a LOT of time compared to getting out of a regular saddle. There's no possibility of doing a forward roll out of the saddle, or sliding out backwards either. For training purposes, I mostly did without stirrups in case the horse misjudged his balance and went over backwards or lost his footing. Fortunately, neither ever happened. The horse turned out to be quite a champion 3 day eventer - intelligent, sensitive and super bold. A lovely ride once he learned to trust that he wasn't going to be abused. I still miss him.

When you say 'early 19th century" and then refer to the 1930s, did you actually mean early 20th century? Sorry, just a bit confused by that. Also, male amputees from the world wars sometimes rode side saddle. Not sure how they felt about that!

Those little sofa style side saddles mustve been so bad for the horses backs! 🥺 I've never really wanted to try riding side saddle, I'm convinced I'd fall straight off!! 😂

Once again an interesting contribution from you. Regarding difficult/dangerous fences. Many years ago I was out with the Fernie and had suffered a fall. I carried on but sought to avoid difficult jumps as I was slightly injured. In those days of 'proper' hunting you could take your own line across country diverting to where you thought foxy might be rather than following the route of hounds (never over running them of course). I espied what I thought to be 3 very old people: I white-haired fellow and 2 veiled ladies side-saddled all in black. I thought I'd follow them as they obviously knew the country and would only jump 3 foot tiger-traps etc. Imagine my surprise as we galloped towards a massive hedge at least 5 ft 6 inches high and probably nearly as wide. Surely not, I thought as whooping with joy the old fella ( astride) and the two ladies (side-saddle) took this huge obstacle. I declined it. This is why I know that with experience and proper training a lady riding side-saddle can out jump a man (me)! Lol!

Horses are such amazing animals. History would have been so different without them and in many parts of the world, they are still an essential part of life.

It's incredible to think of all the things horses used to do for us before motor engines became a thing, you really do hope that they were well treated and happy in their work 💖

There was an old clip I saw a few years ago of a team of draught horses harnessing up for a job and it was the smoothest and fastest hitch up I have ever seen. And the horses clearly knew their job, they were raring to go and flew out the door as soon as they were let loose. I don't know how old the footage was but it was amazing to watch, absolutely beautiful example of man and beast working together in perfect harmony ❤

Even Croydon had a horse show. In the mid-70s I was one of the arena party rebuilding the jumps for the show-jumping events. It was held in Ashburton Park, Woodside.

I had ponies and they were clearly wimps as none liked jumping! This is an amazing little creature. Agree we need more horsey programmes on tv.

I swear I never wondered "who made this riding crop?" Don't remember ever seeing a manufacturer's tag or anything on any crop of any type! No idea where I thought they cane from! 😂

I think I might have actually heard of this one before! 😂 You are doing a fab job of educating me with these videos

You are correct, the Aga Khan trophy is presented to the team that wins the Nations Cup comp at Dublin Horse Show 🇮🇪 I forget which Aga Khan gave the trophy to the RDS... I've heard of Foxhunter and his amazing record, didn't know much about him though!

Sidesaddle is very secure. As long as the girth holds and you keep your right shoulder back, you will stay on through interesting stuff. In fact, sidesaddle is so secure, it's recommended to not ride a confirmed rearer in one. It's likely that the sidesaddle you tried to ride in as a youngster didn't fit you.

Ooh I've read up about this fabulous horse before, she was quite the mare ❤ I've not ridden side saddle but did get to sit in one on a dummy horse at an open day this year. I've got mixed feelings on it tbh. While the saddle does kind of hold you in place, I can't say I felt secure in it. Maybe it was just the fact that it was new and different, but I think I prefer riding like the blokes 😂 One thing I did like though is that the position it put me in really stretched out my tight and wonky lower back!

Hello, and once again an interesting and informative video...However, I would take issue with you on one point. You seem to think that riding side-saddle is somehow less secure than astride. Opinions on this are divided but on closer examination you may find that when used properly the side-saddle has advantages. For example, the curved leg protrusions firmly hold the rider in place. This why when Burmese shied to the gunfire the Queen never lost contact with the saddle. In the Victorian era there was a lady of the elite London set called 'Skittles'. She did a number of equestrian feats riding side-saddle such as jumping the railings around Hyde Park and most dangerously jumping across the Grand Union Canal's Foxton Locks!! You ought to do a video on her.

Really enjoyed this. I'm sixty and as a child I remember the Spanish Riding School still using stalls for their stallions. Even in my lifetime, once upon a time, 16hh was a big horse. Nowadays, to me big starts at 16.2hh and only if that's not due to a massive wither.

Well done. Subbed. Now going to @^@ YT for Marion and Stroller.

You enthusiasm is obvious and infectious, I want to visit the stalls at Dunster too now! Thank you for another well researched and really interesting video.

I have often wondered how they kept the horses in the actual stalls or did they just wander around?I know they were tied but was that all of the time?

Been to many things at Stoneleigh, the Royal Show used to be there, the BS championships are held there, there used to be a horse trials there and also Your Horse Live is held there. The office address for BE, BS, BE and the BHS were all there at one time. Anyway, I always drive past Kenilworth castle to and from there! Also I have an old horse book that showed horses tied in stalls by a rope with a ball on the end so it kept tension on the rope stop them getting stuck. Love these videos.

One of my distant ancestors from the Luttrell family was born at Dunster Castle, so I’ve always wanted to visit. I want to even more now I know about the stables!

Once again thank you for an informative video. As far as stalls are concerned, horses do not lay down on the side but some can lay with the legs underneath. Laying sideways in small spaces can lead to an animal being 'cast'. However, because the sides of stalls are usually removeable the problem if it arises can be simply dealt with. You might find it also of great interest to visit the stables at the palace of Versailles. There are two; la grande écurie and la petite écurie. They were built by Mansart for Louis XIV between 1679 and 1685. One is now used as government offices and college but the other is still in use. When you do some research on it you will discover that the stables used a hybrid loose-box stall arrangement. At it's height 2000 horses were stabled there with 1500 staff.

The BHS used to be based at Kenilworth, and I'm pretty sure they did have Dressage competitions there, and maybe Showing comps...? The old grey matter is refusing to give up it's secrets!! 😂

Wow, thank you for the fantastic story. I live in Australia so know nothing about Pat but you bring her to life. Fantastic channel, thank you so much.

I remember one of her books for children about camping with ponies in the New Forest!

The wonderful Vibart, Andrew Fielder's horse, was also a carthorse cross, but he was a big boy with the biggest kickback you've ever seen. I grew up watching Pat Smythe, Marian Coakes/Mould and Stroller, Annelli Drummond-Hay and Merely A Monarch, David Broom and Mr Softee, Harvey Smith, and so on, in the days when showjumping was big on BBC - only one BBC channel then - and they were all household names. Infinity and Prince Hal were a bit before my time, but Tosca and Flanagan I remember - and I recall reading the book about Flanagan as a child. This has brought back so many memories. Thank you.

That's no life for a pony, and continues in Pakistan where they use donkeys to carry the heavy loads through the tunnels. I never knew until now that it wasn't just the UK that used ponies in the pits, but many other countries too. A lot of Shetlands and our other small native breeds were exported for this purpose. I'm sad it happened, however much they were needed down there, but very glad the need has mostly been consigned to history. I hope that, one day, mine work will end for all of them.

Have you thought about uploading these as podcasts as well? I love the old photos, but this kind of thing is just so listenable ❤

Such a wonderful pair together, again covered a lot on tv. Happy memories. Thank you another gem ❤

Loved this video, can remember when showjumping was covered a lot on tv. As a child I loved all the paperback pony stories by Christine and Josephine Pullen Thompson and others. Can't wait for another of your videos 😊

I was not brought up in a horsey family but we did watch the show jumping at HOYS & the Royal International Horse Show from 1956 when we first inherited a television so will have watched Pat Smythe competing against the many male military riders who were still prominant at the time, particularly the D'Inzeo brothers who competed in uniform. I married a horse mad lady who well remebers the horses but was just too young to remember seeing PS jumping. I have just packed "Pat Smythe : Bred to Jump" and other books published in the 1960s & 70s that illustrate the famous show jumpers of the era into a box ready for a move of house.

I read her autobiographies as a kid. I was in love with Prince Hal.