RIDING ASTRIDE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 470, 31 March 1909, Page 3

RIDING ASTRIDE.

Riding astride is ' becoming so general (says a writer in a' London paper) that tho habit-makers have busied themselves in producing habits that look well on the saddle in ; this position. The most satisfactory that I have seen, makes tho rider when mounted appear as if she were sitting in the ordinary manner instead of astride, when viewed from'the. sides'instead of the front of the horso. ' And from all points _of observation eha ■ looks, iuconspicuous, • which .is a great merit. ■ This is accomplished by means of a skirt ihat ■ falls' well over tho limbs, to which is allied • a smart, closely-fitting coat of a medium length made of grey striped cloth, one of the most fashionable choices of the moment, or a brown or deep shade of police-man-blue unpatterned Melton. The astride habits that comprise leggings and a coat with very long "skirts" are less satisfactory than the model just described, except for children. Wo hear very much of the practice of riding astride as a synonym for masculinity in the; Women of the present !day> but it-is on record that Marguerite do Valois, who lived in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, was the first woman to ride a side saddle, so that tho choice of the modern Diana of tho chase is only a reversion to old-time customs after all. , Ancient pictures show women astride on horseback coursing over'tho country with all the delight the women of, to-day "feel when riding. So many children rido astride nowadays it is only to be expected that the coming generation.of women will' make- the practice still more popular than it is at present. A comfortable and specially-built saddle is. necessary,,or the seat is far from easy, and not good for tho phvsique of the growing girl.