Gilded Age Horse-Women in Boston

If one has an unconquerable timidity where horses are concerned there’s little use trying to learn to ride, particularly if that one is a girl. Boys are sometimes made courageous when lacking this quality by being put on a horse. But timidity is likely to get control of a girl, and unless she is a fearless horse-woman she will never be a happy one. The truth is some girls are born to ride and some are not.

  How Boston Girls Ride

Go out around the reservoir on a sunshiny morning or a gray afternoon and you will see numbers of girls riding, all with that trim air of good training and thorough knowledge which is the first charm of a horsewoman; without it the costliest saddle and bridle, the best Hollander habit. are nothing. The first requisite for riding precedes this first charm, and that of course is courage. If one has an unconquerable timidity where horses are concerned there’s little use trying to learn to ride, particularly if that one is a girl. Boys are sometimes made courageous when lacking this quality by being put on a horse. But timidity is likely to get control of a girl, and unless she is a fearless horse-woman she will never be a happy one. The truth is some girls are born to ride and some are not.

You may see a representative of the former class mount. Up goes one hand to her saddle; firmly the other rests on the shoulder of him who puts her up; the sole of her little boot presses a steady palm. “Now!” A spring and she is up. It is not the old fashioned rocking chair shaped saddle that is well girt upon her horse’s back. It is a saddle straight as a board, where she sits upright in an absolutely natural position, with no twisting of body or legs necessary, and with no effort demanded to keep erect while riding. No chance to wrench the spine or get stitches in the side, as with the old scoopish shaped saddle which went with the long, floating skirts, the tall, ugly hats, and the single reins of the past.

Now the lass who rides has both snaffle and curb; although she may seldom use the curb, it is well to have it at her command if her horse is likely to object to electric cars or sprinkling carts, or other objects of his mild terror. She may ride with a little spur at her heel, too, and it is a very effective way to manage her horse. Girls don't use riding whips much, except for looks. Then a crop is carried, but there's no lash for the good steed. Boston Transcript, 1893

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