Category: Sidesaddle: Appointments and Accessories

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Sidesaddle Terminology

Sidesaddle, like most things, comes with its own terminology and “stuff”. Check out the BRIEF descriptions of commonly used terms below.

Saddles, Tack

  • Balance Strap: This leather strap buckles like a girth near the stirrup iron, runs on top of the regular girth (under the horse’s belly) and attaches toward the back of the saddle on the other side of the saddle. When riding aside it is an important piece of tack that enhances safety for the rider and a more comfortable experience for the horse.
  • Chape: The piece of material (leather, nylon, etc.) that goes around a buckle and is stitched to the main body of the tack. Think – how the buckles are attached to your girth.
  • Fixed Head: The protruding piece on the top of any sidesaddle (compared to the one below it). This piece is fixed to the sidesaddle and should never wiggle or move.
  • Leaping Head: The protruding piece under the Fixed Head of a sidesaddle. This piece can often be unscrewed/removed easily in order to be replaced or reshaped to fit the rider’s thigh.
  • Near-side Sidesaddle: The more commonly seen style of sidesaddle, this saddle has the leaping and fixed head on the left side of the horse’s body, meaning the rider’s legs fall to the left side of the horse.
  • Off-side Sidesaddle: A less common style of sidesaddle, this saddle has the leaping and fixed head on the RIGHT side of the horse’s body, meaning the rider’s legs fall to the RIGHT side of the horse. It never hurts to note that off-side saddles require a special apron for the rider.
  • Tri-Fold Girth: A girth that attaches to the saddle with two buckles on both ends, just as many modern girths do. The difference is that a Tri-Fold is a thinner piece of leather folded three times, then stitched together. This is the construction method historically used to make a grith and is most appropriate in historical presentation-type situations.
  • Plaited: A style of leather work where the leather is braided as opposed to in one piece.
  • Queen: Used to help position the right thigh (in a near-sided saddle, left in an off-side saddle) into the proper place to allow for a comfortable and correct position. Typically fits over the fixed head of the sidesadde and buckles under the leaping head iron. 
  • Sidesaddle Iron: the stirrup! With a sidesaddle there is only one “iron” as opposed to two “stirrups”.

Rider, Attire, Events, Etc.

  • Appointments Class: A common class offered when showing sidesaddle, the Appointments Class is a flat class (walk, trot, canter) that requires you to emulate the historical turnout of a lady in the hunt field. Carrying a hunt whip, rain gloves, and a sandwich case are just a few of the requirements. It is imperative to read the USEF rulebook for the full requirements and description of the class if you are interested in competing.
  • Aside vs Astride: when you are riding in a sidesaddle it is called “riding aside” – you have both legs on one side of the horse. The opposite would be “riding astride” – with one leg on each side of the horse.
  • Apron: The “skirt” worn when riding aside; it covers the legs and waist. Historically it was to preserve the ladies’ modist appearance and keep her warm while out hunting.
  • Habit: The outfit worn by a sidesaddle rider – typically refers to the apron (skirt) and jacket.

Please note – this list is a work in progress. If you think of a term worth defining – drop me a note!

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Gloves: USEF Ladies Sidesaddle Appointments

As many of you know, I LOVE educating people on the required appointments for the USEF ladies’ sidesaddle appointments classes. Today I am going to discuss gloves.
 
Here is the exact wording from HU148
11. Gloves: Plain; heavy wash leather or brown leather gloves.
12. Rain Gloves: White or light-colored rain gloves. Should be carried on off (right) side under billets and just showing in front of saddle flap: fingers forward, thumbs in.
 
I’m not sure who assisted with the wording when the rules were rewritten a few years ago, but they weren’t as careful as they should have been. While the use of an offside saddle is rare- they are used, and the wording doesn’t take them into consideration. Anyway- like many others, I was taught your gloves should be brown. And I wore brown gloves in my early days. After learning more about the history and correctness of the attire over the years did I realize that the brown gloves you often see aren’t truly correct. But they aren’t
wrong either – they are brown!
 
 
The most correct and formal gloves are the chamois or wash leather gloves as pictured to the left.
 
To be truly accurate, the gloves should be chamois with buttons and no elastic or Velcro. But those are hard to find, and let me tell you from experience that even though they are lovely, they shed white fuzz all over your dark Melton wool apron. Don’t do it!! It took me hours to clean my habit after I showed at one of the big shows with my actual vintage chamois gloves. I have found a few modern makes that are VERY close in color and look the part without making a mess and are super simple to keep clean.
 
I use light leather chamois-looking gloves when wearing formal attire, and wear the darker tans for my informal attire. I have pictured the darker chocolate brown color as a reference. The problem with these gloves is they look black from a distance and black is for mourning only so wouldn’t have been worn and are not correct per the rules. But, these darker brown gloves are allowed per the rule book and are preferred by several of the ladies as your hands aren’t as noticeable when wearing darker gloves.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The other gloves you need to be aware of are your rain gloves (pictured above – far right). These are the knit string gloves typically worn in wet weather to help aid with grip on wet leather. They are referred to as rain gloves for this reason. On a near-sided sidesaddle, they are carried on the offside under the billets to keep them safe and easily accessible by the rider. Many times in pictures from the offside you can see the fingers of the gloves peeking out from the offside flap of the saddle. These are either white or ecru (which is a yellowish-tan color, or unbleached linen color). These gloves aren’t actually worn so size isn’t as critical. I like to carry the small size under my regular flap saddles and the XS or XXS on my show flap saddles. They seem to fit the best!
 
If anyone needs a pair of rain gloves feel free to reach out to me. I do stock them since they are getting increasingly harder to find at a reasonable cost.
 
As always, please ask questions – I am always happy to help!