Following my recent talk at Stroud Green and Harringay Library, I thought those of you who came along might be interested in my latest sidesaddle venture!
My (sidesaddle-riding) friend Gabi and I accompanied a group of French pilgrims along the gospel trail, starting on April 18th. We rode for four days around the Galilee, passing places mentioned in the New Testament.
One of the pilgrims, 74 years old and tiny, was also a side saddle rider, so that made three of us, a respectable minority in a group of 19.
The terrain was very rough and involved riding up and down some quite dizzyingly sheer hills along slippery paths and through rivers swollen by the recent heavy rainfall.
It was well worth the effort. We got some magnificent views.
You can see how high we climbed from this picture (believe me, they looked even steeper from the top of a horse):
It wasn't all hard work. We broke for a dip in the river Jordan:
Originally, the organiser was quite worried that we would not be able to manage the whole journey side saddle but by the end of it he was a convert and I was shattered (although I didn't let him know that). On only about three or four previous occasions have I ridden for more than two hours at a time and on this trip we were riding up to 6 hours a day for four consecutive days. It was quite an adventure, a great vindication for us side saddle riders and a personal achievement with which I am very pleased.
On the other hand the french lady takes all the honours. I have often repeated to people the adage amongst riding circles that older women can go on riding aside long after they are too old for astride but I had actually never seen it first hand. She is a terrific rider and had more stamina than me, that's for sure.
btw. for anyone interested, Jehanne was using an English side saddle. Gabi and I were on Western side saddles. There is a great deal of difference in the construction of the Western, both aside and astride, with a consequent effect on the position the rider adopts. You can see that quite clearly in the different positions of Jehanne and the cleric accompanying us. Jehanne is sitting bolt upright and absolutely straight, while the cleric is sitting rather backward and with a slight twist to the right (it would have been to the left if he had been holding the reins in his right hand). You can see another example in the rider on the Jordan riverbank. Even though I was side saddle, the Western configuration forced me to adopt a similar attitude, which you might have already noticed in the pic of me on Simone, my trusty steed, walking into the river. My hand is resting on the back of my saddle to steady it because I was holding western reins, which are so long in order to serve as a riding crop and I did not want to startle Simone with any inadvertent flicks. That position would have been extremely tiring on an English saddle.
I had never ridden Western before and can tell you that although the Western saddle was designed to fulfill a specific need -- which it does very well -- it has an extremely hard seat with almost no shock-absorbing qualities. Ouch.
Permalink Reply by james walsh on
