About the sidesaddle

The sidesaddle was developed in France in the 1580s, during the time of Catherine de' Medici, a passionate fan of hunting and horseback riding. In such a saddle, the rider could throw her right leg over one of the upper bows, and the second supported the same leg on the right, which made ladies' riding safer. By the middle of the XIX century, with the advent of the middle class, horse riding became a popular hobby. After the Second World War, the women's movement for equality led to the fact that ladies who wanted to be different from men and in horseback riding, preferring ladies' riding, were in the minority.
Today, ladies' riding is experiencing its rebirth, and in the UK it is on the rise. Until recently, Queen Elizabeth II of England hosted all official equestrian parades in a sidesaddle.