Women on Horseback: Riding Habits and Side Saddles

The riding habits worn by women riding sidesaddle originally were similar to clothing worn in everyday life. It wasn’t until the second half of the 16th century that a riding habit specifically designed for sidesaddle riding was introduced, though sidesaddle habit design still tended to follow fashion of the day.

In the 1700's much of the riding fashions tended towards a military style-- women in tricorns and habits cut to look like cavalry outfits.

As you go later into the 1700's the waistlines go up on all women's fashions, riding habits included. From the late 1700's to the 1800's, women's fashions move into the classical design--close to the body, light corsets, short hair.

Riding fashions for that era were military in design or coats like a man's coat. All side saddle habits need a skirt that is longer on the left (to make the drape over the side). So most anytime you see a woman in a print carrying what looks to be extra skirt on one side -- not a train behind -- she's wearing a riding habit.

Since the mid-17th century, a formal habit for riding sidesaddle usually consisted of:

A tailored jacket with a long skirt (sometimes called a petticoat) to match

A tailored shirt or chemisette

 

side saddle leg position


A hat, often in the most formal men's style of the day (since the Victorian era, a top hat with a veil has been worn)



Low-heeled boots, gloves, and often a necktie or stock completed the ensemble. Typically, throughout the period the riding habit used details from male dress, whether large turned cuffs, gold trims or buttons. The colors were very often darker and more masculine than those on normal clothes

 


planchette chair saddle

  Early side saddles were - literally side saddles - like a chair with a foorplate, the woman would sit - as if in a chair. The saddles were padded and highly decorated - built upon a man's astride saddle. They  were little more than stuffed platforms with the lady sitting at a complete right angle to the horse's spine, with her feet resting on a platform called a planchette. Some women probably rode ponies (under 14 hands), even when sitting sideways, they would have had adequate control, but often a servant led them.

The sideways facing "chair" was then turned to face the front - think of a typical western (cowboy) saddle with a tall front pommel, but with the saddle bit looking like a chair, with a high back (like a chair) The lady would face front, her back supported by the "chair" with her right leg hooked round the pommel. In the 16th century Catherine de Medici is credited with being the inventor of a second pommel/horn between which the lady placed her right leg and so faced forward, but Albert Durer's etchings of 1497 and 1504 show ladies facing the front of their saddles long before Catherine's second horn. (the forward facing chair saddle?)

The horn gave women a more secure seat and independent control of their horses, and enabling faster gaits.Despite cultural pressures, not all women of nobility adopted the sidesaddle at all times. Some ladies did ride astride, particularly when hunting (too fast a pace for the literally sitting sideways saddles mentioned above.)  However, a big problem was what to wear underneath! Either women donned men's hose or breeches, or they had very chafed thighs.

Women such as Diane de Poitiers (mistress to Henry II of France) and Marie Antoinette were known to ride astride. Catherine the Great of Russia went so far as to commission a portrait showing her riding astride wearing a male officer's uniform. Queen Elizabeth I rode side saddle on ceremonial occasions

Memorial Day 2012

  I’m so proud of and thankful for:

  My father, John Ford (now deceased), Major, US Army, WWII and Korea

  My uncle, Hoyt Ford (graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy, now deceased), US Merchant  Marines, WWII

  My brother, John Ford, Jr., (West Point, Class of 1966), Lt. Col., US Army, Vietnam

  My husband, Rick Craft, Sgt. E6, US Army, Vietnam

Please leave a comment honoring your special loved ones, family, and friends.

Winner of My Blog Hop Prizes!

              Congratulations to KarenK who will receive:

   v   A signed copy of my Revolutionary War 
                   romantic suspense, The Chamomile

   v   Three packets of chamomile seeds

   v   A mobcap.

         My sincere thanks to Karen and to all of you who left           comments and to the people who are now following my blog.

Women of the Revolution

Here are a few pictures from our first "Women of the Revolution" presentation hosted on March 10 at the Museum of the Waxhaws in Waxhaw, NC.  We had a great time talking with the 30+ history lovers who drove from all over South Carolina to join us.  Answered questions, shared information, and sold copies of The Chamomile.

Women of the Revolution presentation/dramatization

Revolutionary War Timeline of Battles

1775

The Rides of Paul Revere and William Dawes (4/18)

The Battles of Lexington and Concord (4/19)

Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys Seize Fort Ticonderoga (5/10)

The Second Continental Congress (met in Philadelphia, 5/10)

George Washington named Commander in Chief (6/15)

Battle of Bunker Hill (fought on Breed's Hill) (6/17)

Montgomery captures Montreal for Americans (11/13)

Benedict Arnold's failed attack on Quebec (12/30)

1776

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" published (1/15)

Patriot triumph at Moore's Creek, NC (2/27)

Continental fleet captures New Providence Island in the Bahamas (3/3)

The British evacuate Boston (3/17)

Richard Henry Lee proposes Independence (6/7)

British defense of Fort Moultrie, SC (6/28)

Declaration of Independence adopted (7/4)

Declaration of Independence signed (8/2)

Arrival of 30,000 British troops in New York harbor

British win the Battle of Long Island (Battle of Brooklyn) (8/27-30)

British occupy New York City (9/15)

British win the Battle of Harlem Heights (9/16)

Benedict Arnold defeated at Lake Champlain (10/11)

American retreat at the Battle of White Plains (10/28)

British capture Fort Washington, NY and Fort Lee, NJ (11/16)

Washington Crosses the Delaware and captures Trenton (12/26)

1777

Washington wins the Battle of Princeton (1/3)

Washington winters in Morristown, NJ (1/6-5/28)

Flag Resolution (flag possibly designed by Hopkinson, likely sewn by Betsy Ross) (6/14)

St. Clair surrenders Fort Ticonderoga to the British (7/5)

Lafayette arrives in Philadelphia (7/27)

Americans under Herkimer defeat the British under St. Leger at Fort Stanwix, in the Mohawk Valley in Oriskany, New York (8/6)

American Militia under General Stark triumph over Hessians at Bennington (8/16)

British General Howe lands at Head of Elk, Maryland (8/25)

British success at the Battle of Brandywine, PA (9/11)

Rain-out at the Battle of the Clouds, PA (9/16)

General Burgoyne checked by Americans under Gates at Freeman's Farm, NY (9/19)

Paoli Massacre, PA (9/21)

British under Howe occupy Philadelphia (9/26)

Americans driven off at the Battle of Germantown (10/4)

Burgoyne loses second battle of Freeman's Farm, NY (at Bemis Heights) (10/7)

Burgoyne surrenders to American General Gates at Saratoga, NY (10/17)

Hessian attack on Fort Mercer, NJ repulsed (10/22)

British capture Fort Mifflin, PA (11/16)

Americans repulse British at Whitemarsh, PA (12/5-7)

The Winter at Valley Forge, PA (12/19/77-6/19/78)

1778

The French Alliance (2/6)

British General William Howe replaced by Henry Clinton (3/7)

Von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge

Battle of Barren Hill, PA (5/20)

Washington fights to a draw at Battle of Monmouth (6/28)

George Rogers Clark captured Kaskaskia, a French village near Detroit (7/4)

French and American forces besiege Newport, RI (8/8)

British occupy Savannah, GA (12/29)

1779

Militia beat Tories at Kettle Creek, NC (2/14)

American George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes on the Wabash in the Western campaign (2/25)

Fairfield, CT, burned by British (7/8)

Norwalk, CT, burned by British (7/11)

American "Mad" Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, NY (7/15-16)

"Light Horse" Harry Lee attacks Paulus Hook, NJ (8/19)

John Paul Jones, aboard the Bonhomme Richard, captures British man-of-war Serapis near English coast (9/23)

The Tappan Massacre ("No Flint" Grey kills 30 Americans by bayonet) (9/28)

American attempt to recapture Savannah, GA fails (10/9)

Coldest Winter of the war, Washington at Morristown, NJ

1780

British capture Charleston, SC (5/12)

British crush Americans at Waxhaw Creek, SC (5/29)

Patriots rout Tories at Ramseur's Mill, NC (6/20)

French troops arrive at Newport, RI, to aid the American cause (7/11)

Patriots defeat Tories at Hanging Rock, SC (8/6)v British rout Americans at Camden, SC (8/16)

Benedict Arnold's plans to cede West Point to the British discovered (9/25)

King's Mountain, SC: battle lasted 65 minutes. American troops led by Isaac Shelby and John Sevier defeated Maj. Patrick Ferguson and one-third of General Cornwallis' army. (10/7)

Washington names Nathanael Greene commander of the Southern Army (10/14)

1781

Mutiny of unpaid Pennsylvania soldiers (1/1)

Patriot Morgan overwhelming defeated British Col. Tarleton at Cowpens, SC (1/17)

Articles of Confederation adopted (3/2)

British win costly victory at Guilford Courthouse, NC (3/15)vGreene defeated at Hobkirk's Hill, SC (4/25)

Cornwallis clashed with Greene at Guilford Courthouse, NC (5/15)

Americans recapture Augusta, GA (6/6)

British hold off Americans at Ninety Six, SC (6/18)

"Mad" Anthony Wayne repulsed at Green Springs Farm, VA (7/6)

Greene defeated at Eutaw Springs, SC (9/8)

French fleet drove British naval force from Chesapeake Bay (9/15)

Cornwallis surrounded on land and sea by Americans and French and surrenders at Yorktown, VA (10/19)

1782 and Beyond

Lord North resigned as British Prime Minister (3/20/82)

British evacuated Savannah, GA (7/11/82)

British sign Articles of Peace (11/30/82)

British leave Charleston, SC (12/14/82)

Congress ratifies preliminary peace treaty (4/19/83)

Treaty of Paris (9/3/83)

British troops leave New York (11/25/83)

Washington Resigns as Commander (12/23/83)

U.S. Constitution ratified (9/17/87)

1733 Molasses Act

1754-1763 French and Indian War

1763 Proclamation of 1763

1764 Law passed which forbid the colonies from printing or using their won money

1765 Stamp Act

1767 Townsend Act

March 5, 1770 Soldiers kill five colonists in the Boston Massacre

December 16, 1773 The Boston Tea Party

September 5 - October 26, 1774 First Continental Congress Met in Philadelphia

Lexington and Concord

April 19, 1775 Battles of Concord and Lexington

May 10, 1775 Second Continental Congress Met in Philadelphia

May 10, 1775 Capture by Colonists of forts and arsenals at Ticonderoga

May 11, 1775 Battle of Crown Point - Green Mountain Boys & Ethan Allen attacked the British Fort Ticonderoga near Lake Champlain and won

June 15, 1775 Congress names George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army

Bunker Hill

June 17, 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill

December 31, 1775 American army invaded Canada and tried to take Quebec but failed

January 1776 Thomas Paine published Common Sense

March 1776 Battle of Dorchester Heights

July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence

August 1776 Arrival of 30,000 British troops in New York harbor

Long Island

August 27, 1776 Battle of Long Island - Americans defeated

September 16, 1776 Battle of Harlem Heights - Americans defeated

                      

White Plains   Trenton   Princeton

October 28, 1776 Battle of White Plains - Americans defeated

December 25 -January 3, 1776-77 Crossing of the Delaware & Battles of Trenton and Princeton, NJ - Americans win

1777 Winter Quarters at Princeton

Ticonderoga

July 5, 1777 Ticonderoga captured by the British

September 19-October 7, 1777 Battle of Saratoga, NY - Americans win

October 17, 1777 Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga

September 11, 1777 Battle of Brandywine - Americans defeated

October 4, 1777 Battle of Germantown - Americans retreat

December 19, 1777 Encampment at Valley Forge for the Winter.

February 6, 1778 Ben Franklin encourages France to sign an alliance with the United States

June 19, 1778 Evacuation of Valley Forge Winter Quarters.

June 28, 1778 Battle of Monmouth

December 29, 1778 Savannah taken by the British

1779 Lafayette goes to France to plead for help

September 1779 John Paul Jones's Bonhomme Richard captures the British Serapis

Charles Towne, S.C.

May 12, 1780 Charlestown, SC taken by the British

August 16, 1780 Gates defeated by Cornwallis near Camden, South Carolina.

September 23, 1780 Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point frustrated.

Kings Mountain

October 7, 1780 King's Mountain - British defeated

1780 Rochambeau arrives in America with 5,500 men.

1781 Powerful French fleet under deGrasse arrives - Block British naval force in Chesapeake Bay

January 17, 1781 Cowpens - British defeated

March 15,

1781 Guilford Court

House - Americans defeated

1781 Greene clears interior of South Carolina and Georgia of the enemy

October 19, 1781 Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown

November 30, 1782 Provisional Peace

September 3, 1783 Treaty of Peace of Paris

Reviews of The Chamomile

REVIEWS OF THE CHAMOMILE

An inspirational Revolutionary War romantic suspense

A gem of a historical!

By Laura Frantz (Port Angeles, WA)

This review is from: The Chamomile (Paperback)

     I rarely write reviews and am not yet finished with the novel but am so delighted by this book I couldn't wait to share here. Rich with historical detail about the 18th century in general and South Carolina in particular, this novel offers a pleasing mix of romance and suspense that keeps you turning pages. I was smitten from the first paragraph. An ambitious plot, well drawn characters, a strong yet elegant voice and much more takes you back in time so thoroughly you won't want the book to end. Destined for your keeper shelf, surely, as well as mine. I only hope the author has more historicals in the works. I'm a fan and I don't say that lightly! Highly recommended!

A Treasure Trove and Must Read!!!

By C. "Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D." (Yorktown, VA, United States) –

This review is from: The Chamomile (Kindle Edition)

The Chamomile by Susan Craft

     I am going to gush. I just finished reading Susan Craft's book. It is not a CBA book, but this is an amazing inspirational book. It is a historical with strong romantic elements, not a historical romance. Susan has a command of South Carolina history that is remarkable and it shows on every page. This book is like a treasure trove of American Revolution and colonial history relevant to South Carolina and unlike anything I have ever read. The closest thing might be The Frontiersman's Daughter, Laura Frantz's labor of love which is set in Kentucke. Laura spent years researching The Frontiersman's Daughter as did Susan in her research for The Chamomile. You simply must read it and if you have not read The Frontiersman's Daughter you need to read that, too.

   
I was thinking that Susan might be the Liz Curtis Higgs of SC historical (American Revolution) fiction - she gives that much attention to detail. Just a treasure trove of information along with a tight story and excellent charactertization. Loved it and did not want to finish this book.

   
Bravo Susan!!!

Tenacity Rules

By Jim Duggins, Ph.D

This review is from: The Chamomile (Paperback)

   
It is the intriguing and engaging plot that saves the day in Susan F. Croft's novel, "The Chamomile". Set in the period of America's Revolution, this story clearly depicts the fear and confusion, the chaos and hatred that spring up among neighbors at war.

   
"The Chamomile," tells the story of Lilyan, a young woman, a talented artist and designer in Charleston, South Carolina at the time of the first British attacks on the independence-seeking American colonies. The reader sees in these opening pages, the closeness of nuclear families and communities abruptly torn apart by "patriot" vs. "crown" allegiances. In this case, too, Lilyan's brother, Andrew, a patriot guerilla, is being held on a British prison ship off the coast.

   
Next, introduce Elizabeth, a Cherokee woman, best-friend, companion, maid to Lilyan. In a series of scuffles with the enemy, Elizabeth and Lilyan are alternately ill, injured and care for one another until Elizabeth is killed. Lilyan, for her part, mixes it up with the enemy, killing one and saving the life of another. In the final chapters of this multi-adventured tale, it is Elizabeth's Cherokee people who save the lives of both Lilyan and her brother, Andrew.

   
"The Chamomile," the title and icon of this particular sect of partisan patriots is a great summer read of the beach book variety. I found the plot engaging and believable albeit a trifle ambitious for a relatively short historical novel. Deeper character development would have relieved the often expected cardboard role playing of the protagonists. Still, "The Chamomile" was a good read with insights into aspects of our early history that are not often uncovered.

New Revolutionary War Heroine Emerges in a Can't Put It Down Read

By John Ford (Franklin, TN, United States) –

This review is from: The Chamomile (Paperback)

   
Ms. Craft has produced a powerful story of love -- love of country, love of God, love of friends, and love between a noble man and a strong woman. Fair warning: expect to find yourself teary-eyed as the story unfolds.

   
Her cleverly crafted characters gain wholeness as the exciting and inciting plot propels the reader toward the next conflict -- all occurring in an epic period of American history when being a Patriot took great courage. The heroine, Lilyan, spies on the British, plans the rescue of her brother, plots the death of an English officer, saves the life of another, hides from bounty hunters, and finds true love with the man of her dreams.

   
Ms. Craft's suspenseful novel displays her engaging writing style, vivid imagination, precise word choice, realistic dialogue, attention to meaningful detail and description, ideal setting, deft handling of the pace and plot of the story and the obvious diligent research. These attributes are all individual flavors of Ms. Craft's creation. Each flavor is a delicious snack separately; collectively, they intermingle, drawing strength and subtlety from each other, yielding a scrumptious, inspiring, and heart-melting literary meal!

   
Read this story; then, as do I, you will eagerly await the sequel!

A Truly GREAT Historical Fiction,

By Elaine Marie Cooper

This review is from: The Chamomile (Paperback)

     Where do I begin? I loved The Chamomile so much that it will likely be on my favorite list for all of my 2012 novel reading.

   
From the first chapter, I was totally caught up in the characters and their precarious situation as Patriots in British-occupied South Carolina in 1780. Author Susan Craft artfully wove an intense and realistic story filled with situations that left you breathless and characters that captured your heart. It takes an extremely well written story to move me to tears and I had to grab my tissues more than once.

   
Throughout the novel is a strong theme of trusting God in the midst of terrible circumstances. The maturing of faith in the characters is inspiring. And each character, whether major or minor, was so well portrayed that I felt I knew them.

   
Not only was this novel well written but the historical detail was enlightening and enriching. It was obvious that Ms. Craft spent years on her skillful research. She painted a picture of Colonial America that is still playing like a movie in my mind.

   
Even if you usually don't read historical fiction, I would still highly recommend this read. You will truly not want to put it down. I can only pray that Ms. Craft has a sequel in the works.

By Carol A. Brown 

This review is from: The Chamomile (Paperback)

   
I finished the book Chamomile over a week ago and have not written a review because life took one of those turns, you know, life happens! However, during that hiatus the characters kept popping into my mind and drawing me back to the time and places of the American Revolution--to Lilyan Cameron and Captain Nicholas Xanthakos and the Creeks and Cherokees who befriended them. Susan Craft has done a masterful job of taking us along with Lilyan and Nicholas as they were swept along with the current of the events of that revolution and deposited far from where they started.

   
Lilyan, the daughter of a patriot who was killed in action, sold her father's business and invested in a wallpaper business of her own. She made a living and supported a younger brother and Elizabeth, a young Cherokee woman Lilyan's father brought into the home to help raise his small children after his wife died. A strong and independent spirit, Lilyan too became a patriot, passing on vital information she picked up while doing business with the wives of officers.

   
A commission to do a mural on a plantation, miles from home, brought Lilyan, and crew to another pivotal time in life. A lecherous British officer attempted to rape Elizabeth. In her best friend's defense Lilyan picked up the first thing her hand could find--a stone statue, and brought it crashing down on the man's head--a fatal blow. Lilyan became a murderess, and a fugitive with a bounty on her head. A freed slave who stayed on the care for the elderly plantation owner secreted the party away until they could disappear into the swamps of the southern U.S. to join the band of Marion, the Swamp Fox.

   
Woven through the life and death situations is the growing love bond between Lilyan and Nicholas; finally, in the swamp the happy couple wed. The entire band worked to make the event special and to protect the place provided for a honeymoon. But all good things come to an end...sadly, the war intruded and Captain Xanthakos was called away; bounty hunters took Elizabeth's life; the Swamp Fox and company were on the run. Lilyan, her brother Andrew and Callum had to flee into the mountains to join Elizabeth's family where they stayed until word came that settlers' sentiments had turned against the Indians who remained loyal to the British. Once again our friends were on the run, once again a bounty hunter found Lilyan. Realizing unscrupulous men would be lured by the reward for as long as Lilyan was alive; it was decided to employ an extremely risky ruse to spread word that Lilyan was dead...

   
Through all the trials, their faith carries the main characters through. The story portrays the integral place that faith played in the early colonies. They are so like us, like me, with questions, fears and doubts. I like how Craft has woven faith throughout the story without ever lapsing into preaching. She has portrayed seamy characters without using offensive language--bravo!

   
A very well crafted book (pardon the pun), well paced; characters have depth of character; it was well researched and accurately portrayed that men of character were on both sides. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone, but especially history buffs, lovers of romance and those who enjoy action. This is not just a "chic" book! The romance does not overpower the action, adventure, or history--it is just an excellent, well balanced book!