Monday, January 18, 2010

The rules & traditions of Sidesaddle - gloves

Riding sidesaddle has so much history and therefore a lot of interesting rules to go by. I find it so fascinating.

Gloves: Gloves apparently must not be black as only ladies in mourning wore black gloves, and therefore shouldn't be riding! Plus black gloves were dyed and they would stain a lady's hands. A natural light brown or "chamois" glove was the acceptable thing to wear. Otherwise brown gloves are appropriate. And plain cotton knitted or crocheted gloves were supposed to be worn for rainy weather so the reins didn't slip out of your hands. In an appointments class the cotton gloves are supposed to be tucked under the billets on the offside of the saddle with the tips just peaking out.

Last week while we were at an antique store I happened to find a pair of really delicate little chamois gloves, they were waaay too small for my hands though. Otherwise I would have snapped them up!

3 comments:

  1. IM ENJOYING YOUR BLOG ON SIDESADDLE RIDING! I WILL BE WATCHING!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should have bought them anyways for your side saddle collection :-) But then that thinking, has gotten me WAY too much stuff hanging around here!

    ReplyDelete