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Three saddles featured in display
The Museum of the High Plains Historical Society is featuring three saddles through the month of August. The saddles are on loan from Del Harsh and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Pierce.
Del Harsh has two side-saddles on display. Side-saddles were used by women to keep on a horse compared to just sitting sideways remain mounted. Prior to the invention of the side-saddle, women were led while on horseback, as it was otherwise hard to stay on and almost impossible to control the horse.
The side-saddle gave women freedom to ride without assistance.
Development of dedicated side-saddles accelerated in the 19th century when it became fashionable for ladies to follow the hounds, not merely participate as interested spectators out for a good gossip.
World War II severely restricted hunting, and side-saddles and habits were mostly put into storage. The war also changed the perception of women's roles in life and how they performed them. Riding in international show-jumping was another activity in which women could now compete with men: it had become not only "proper", but indeed the norm, to ride astride in direct competition with male riders.
Side-saddles, however, remained in the attics to which they had been consigned during the war. Many were destroyed. Others were allowed to rot. Demand had evaporated because riding astride was both acceptable and economical.
The saddle on loan from Mr. and Mrs. Richard Pierce of Stratton belonged to Charles Elkanah Pierce, a pioneer of Stratton.
It was probably made in the 1880s. Charles Pierce received the saddle as payment for work done for a neighbor when he was a boy living on a farm near Kingman, Kan.
The saddles are on display until September at the museum at 423 Norris Avenue. The museums hours are 1-5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday and 2-4 p.m., on Sunday.