posted
If the woman is fit and has ridden for a year or more, horseback riding shouldn't bother her at all. My step-mother carried my half-brother practically up to the time she delivered, though she had to go with a larger western saddle to accomodate her belly .
She also rode astride. At the time, not many side saddles could be found unless it was an antique. Side saddle riding is finding a resurgence of popularity among some horse women today, but it really doesn't make that much difference when it comes to child bearing.
Web wisdom seems to worry about the woman or horse falling; that seems a reasonable fear. This should not be an issue for a fictional woman, if the writer is careful.
posted
Horsewomen often ride until late in their pregnancies. There were stories of Isabella of Castille dismounting to give birth in the middle of military campaigns.
Riding sidesaddle would be far more dangerous--in fact, riding sidesaddle is ALWAYS dangerous. The chances of falling are very high. (You can't use your legs to balance or to control the horse--HORRIBLE idea) And sidesaddles weren't even invented until the late middle ages and didn't become common until later than that.
Edit: Yes, there are safer modern sidesaddles but there is no way you have the security of mount as you can with riding astride. And many women were known to ride astride, including Marie Antoinette even far after sidesaddles became common. The difficulties of riding sidesaddle are myriad and for most of the late middle ages--after around 1400 when Anne of Bohemia invented the thing--a woman's horse if she rode sidesaddle had to be led because she had NO control.
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited July 05, 2008).]
posted
I actually asked my doctor all sorts of safety questions when I was pregnant since we went on a long vacation early on. For exercise, anything that you normally would do is fine (so if you normally ride, you still can). My doctor was even fine with water parks and a lot of thrill type rides (though he didn't like things that had higher or lower g-force). The most important thing to do is not fall. Otherwise, you're fine. But lots of things have warnings for pregnant people because no company wants to assume liability for a pregnant woman.
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posted
I did see a side saddle demonstration at the Hoosier Horse Fair in Indianapolis IN. From what was said there (and what I saw), a rider is actually more secure in a side saddle because of how the split horn holds the legs. A woman's seat in a side saddle is exactly the same as a woman riding astride from the hips up. The only difference is the rider's right leg is positioned in the curve of the upper part of this horn and carried on the left side of the horse along with the left leg. I do know that women have ridden horses in jumper and hunter competitions in a side saddle and even gone fox hunting with no problems.
Of course there is the problem of cueing the horse on the right since the rider's legs are both on the left side of the horse. So, there is some training a side saddle horse has to have in order to be ridden in this fashion.
I will admit that I have had no personal experience riding side saddle myself and this information has come from conversations with side saddle enthusiasts. I have also seen photographs of women taking horses over jumps on fox hunts in a side saddle with no trouble at all. There are even photographs of women working herds of cattle out on the open range in side saddles right alongside the men, though it wasn't all that common.
So there you have both sides of the coin and can decide for yourself .
posted
Speaking of side saddles, when I took that camel ride up Mount Sinai and walked back down on my own, I saw the Bedouins who actually own (and ride all the time) the camels, and they were sitting on the saddle with one leg in the astride position and the other more or less wrapped around the saddle horn with the foot on the same side as the astride leg, in a kind of side saddle position. I saw boys actually racing their camels while riding in this position, so apparently "side saddle" works for camels, too.
edited to add a link to a camels versus horses website, for those who might be interested:
posted
When I was pregnant and riding regularly, my doctor's recommendation was to stop riding once the baby was big enough to be outside the pelvic girdle. The reason is that while I was still perfectly fine to ride, from a health stand point, the risks assocaited with falling become greater once the baby is outside the protection of the skeletal structure.
So, yes, you can ride until your just too uncomfortable in the saddle but will your character want to take the risk of a freak accident/fall?
posted
A woman's center of gravity changes with the size changes during pregnancy - many of the "be careful of falls" advice comes from this. It's easier to fall/greater risk of falling when your center of gravity isn't where it used to be. Add to this the influx of the hormone relaxin, which helps loosen joints (in anticipation of delivery when those hips need to be much more flexible than they normally are) and you have a potential for real injury if a woman is engaging in activities she does not normally engage in.
However, as another poster pointed out, this center of gravity change doesn't change much until when the baby and belly start to grow out of the pelvic cavity, which is typically mid second trimester (though women who have born children before will often see their bellies popping out earlier - it really just depends on each woman's skelletal structure, muscle tone, and other stuff that's highly variable like torso length.)
Early in the second trimester with a first pregnancy (or an experienced horsewoman with other children) seems perfectly plausible to me in current times. Set in the past you'd have to consider societal expectations from the times.
posted
The split horn didn't exist in the middle ages.
Here is a fairly accurate description of the early sidesaddles taken from wipipedia--not always a good source but it seems accurate in this case.
quote:It was a chair- like affair where the woman sat sideways on the horse with her feet on a small footrest. The design made it difficult for a woman to both stay on and use the reins to control the horse, so the animal was usually led by another rider, usually male, and sitting astride.
If a woman actually wanted to ride and control her horse, which many women did, they rode astride. And many women of all classes did ride astride.
The split horn side saddle wasn't even invented intil the 1830s. Before that, even galloping in a sidesaddle was an invitation to disaster. I have seen those same arguments from sidesaddle enthusiasts. They're certainly safer now but as safe as astride? I find that hard to buy.
In the middle ages it would have been less of a matter of choice probably as far as riding and being pregnant. I believe that Isabella of Castile frequently led military campaigns while pregnant. Whether she really dismounted to give birth I couldn't say. Sounds painful to me. (Well, less painful than giving birth in the saddle but you know what I mean. LOL Riding that late in pregnancy couldn't be comfortable. But she also was known to kneel in the middle of battlefields to pray for victory. Comfort wasn't high on her list of priorities.)
In the link here, if you look at a lower picture, you'll see that she is depicted riding astride.
posted
After giving the subject serious thought, I thought that might be the case, Jeanne, even before you made your post. Thank you for doing the research and a great job at digging up the facts .
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quote:Riding that late in pregnancy couldn't be comfortable.
Just wanted to offer some pregnancy insight to those who may be curious or unfamiliar. While it's true that much in late pregnancy isn't exactly *comfortable*, remember too that a pregnant woman didn't get 9 months pregnant overnight. She's had 9 months of acclimation (or 6 or however long since she knew she was pregnant.) You just get used to the "new you" and begin making accomodations to how you get around, the way you sit, etc. I remember I had to change the way I buckled my seat belt in the car in order to accomodate my increased girth, and there's the comical bit about reaching around oneself and finding one's arms suddenly too short to do something (this was what I had to change about buckling - my left arm couldn't reach all the way around to fasten anymore, LOL.)
I also remember getting royally honked off when I was moved from my cushy extra-leg-room exit row seat to some other seat on an airplane when I was six months pregnant with my first. I was a high-tier frequent flier and was entitled to that cushy seat! They told me it was because I had to be able to physically perform the functions described on the card - including lift a 30 lb door over my head. Oh it made me spit - I was more fit and able to do that kind of task than most of the overweight businessmen on the flight.
Some women experience specific problems that cause pain, such as sciatic nerve inflammation or hip joint pain, the majority of women won't or if they have pain/discomfort it will be temporary, transient.
Oh, and of course carrying multiples just multiplies the potential challenges of a pregnancy and discomforts, since there's less room/more baby.
I think my primary point is - if the character you are writing engages in a certain activity all the time before pregnancy and continues it while pregnant, she will naturally make the adjustments necessary to accomodate her changing body shape - even up to very late in the game. If, however, a pregnant character is asked to do something she's never done before, that may lead to some comedy or some potentially dangerous complications or issues.
Remember that pregnancy - and breastfeeding afterwards - are *natural* states for women's bodies to be in. It's a natural part of a woman's development to carry babies, birth them, feed them, and carry more later. You wouldn't believe it from how medicalized we are about childbirth here in the US, but I won't get started down that path or you'll never get me to shut up, LOL.
posted
I don't know many women who would want to combine the very late stages of pregnancy with horseback riding unless they absolutely had to--but there are exceptions. I know women who did and did it successfully. I wasn't one of them and was a pretty dedicated rider at the time. LOL
After about 7 months I found riding uncomfortable so I was speaking from experience. Pregnancy is normal. That doesn't mean it doesn't sometimes hurt. Being kicked in the ribs by a ten pound baby wasn't any thrill either.
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited July 07, 2008).]
posted
You didn't give us enough information. What is her social and economic status? If she is high-born, she would absolutely not be encouraged to ride. If she is a working-class girl who is used to riding, she will do what it takes to put food on the table.
Women who were pioneers or peasants or working women didn't have the luxury of servants. They kept doing their chores right up until the baby was born, then generally they would get up from the birth bed and keep plugging away at their duties as soon as they are able. This sort of woman wouldn't think twice about riding a horse, as long as she could get astride, if it's something she is accustomed to doing in her every day life.
posted
Then again, if she's high born she might decide for herself whether she should ride or not (see my comments about Queen Isabella of Castile) and if she's low born she probably didn't have a horse. LOL
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posted
You also need to keep in mind that every woman experiences pregnancy differently (even with no complications). For example, one of my friends puked several times a day, every day until almost third trimester. I did not puke at all. I had lots of trouble in the end with feeling faint. I had lots of back pain and stomach pain (no special reason) and was ready to kill my mother in law when she talked about how all I should feel is "minor discomfort" and how could I possibly be complaining. Some people love being pregnant, some hate it.
Also, while pregnancy may be natural, it is still dangerous. Compare the mortality rates before we medicalized it and now.
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