Is it safe (advisable) for one of my pregnant characters (early second trimester) to ride a horse? If so should it be side saddle?
Grant
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.
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).]
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 .
If you have characters who are worried about a pregnant woman riding, you should have them put her in a palanquin, a sedan chair, or a litter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedan_chair
edited to add a link to a camels versus horses website, for those who might be interested:
http://www.camelphotos.com/CamelVsHorses.html
[This message has been edited by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (edited July 05, 2008).]
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?
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.
Hope this helps!
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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited July 06, 2008).]
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.
This wikipedia page covers most of the well-known pregnancy issues/complications/pains:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy_complications
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.
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).]
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.
Also, while pregnancy may be natural, it is still dangerous. Compare the mortality rates before we medicalized it and now.