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A Touch of Autumn(21)

By:Frances Devine


“I already know how to ride quite well.”

“Yes, I know that. Perhaps you can be helpful to Miss Olivia.”

“Yes, sir, I’d be happy to.” The thirteen-year-old settled down in her seat with a smug, but happy, look and leaned over to sign to Trudy and Molly.

Charles sighed. The girl was much improved from last year. But she still thought an awful lot of herself. He hoped she wouldn’t be any trouble to Olivia.

Just as the meal was ending, Livvy arrived, sweeping into the foyer with a flash of deep red and a burst of autumn air. Before Charles could go to her, she was surrounded by her six new students. A twinge of disappointment bit at him. Ah, well. Perhaps it would be best if he spoke to her after the lesson. But he’d keep an eye on her while she was near the horses.

* * *

“Girls, girls, let me catch my breath for a minute.” Livvy’s laugh tinkled through the hall.

She glanced around in search of Charles and watched him disappear up the staircase. Her heart fell. She’d thought, or at least hoped, that he’d want to be there for her first class, but apparently not. She sucked in her breath. She should be happy that he trusted her to do the job without him. Still...

She led the girls outside to the stables, where Albert had two sidesaddles set up on sawhorses. The smell of hay and old leather, tinged with the sharp smell of manure, wafted across the expanse of the room.

“Are those our saddles?” Trudy’s brow wrinkled.

“Yes, aren’t they nice?”

Doubt clouded the girl’s face. “I guess so. But why can’t we ride the regular ones?”

“Because we’re young ladies, silly.” Margaret tossed her head and gave her friend a look of disdain.

Sensing an impending cat fight, Livvy quickly walked over to the saddles and ran her hand down the side of one. Stopping at the stirrup, she turned and smiled. “If you will all pay close attention, I’d like to teach you a little history about the sidesaddle. Would you believe the first usable one didn’t have a stirrup?”

“Where’d they put their feet?” At Lily Ann’s query, Livvy remembered the child’s plight.

“Come here, Lily. You can use your hands to see the parts of the saddle and bridle while I teach.”

Lily quickly complied and reached her hand out. Livvy guided her hand to feel the saddle, then the stirrup.

“Way back in the fourteenth century, a lady called Anne of Bohemia invented the first usable sidesaddle. It was really more like a chair that sat on the horse than a saddle. The rider sat sideways. A footstool was attached for the rider’s feet.”

Laughter exploded from the girls. Livvy sucked in a breath of relief. Good. Laughter was much better than arguing.

“Remember that name, girls. We might have a test later on.”

At the communal groan, she laughed. “I’m just teasing. But there will be a test on the parts of the saddle and bridle and how to place them on the horse.”

“When did they invent this kind, with stirrups and all?”

“Not that long ago, Molly. In fact it was earlier this century, but before that, there were better ones than the one Anne invented.” She tapped her finger against her chin. “Let’s see. In the sixteenth century Catherine de Medici invented one where the rider sat forward with her leg wrapped around the pommel.”

“Just one pommel?” Lily Ann touched both pommels on the sidesaddle.

“Yes, I think there was a horn there to rest her knee against. The two-pommel design that we use now was invented in 1830 by Jules Pellier. One pommel is nearly vertical. But look at the second one. It curves downward. Would anyone care to guess why?”

“It curves over the left thigh.”

“That is correct, Margaret. The right thigh goes between the two pommels and wraps around, but the left leg hangs downward with the foot on the single stirrup. That curved pommel barely touches the left thigh. That left pommel gave women more security and freedom of movement.”

“When my mother was young and lived in England, she used to go fox hunting.” Margaret’s eyes were wide with excitement. “She said the extra pommel kept her from falling off the horse.”

“Very interesting, Margaret. Perhaps your mother would like to visit us one day and tell us about it.”

She shrugged. “She’s traveling in France with my father.”

“I see. Well, maybe when she returns.”

Livvy spent the next fifteen minutes or so teaching about the harness, then it was time to saddle and bridle one of the horses.

As Albert led a small chestnut mare named Suzie from her stall, Livvy took a deep breath. You can do this. God, help me. She’d practiced at home every day, and had few problems. No nausea, no uncontrolled trembling.