The Earliest of the Earliest..

Sidesaddles! Here are 2 photographs of museum quality historic sidesaddles that just thrilled me to pieces! You see, before I saw these, I had only seen drawings and read descriptions of these types of sidesaddles.

Look at the basket where the lady would literally sit sideways upon the horse with little to no control over the animal at all! Can you imagine how uncomfortable it would be to travel a long distance in this 'chair'?

Here is a stunning example of a rail saddle so primitive that instead of a stirrup, it has the foot rest.
Just amazing!!!