CHAPTER V.

THE LADY’S DRESS ON HORSEBACK.

I think I shall make this a chapter upon Dress. Not that the subject ought, perhaps, rightfully to come in just here, without first introducing some more details about the horse--but I know it to be a popular one with ladies, and it will make a pleasing variety from drier matter, which can be made to hold over very well until by-and-by.

In the days of Gottfried and the fair Maid of Ghent, ladies rode upon long-tailed palfreys, attired in embroidered robes of velvet or brocade. A century later we find them wearing cloth manufactured into riding gear, but fashioned so extraordinarily as to set us marvelling how on earth they ever bore the weight, or kept their skirt-tails even moderately clean. So far down as the first half of the present century trailing habits were worn, and about that period we find many allusions to the absurd custom, which would seem to convey something like admiration of it. For example, Charlotte Bronté, describing the return of a riding-party in ‘Jane Eyre,’ says, “Her purple riding-habit almost swept the ground;” a very questionable grace, in my opinion, and a highly dangerous one.

Even in the present day our risible faculties are sometimes excited by the sight of some countrified equestrian, clad in the old-fashioned attire of our mothers’ or grandmothers’ epoch--skirt six feet long, and quite four yards in width; bodice with long basque, neck completely open, displaying a huge expanse of shirt, finished off below the chin with a red bow, or a blue one, or a green, as the case may be; sleeves of enormous dimensions, both wide and long, and braiding enough to set up a regiment of Hussars. There was a girl in the park last season who wore a habit such as I have described, with the addition of soiled white kid gloves, and an extraordinarily tall hat, with a very narrow straight leaf, and evidently much too large to fit her head, for it went bobbing over her eyes at every step of her ungainly steed. Thousands of laughing glances were directed towards her, but she never minded, and only seemed pleased; possibly she thought they were signs of admiration--and her pleasant, healthy face was aglow with delighted satisfaction.

What a pity, I thought, that she had not the benefit of that inestimable looking-glass, a friend’s eye. Somebody ought to have told her what an exhibition she was, yet evidently nobody did; so ready are we to ridicule others, without offering help.

A learner’s first costume may be as primitive as her knowledge of the art--yet certain particulars concerning it ought not to be overlooked, and while considering them I shall adopt my former unceremonious mode of address, and speak as friend to friend.

To begin, then, with your head. Leave your hair floating, perfectly loose--untrammelled by so much as a ribbon. The object of this is that you may not have any temptation to remove your hands from the position in which the master has placed them, or anything to divert your mind from the subject with which it is engaged. Were you to take your riding lessons with hair plaited neatly up in a coil, you would probably become conscious, after a round or two of jolting, that a tail was sticking uncomfortably out at one side, while a cold hair-pin would perhaps make you shudder by sliding down your back. Then, if your hand was not immediately lifted to rectify it, the tail would rapidly increase in length and volume, and a perfect _rain_ of hair-pins would begin to descend upon your shoulders. This is precisely what a riding-master dreads and detests--for fingers and attention are alike employed to rectify the damage, which cannot be done in a hurry, but takes a long time,--and so discomfort reigns paramount until the lesson is over.

_Always_, while a learner, ride with your hair unbound, and wear a soft hat or cap upon your head, fastened securely with an elastic beneath the chin. This latter does not look pretty, but that need not matter very much; there will not be many to see it, and even were it otherwise, the sensible among them would applaud your foresight, and commend you for providing against the discomforts attendant on a hat that would go rolling off with every motion of the horse you were riding.

Your jacket should be more than easy-fitting: it should be loose--allowing the figure full play, and giving special liberty to the arms, which should never be hampered in any way.

The shape of it need not trouble you; beauty and fashion can be dispensed with till by-and-by. Your skirt should be wide and short; the make of it will not matter;--as in the case of the jacket, let “cut” give place to comfort. Do not wear a hard stiff collar, or anything that would irritate or distract your mind. Never wear petticoats on horseback, even from the first. To do so is a grave mistake. I advocate the purchase of proper riding trousers, to be worn from the very beginning, and they, of course, obviate the necessity for any such garment. I have heard persons speak in favour of flannel combinations, made to fit quite loose, and must confess that, having never tried them, I am not in a position to condemn, but my prejudices are certainly not in favour of them. If not fitted with elastic below the knees, they would most assuredly ruck up and make their wearer miserable; and if so supplied, the legs of them would turn round and round until the backs were almost twisted to the front, a state of things terribly uncomfortable, and one that could not be remedied without getting off. If, however, there is a decided predilection in favour of these extremely undesirable garments, the twisting process may in great measure be obviated by attaching a piece of good firm elastic, long enough to pass under the sole of the foot, to each side of the leg of the combinations. This answers the purpose of a man’s trouser strap, but must, if adopted by a lady, be worn under the boot. It is, I must say, surprising to me that the combination, or knickerbocker garment, should ever have received the notice of juvenile riders, inasmuch as it leaves the leg, from the knee down, entirely uncovered, save by the stocking, except when long boots are worn; and we all know that the limbs of a learner are far more tender and liable to abrasion than are those which have become saddle-hardened and inured to rubs.

Boots should be well-fitting, broad-soled, and made without buttons, bows, or anything that could possibly catch in the stirrup, or require disentanglement when about to dismount. High heels should _never_ be worn.

Gloves are of little consequence, provided that they are soft and large. Of the two I like to see beginners ride without them, except when the weather is cold. A good strong woollen or cloth pair will then be found preferable to any kind of leather.

A whip you will not require, therefore I need not speak of it; neither will you have any need of a spur.

* * * * *

Having thus disposed of your requirements as a learner, we come to consider your more advanced costume, and I shall find need to speak of every requisite for park, road, and country riding--reserving the hunting outfit for the last.

If you are a moderate rider, three hats will be sufficient for you; a silk one, which I prefer low-crowned; a jerry, or melon-shaped; and a soft felt. These should be all of the finest quality; in fact, I may here take occasion to warn you against cheap or indifferent articles of riding apparel; they are, in all instances, by far the dearest in the end. For my own part I really look with horror upon low-priced articles of clothing--not from any snobbishness, far from it, but because I have always found them wear so badly, look so unsightly after short service, and adapt themselves so indifferently to the wearer, that a perfect abhorrence of all so-called “bargains” has been the not unnatural result.

You should have at least two riding-habits--one of heavy, the other of light material. Wolmershausen and Co., of Curzon-street, Mayfair, are constantly showing a variety of beautiful stuffs, suitable for all places, in town and country, and for all weathers likewise. They are the introducers of the famous “Curzon Red,” in reality a dark claret-colour of most charming hue, fine texture, and durable quality, being perfectly impervious to the effects of rain or sun.

I am frequently asked for advice respecting the newest fashion in the cut of riding habits--the form or shape of the bodice, and so forth. The very best I can give is to go to a good maker, and leave the matter entirely in his hands, not hindering him by the setting forth of any ideas of your own. If he be a master tailor he will know his business, and will not relish interference. Should you, however, be called upon to give directions to a provincial or country workman of doubtful capacity, send for a good pattern of a skirt, and then get your tailor to cut it out in coarse, rough calico, and to tack it lightly together. Finally, let him adjust it to your shape _when on horseback_, making quite certain that the fit of it shall be perfect before attempting to cut it out in cloth. By this simple process you and he will be spared much disappointment, and you will be saved unnecessary expense. A well-cut habit-skirt should fit without wrinkle or fold; it should be barely long enough to cover the left foot; there should not be a particle of superfluous cloth about it; the end of the hem should form a line as nearly as possible horizontal; and the circumference _inside_ the hem should certainly not exceed two and a-half yards, even for the most matronly rider.

I adhere to the belief that no habit-skirt can be properly adjusted unless the maker of it can have the advantage of adapting it to the figure of the intended wearer while she sits on horseback. All fashionable tailors have model or block horses, on which they mount their customers, and by no other plan can a perfect fit be secured. It must be borne in mind that the better shaped a habit-skirt is for riding the more unsightly it looks when seen on a standing figure, or when held in the hand; in fact, it is then a seemingly hideous and “all wrong” thing, full of irregularities, and apparently without form and void--whereas, when viewed in the saddle, it adapts itself to the figure of the wearer, and falls into perfectly correct and shapely lines.

All modern habit-bodices are made entirely without perceptible basque, having merely the coat-tail at the back. Some are made to open at the throat, and these look smart with a white or pale buff scarf tie. Others, again, are slightly opened at the waist, or very much so at the breast, displaying fancy waistcoats of various kinds and patterns, some of them quite startling in colour and design. The fashion is, in my opinion, not one to follow. The nicest shaped bodice for a lady is one made closely buttoned up, almost to the throat, showing merely a small linen collar above the braid or neck-band, with the addition of a neat tie of no conspicuous colour. The bodice itself should be entirely free from ornament of any sort whatever.

I think it a good plan, although some tailors reject it, to have two large strong hooks attached to the back of the bodice, with eyes of corresponding size affixed in proper position to the band of the skirt. When these are fastened there can be no danger of getting “out of gear.”

Bodices which open much at the throat are very apt to give colds and coughs to the wearers of them. There is an old saying that pride feels no pain, and certainly ladies who fancy their own appearance in this particular style of garment are unfortunately only too apt to forget, or overlook, its tendency to admit the chill blasts and treacherous breezes which frequently make havoc with the most delicate portion of the frame. Nobody could condemn the practice of muffling up the throat more heartily than I do myself, but to leave the chest exposed to harsh wintry winds--as I frequently see done--with only a trifle of silk or muslin to serve as a protector, seems to me to be positively suicidal. I therefore recommend that when open bodices are worn in chilly weather, a fold of chamois, or warm soft flannel, should be placed across the chest.

A habit-bodice should fit closely, without crease or wrinkle, but ought not to be by any means tight; if it be so, all comfort in riding will be destroyed. I am confidently of opinion that half the ladies who canter their horses in the park and never attempt to trot them, only adopt the fashion because they themselves are too tightly laced to effect the rise in the saddle. This system of compression is a great mistake. If ladies could only be induced to believe it, it certainly adds nothing to their charms, for Nature will not allow herself to be put out of sight, and the figure that is crushed in at the centre by unduly tightened corsets must bulge out above or below them--sometimes both--in a manner that is by no means pleasant to contemplate. Putting aside, therefore, all questions connected with hygienic principles, the fashion of squeezing the waist is not one to be recommended.

I believe that a great many ladies who are not by any means naturally stout or clumsy, are made to appear so by wearing cheap and ill-fitting corsets; while, on the other hand, figures that are inclined to _embonpoint_ can, with the assistance of a judicious and capable stay-maker, be invested with an appearance of grace and slimness that is not by nature their own. To expect a habit-cutter to fit a bodice over a seven-and-sixpenny corset, with two long bones, bald and unsoftened, sticking up at the top of the back, hip-pieces too wide, and front steels long and obtrusive, is as great a piece of injustice as to expect an artist to paint a picture with broken brushes, or a cook to furnish a banquet without the proper materials.

I cannot refrain from dwelling a little upon this subject, because it seems to me that ladies are very often--without meaning it, perhaps--a trifle unjust, not to say tyrannical, blaming their tailors, and even speaking against them in influential quarters, for faults in fitting, which are in reality entirely attributable to their own obstinacy (combined, perhaps, with a little bit of parsimony), in neglecting the advice given them: namely, to purchase well-made corsets from an artist in that particular branch of industry. To lay a good foundation is at all times, howsoever applied, an excellent rule, and the corset is the foundation on which the habit-bodice must, as it were, be _built_. Your figure may be ever so charming in all its outlines and details, but if that which helps to mould it is in reality only calculated to disfigure, the effect cannot be otherwise than unsatisfactory and bad.

Habit-sleeves ought not to be too long. To end within two inches of the hand is the correct thing, the space to be filled up by a spotless linen cuff. Ample room should be given at the elbows, and at the setting-in of the sleeves,--otherwise there will be discomfort, and a continual tendency to run up.

The system of shotting habits at the hem has happily entirely gone out. According to the present rule of skirt cutting, it certainly is not required, but for fair equestrians who are unduly nervous about exposing even the smallest portion of understanding, a good plan is to have a band of broad elastic affixed to the inside of the skirt, in such a position as to enable the toe of the right foot to be thrust through it, while a similar band does duty for the left. These appliances cannot be properly arranged by even the most skilful tailor, unless the wearer of the habit is ready to seat herself on horseback, or on a block horse, for his benefit and assistance. The necessity for this is obvious, as the precise position of the bands, or loops, must be regulated by the rider’s length of limb, otherwise they may be altogether wrongly placed, and, when used, have only the unsatisfactory effect of dragging the skirt completely out of form. Some authorities have censured me for advocating this plan at any cost, declaring it to be highly dangerous in case of a fall. I should like to know how it is so, seeing that it does not involve the possibility of dragging, or place a lady in any sort of peril. The theory is about as sensible as others of the kind, which ignorant persons--or men who attempt to write for ladies--not unfrequently lay down. For riders who are, nevertheless, apprehensive of danger from this source, reassurance may be found by using Nicoll’s patent safety-band for the right foot opening with a spring--so that, in the event of a fall, the rider is not kept in a cramped position upon the ground, but can at once make an effort to regain her feet, without trouble to herself or damage to her garments.

Ladies who ride much in the country, especially in summer weather, will derive comfort from the possession of a gingham habit, or one of very lightest dust-coloured summer cloth. I have had one of the latter myself, and it wore splendidly--bearing a couple of washings into the bargain when disfigured by dust on which a shower of rain had fallen. I would have it borne in mind, however, that cheap though the material may be, it _must_ be tailor-made, otherwise it will not be fit to wear.