Horse Riding in this Time Period?

Question

What would people's views to horse riding be in the regency/georgian period? Like just for transport? Never used at all? Would they ride for a sport or fun? Horse riding lessons (not like modern ones)?

Sorry for all the questions but I would really like to know. xx

Answer 1

People would ride for transport, fun and sport.  The wealthy would buy expensive and beautiful horses to ride, and for their carriages.  Tattersalls was a famous place to buy horses.  Hyde Park during the fashionable hours was a place to show off your sweet-goers, high steppers and your style and horsemanship, as well as your driving.  Ladies mainly rode side-saddle, and daring women would show off their driving skills.  Hunting was a fashionable pastime in the country - I can't remember the names of the Hunts, but the Cottesloe (Oops!  The Cottesmore!) is a famous one; I think it was Charles II in the 17th century who made racing famous, particularly at Newmarket.

Probably everybody who was able to afford horses would put their children on the back of a pony at an early age.  However, there were probably people who didn't ride, much as there are people who don't drive cars today.  You would have your own horse if reasonably wealthy, and would ride to visit friends both in the country and in town.

http://www.georgianindex.net/London/park...

http://www.georgianindex.net/horse_and_c... (I'm not sure if all the links work)

Edit: yes, this was very much in the Regency era (though mainly for the upper classes)!  Ladies would indeed go hunting, but they would have to be good riders to keep up.  Again, not every lady would ride; Princess Diana didn't like it in our times, and didn't go hunting with her husband.  Here's a Regency Lexicon you might like to look at.  It includes carriages and snippets of information regarding horses! -

http://www.thenonesuch.com/lexicon.html#...

http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/20...

Interesting information here, too: http://www.darcysaga.net/glossary/

Good one: http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=1...

http://www.janeausten.co.uk/magazine/pag...

Hope this lot helps!

Answer 2

For transport and for hunting mainly.

Horse riding lessons are a modern thing. If you think about it you don't need lessons it's mostly common sense.

Answer 3

Yup i agree.

It is a transport based animal.  Some would do royalty sports such as horse polo in some countries and cultures though. (:

Answer 4

It was the only way to travel for centuries and this was reflected in the design and planning of our cities. Most Georgian houses of any substance would have mews houses for stabling and storage of carriages. Horse riding per se would be undertaken in the country but most people of wealth would ride in carriages. Men would ride habitually (most of the armed forces were cavalry) but women less so.

On country estates hunting was popular, and women could ride but would do so side-saddle. Pellier invented the two pommel design in the 1830's  (near the end of the Regency Period) enabling women to participate actively in gallops and jumps.

The country was served by a network of coaching inns where horses could be stabled and changed by commercial operators, but were subject to highway robbery, by the likes of d**k Turpin.

Horses presented their own problems and were as polluting as motor cars in their own way - I once worked on a project where there was a horses graveyard (not all were boiled up for glue) with a very real risk anthrax spores. Acres of land had to be cleaared and farmed for silage - horse feed and bedding, and the streets had to be cleansed to remove the dung - very popular as fertiliser.