The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis

 

Some of the most iconic photos out of the millions of photos taken of Jacqueline Kennedy are on horseback. 

 An avid equestrian from the time she could walk, Jacqueline Onassis seems most content in the company of horses.  Vicky Moon collected hundreds of these photos in The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis.   The book features photos that are widely known and many that have rarely been seen.

This 1961 photo of a tumble is one of the most reproduced.  No wonder she hated paparazzi!

Actually, wrote a foreword to James L. Young’s A Field of Horses: The World of Marshall P. Hawkins.  Hawkins was the equestrian photographer who took this famous picture of her falling head first when her horse balked at a jump.

Riding Side Saddle

While  we were out and about, I found myself running into a lot of images of women riding side saddle.   It started with the above poster. 

Then we stopped in at The Columbus Museum to see: Homer in America.  Winslow Homer was a prolific illustrator and the exhibition featured 125 wood engravings produced over a period of nearly three decades.  Several of them were of women riding side saddle.

Needless to say, when I returned, I pulled together a few of my favorites.

Mrs. Esther Stace riding side saddle and clearing a record 6'6" jump in 1915 at the Sydney Royal Show.
(alas, Mrs. Stace cheated a bit by using a springboard...still.)

Actresses are quite good at side saddle.

Grace Kelly riding in Central Park

Elizabeth Taylor

 

And Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft.  Jolie said she loved riding side saddle and shooting for this scene.  Unfortunately for the person in charge of continuity, there was a bit of a problem.  When Lara Croft stops riding and shooting, she pivots her horse to ride back to her castle.   Riding back, she is astride the horse, both feet clearly in stirrups.  It would be impossible to go from side saddle to astride without damaging delicate body parts.

Finally, a bit of side saddle fashion.  Out riding in a lovely red coat. 

 

Fields Elysian

Winston Churchill

Simon Blow wrote Fields Elysian about hunting society.
Then he filled it with cool pictures of hunting society.

Given the miserable heat and a certain lack of enthusiasm for most things, I stumbled across my copy while trying to do something. Then I realized that sitting in front of a fan looking at vintage hunting photos was just the "something" I should be doing.

The lovely daughters of Earl Beauchamp, made famous by friend Evelyn Waugh as part of the Marchmain clan in Brideshead Revisited. Left to right: Lady Mary, Lady Sibell, and Lady Dorothy Lygon.

Notice that Lady Helena Gibb and the Duchess of Beaufort are both side-saddle. It was the late 1920's before one saw women riding astride. After that, the world simply went to hell in a hand basket.

And, after a long day of riding side-saddle one needs to take a break.