The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

It's ironic that horseback riding is now female-dominated.

14K views 142 replies 32 participants last post by  horselovinguy 
#1 · (Edited)
There was once a time when horses were almost exclusively a male thing. For most of the thousands of years of human involvement with horses, they were highly valued as transportation, implements of farming and war materiel. The advent of the industrial revolution and internal combustion changed all that.


Let's look at the whole history of human transportation.



Men, not women, invented motor vehicles.

The male sex historically has dominated the transportation industry for the most part. Men travel much more widely than women and range much farther from home than women. Male animals in nature often have a much longer range from home than their female counterparts. Men historically have traveled the most in ships, on boats, on trains, on dog sleds, on foot, by trucks, by buses, by cars, on bicycles, by animals, on horseback and by planes and spaceships.

There have been many more male occupations that require extensive use of transportation from boys on bicycles to run telegraph messages to men on board sea ships to transport cargo. Girls often have had occupations as baby-sitting and dairy maid close to home with little movement. Most women's occupations are local and near home or in the home.

Men on average travel many more miles worldwide than women. Men are largely nomadic: women are largely domestic.

Automobiles are invented, designed, built, styled, maintained, repaired, marketed and sold mostly by men. Men average many more miles driving a car annually than do women. At least this was the case when the man was the breadwinner for his family.

Motorcycles are mostly ridden by men. Trucks are driven mostly by men. Greyhound buses are driven mostly by men. Merchant ships are run almost exclusively by men. Airplanes are piloted mostly by men. Astronauts are mostly men and only men have stepped onto a heavenly body, namely the moon, outside of earth.

Before the automobile, horseback riding was mostly by men as was driving wagons, oxcarts and carriages. Railroads are operated mostly by men.

Men have to often move a lot to get to and from work or business. Men transport most of the freight and raw materials worldwide. Transhumance/livestock herding is male-dominated. Think of cowboys on trail drives.

In hunter-gatherer societies, men traveled far to hunt meat for the family while women gathered plants for food near home.

Military and naval service is male dominated and entails extensive traveling.


Horses, and other animals, are still valuable today for travel over terrain that would be virtually impossible, that is impassible, by motorized vehicle. In some cases, the law allows horses to pass certain land but not motorized vehicles.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
We have a stark divide in my country: horses are ridden by women in the cities and by men in the countryside, which is much more patriarchal. It is still sort of frowned upon by country folk for a women to ride - well, their women - they don’t seem to extend it city girls, we are cleared to ride. Strange.
 
#3 ·
I've been thinking about this, but not in as sexist of a way as you have put it. Your blanket generalizations are, in my opinion, demeaning to women.

You are making a sort of strange argument: (1) historically, horses were used as transportation, (2) transportation was mainly run by men, (3) therefore men were the ones doing the horsework.

You have forgotten that a large number of horses were used for farm work (driving, plowing) and that women did this work just as men did.
 
#4 ·
Eh, I think we can be generous in interpretation as this is a written medium and a lot can be misunderstood in text - so, unless OP confirms that he was intentionally sexist, I’d go with that explanation.

It is a fact that very few women used to ride and work with horses. I don’t think there is anything sexist in stating that (I am a woman, for what it’s worth).

One of the reasons for it could well be that people simply didn’t have the time to teach girls to ride due to being busy surviving. It wasn’t a job requirement, so no time wasted of frivolous pursuits, except for the upper classes which had more women riding.

I think that it could also be interpreted as men being seen as “disposable” whereas women were always being spared the most dangerous work (not that they had it easy either). Even today, when most work doesn’t require physical strength, you see men almost exclusively doing the dangerous jobs. Oil rigs, soldiers, miners, high altitude work...none of them are dependent on physical strength (or shouldn’t be with modern technology) but are mostly done by men, with some exceptions.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I have given up on the notion of hunting with horses (unless they are supplied to the client for transportation as part of the price paid for a deer guide offering special low-priced hunts to get rid of surplus does for land management) altogether. I've decided using horses to get venison otherwise would cost more money and be more trouble than I'm willing to spend or put up with. The guide I hire can worry about how to load my game bag on HIS company-owned pack horse should one ever be employed on any hunt I book. The guide usually does the skinning, gutting and quartering for the paying client anyway.

I thought it would be interesting to have a thread as to why American men and boys don't care much for horses anymore. I've heard guys say they hated horses and others say they make good dog food. It seems as the lust for GALLONS (of fossil fuels burned for vehicle use) has largely displaced the GALLOP (pun intended) in terms of the sheer lack of 21st century male enthusiasm for equines. Some men have told me horses are dangerous because one can lose control of them should they spook. Motor vehicles never spook. One guy told me he loved HORSEPOWER, not HORSES.
 
#12 ·
I actually agre with what Jon has said.

Men are from Mars and women from Venus, we are very different in our make up.

I found teaching boys totally different to teaching girls.

Boys didn't really want to learn the finer parts of riding, they just wanted to get on and go.

Boys didn't like the humiliation of falling off, especially in front of girls. A girl would (usually) forgive her pony and make some excuse for its bad behaviour, underneath a boy would want to punch the heck out of it but knew better. It was the pony's fault!

Women were regarded as needing to be taken care of, the weaker sex. Risks were minimised for them.

It wasn't until the late 1950s that women were allowed to compete in three day events, it was thought both to risky for them and, if they did fall they would cry. Think they were proven wrong on this! A lot of top event riders are women.

Strength does come into riding, this is why you do not get many successful jockeys that are women.

Obviously there are exceptions as with many things.

Women have played many leading roles in history, not as many as men but as said there are exceptions.

Watch how young boys play together, it is all rough and tumble, challenges play fighting, bragging that one can do better than the other, girls are more likely to be interacting together and their play will be more towards the nurturing side.

More women ride than men they can ride just as well as the men that's for sure and in many instances, better because they have a natural empathy for the horse.

Men are generally less patient than women hence they would rather use a vehicle as it is faster and doesn't need as much care!

My nephew, when about six, was stood holding his pony, he was asked if he loved his pony. He replied, "Yes I do but I love the tractor and ATV better."

He stopped riding by seven and only came back to it when about 14.
 
#13 ·
I think it's pretty simple. Women love animals. Both caring and nurturing animals and building a relationship with them. (What is more awesome than feeling like you are one with a beautiful, sensitive, powerful animal like the horse?) So horses are a natural fit.

I think it the past, when men dominated horse culture, they were more of mode of transportation and women were stuck at home taking care of the family. That may be oversimplifying things, but I think in general that's the way it probably was.

There ARE guys out there that genuinely love horses. I've met a few. It really sort of puzzles me why there aren't more men that love horses out there, but I guess that's just how it is. I also think it isn't considered "macho" to show that you are an animal lover, so maybe that is part of it? For instance, I know some men who genuinely love cats, but you usually don't find that out until you get to know them better, in other words, they don't advertise it to the world. Maybe as a woman if you can find a guy that genuinely loves animals, you know you've found a good one!
 
#14 ·
It's OK for a man or boy to show love for his dog. Even so, the dog will often be expected to be well-trained and mind his master to the T. Many guys have little patience or tolerance for ill-behaved dogs. I like cats: only if they are good mousers and ratters as for being kept out in the barn.
 
#15 ·
I believe it is regional and depends on what discipline and what level.
The higher levels of most western disciplines are dominated by men in the open levels.
Coming from cowboy/ranching country perspective, just as many, or more, men ride than women.
 
#16 ·
Horseback riding isn't an activity dominated by women around the world. Around the world, it is still a mostly male activity. Even in countries like the USA, once one gets away from urban areas, or areas where public land to ride is limited, there're as many men riding as women. Where I see a difference, a female majority, is in urban areas and areas where there's little public trails out in the country. One difference I've noticed is that women are much more comfortable with the idea of stalling horses and riding in rings than men, which explains why if ones goes into a stable, most of the riders there will be females.
 
#17 ·
Men on average travel many more miles worldwide than women. Men are largely nomadic: women are largely domestic.
Wow. I feel sorry for the women in your life and find your tone quite offensive.

These are nothing but generalizations about gender roles that do not take into account other cultures. Gender is a social construct. Perpetuating these kinds of stereotypes is not a productive way of encouraging intelligent discussion.

I am done participating in your threads.
 
#18 ·
It's your prerogative to be done with whatever. I have no women in my life. I'm celibate.

My knowledge of transportation history, since the first of our species hopped upon the back of any animal for a ride or invented the roller (smooth round logs) to move a heavy load, comes from years of study. Man's very first conveyance, of course, was the human foot, or I should say a pair of feet.

I would be willing to bet a crisp new $20 bill that the world total of men worldwide move a greater number of miles from point to point over a map than do the sum total of women worldwide annual. It's not misogyny: it's just raw statistics. I' sure women would have men squarely beat if one were to compare the number of babies born by each sex annually.

It's fair to say more men than women travel on business trips worldwide and men commute much farther on average to and from work everyday. I'm not saying a woman is incapable of long-distance travel. My mother and her lady friend went to Mexico a lot and discovered the ancient ruins in the jungles there by a rented air-cooled Volkswagen over dirt trails. Not much for creature comforts. No man accompanied them. Stats just show men travel long distance more. Travel simply means being moved from one point to another over the map for any distance by any means. It doesn't simply mean taking a trip for pleasure or a holiday. You travel from your bedroom to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
 
#19 ·
I'm not seeing irony here. None at all. The changes , that of having more women riding than men in your area, are easily explained by social changes over the last 50 years.

Women not building new machines and not exploring worlds , "back then", are also explained by the culture of the time, which absolutely disallowed many of those things to women. It's not necessarily part of their nature.

Things change. You'll be fine. Go with the flow.
 
#20 ·
Travel simply means being moved from one point to another over the map for any distance by any means. It doesn't simply mean taking a trip for pleasure or a holiday. You travel from your bedroom to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
If you seriously believe this, you're delusional. I think you grossly misunderstand how many women are now breadwinners in the family and travel for work. I know far more women who travel for business than men, actually-- whether it's a longer daily commute or flying coast to coast. Methinks you need to broaden your horizons a bit and get out into the real, modern world.
 
#22 ·
On my days it was the norm for a female to have a short career as by their twenties they would marry and have children. The man was the breadwinner, she stayed home raising the children. If she had a job it was usually a menial one that fitted in with the children's care.

Times change, where once majority of families were content to rent their homes now all want to own and with tying themselves to a mortgage women started to resume careers. Children cared for by either a care service or other family members.

With my cousins family, no children, he would travel further to commute daily, she does a lot of work from home BUT, she has to travel all over the world for work on a regular basis.

Study nature and you will see that it is the female that leads the pack or herd. From what I have seen it is much the same in long lasting marriages. The female, using wiles, will plant an idea to hubby, then when he suggests it she agrees saying he has had a brilliant idea!

Times have changed, not always for the better more often than not it is for material things rather than the good of the family.
 
#21 ·
I really don't know. I've been a hermit for the most part since getting out of the army in 1995. Being a man, oddly, I personally hate long-distance travel. The hassle, the costs, the delays, the tiredness, the headaches. The rudeness of some people in the taxi, bus, motels and airline industries. The TSO jerks that poke and prod people at airports. The nastiness of Amtrak trains. I like Greyhound for relatively short trips, however. I like my car the best and for trips to be under 100 miles.

 
#23 · (Edited)
Horses and who is riding them are very region, culture and discipline oriented.

In my area of Texas you will see lots of both men and women riding horses. Men are represented by a good bit more in Rodeo and specifically Team Roping which is absolutely huge here and everywhere. The USTRC did an amazing job when it comes to getting lots of amateur level people to show up and compete seriously. Plenty of women rope too of course, overall I would say it is more male dominated.

I think there is also a lot to do with what guys find cool. Ranch Rodeo has a cool factor that other things you can do on a horse don't. Certainly better stories to tell at the bar still wearing your gooseneck spurs than you will get from Western Pleasure.

I'll be the first to say it, sports like Reining are prohibitively expensive to get into competitively and pretty boring to watch unless you are looking at the finalists at a big show. At the non-pro level the sport is mostly women who are doing it almost exclusively just for fun.
 
#24 ·
Women have brain wiring that allows them to listen carefully to two conversations at the same time, or to read a book and listen attentively to a conversation at the same time. Most men can't do this at all or at least not very well.


There's a lot going on when riding a horse that a person needs to be attentive to.



Since horses have segued to more recreational interactions, maybe it's more difficult for men to actually enjoy this activity with so much going on?


Just random early morning mental stuttering.........




Will Rogers Quotes

62 of 71

A man that don't love a Horse, there is something the matter with him. If he has no sympathy for the man that does love Horses, then there is something worse the matter with him.
 
#27 ·
If a man or a woman tells me that he/she doesn't like animals or hate horses they can go to the moon and back. If you don't love animals we will never be able to become partners or even friends. There is something inherent to people that really love animals, understand them and care for them. People that don't or only 'use them' are so blind and devoid that they don't even see or understand the parts of interaction they are missing.
 
#34 ·
#35 ·
As someone is in a grey area concerning gender, there's a lot of things said in this thread that are beyond dated, tribal/ animalistic thinking. We are an intelligent species able to break through typical roles seen rigidly in other animals. All to say things are not black and white and are different depending on geography (also in general).
We can debate this till we're old. So i'll not comment on those parts.

Anyway, in my experience females do not dominate the horse world but you're most likely to encounter them at show barns and typically english riding disciplines.

Somewhat related.. As far as greater access to horses..idk they're still a luxury and out of reach for most to even think about continuous lessons. Especially where I live, it's very ripe with show barns.
 
#36 ·
FWIW:

...From my hike with my youngest [daughter] on 1 January in Saguaro National Park (East) - the Rincon Mountains:


First time I remember seeing flowing water there, so I guess all the rain is having an effect. We parked just off the road, walked back to the trailhead, then went on a trail we had never been on. Rocky but it got us here:




We pretty much had things to ourselves once we were over 1/4 mile from pavement. But while we were enjoying the stream, a lady rode up. Solo. Based on the old women in our church, I'd guess her age in the upper 70s. She explained she couldn't find anyone to ride with but that her horse was a little nervous.

I admitted Bandit had just been getting good at going out alone when life interfered and that I expected to start him all over again.

"Oh yes" she said. "I restart this fellow about twice a year. He's gaited, and when he gets nervous, he gaits. So I tell him 'This gaiting is fun! We can do this all day!' Then he decides it is too much work, so I tell him, 'Walking saves energy. You must be very smart!' Then he gets nervous, starts gaiting, and I tell him, 'Oh, this is SO much fun! How long shall we do it?' But yes, I'll just get him really good going out alone and then...life...gets in the way of my riding. Bummer!"

We talked horses for a while, of course. I admire the heck out of her. Late 70s [My best guess]. Alone. Somewhat nervous horse. Lots of rocks. Out away from where anyone could find her. But happy to be out with her horse and not willing to stay in the arena where her friends feel safe to ride...That is the kind of rider I hope to become!...
This 60+ male sees no value in male versus female & riding or much of anything else. I suppose we could debate mare vs gelding. I prefer mares but admire my gelding so...:shrug:
 
#41 ·
This thread is confusing me. I'm not sure what the point is? Is OP feeling disgruntled because from his perception there are too many women riding horses in present day? Where as, (from his point of view), they should be at home doing domestic work?

And the comment about Man being King?? I don't see how this is relevant. At all.

At any rate, in my area I do see more women riding. But I'm sure if I expanded my circle it would be different. I take lessons and there isn't a single male that takes lessons at this barn. I have my own opinions on why this is and they are as follows: Women are more willing to try something they either haven't had the opportunity to, or had to give up. Women are more willing to be open minded about learning different things, and are more willing to take advise from others.

This is merely a generalization, but most of the men in my life will not go outside of their comfort zone. And they definitely do not like being told what to do. In fact, many of them I could never imagine taking lessons b/c they just wouldn't have the ability to listen to an instructor.

Now, this is just my generalization based on where I live and my current situation. I know it is not fair to paint everyone with one brush.

I think in a lot of cases, men considered the horse a tool to get a job done. Now that the horse is not necessarily needed (as in for transportation, war, farming), then what is the point?

Just my 2 cents.
 
#43 ·
cbar;1970814991 I think in a lot of cases said:
One of the livliest conversations I ever participated in was during a spring work with nine ranches involved.

All raised and/or trained and competed with their horses. The horses were an additional source of income.

The question was: Do you have horses because you have cattle? Or, do you have cattle to have something to do with the horses?

It was a great debate! With no conclusion. :)

Oh... Of the twenty-some of us, there was only myself and two other women. And we weren't the cooks. lol
 
#44 ·
PS. LOL when my husband asked our Threatening Friend if Roper Friend's horse is a good roping horse, our Threatening Friend without pause or missing a beat said: Nah. *shook his head*....but you don't run down a man's horse.
 
#45 ·
I'm a bit confused as well, but I'll have a go!

It’s generalising to say that horses were almost exclusively male dominated, while women sat at home looking after the family.

Most hunter-gatherer societies were nomadic, when the food supply was exhausted, they moved on as a group. Women would’ve used whatever means of transport was available to them, including riding.

These societies were generally more equal, with some women holding great status. It wasn’t until the advent of agriculture and settlements that the balance of power shifted away from women to men. Resources had to be defended and expanded, which required muscle power.

While horses would’ve been an important weapon and status symbol for these warriors, not all of them were male. The female warriors of the Eurasian Steppes, c450 BC, rode into battle on horses.

The remains of a young female Siberian warrior was unearthed in the Altai Mountains; she was buried with nine horses, c500 BC. They rode until they married and afterwards, only if they were required to travel.

There’s a Graeco-Persian relief from Bithynia, showing a procession of men and women on horses, c 500 AD.

Or, the female polo players of the T’ang Dynasty, China, often depicted in ceramic statues. Granted, riding horses was limited to a short period in the middle of the Dynasty and they only played against approved teams.

There’s the Hilton of Cadboll, Pictish slab in Easter Ross, Scotland, showing a lady riding side-saddle, c 800 AD

Two Viking women, one younger than the other, buried with thirteen horses and a wagon, c 800 AD. No weapons were found with the other artefacts. It suggests that horses were an important part of their lives.

The Middle Ages changed women’s roles. Riding with long skirts was easier if you sat sidesaddle, and it was seen as a way to protect women’s modesty. While it made many ‘passengers’ on their horses, other women took control whether it was astride or sidesaddle.

Females were numbered among them, riding horseback in the manner of men, not on coverlets sidesaddle but unashamedly astride, and bearing lances and weapons as men do; dressed in masculine garb’ Annals of Nicetas Choniates, 1150-1213

I wonder how men are so presumptuous to think they can ride as horse-men, because they can ride forward from Barnet to London, which everybody can do; and I have seen women ride astride as well as they’ A New Method and Extraordinary Invention to dress Horses, And work them according to Nature, 1657

‘Perhaps the greatest change that has come over the hunting field in my time is the enormous increase of lady riders … the number of ladies must have doubled’ Times 1908

Or the hundreds of women who did their bit in the Land Army during the First World War. They replaced all of the male grooms in yards and looked after the horses going to war.

There are three large remount Depots, under the War Office, which are unique in this, that for the first time in the history of the British Army, not one man is on any of the staff, and that all the work of attending to the horses is being done by gentlewomen.” Time 1915

They showed that they could do the work and laid the foundation for future competitive riders.

Not forgetting the women in the Land Army who worked with the half-a-million farm horses during the Second World War.

Horses were never exclusively male. Just like men, women had to travel and go to war in one form or another.

I agree with others that men and some women may have seen them as a tool though. Now horses have been replaced by cars and trucks as the best form of transport, which men seem to find more interesting.

Horse riding is almost considered a girls' sport in my area. The majority of riders and horse lovers i know are female. Even when i was learning, the student instructors and grooms were mostly female.

I'd say that most men have moved on to other, faster, interests and women are free to ride when and how we want.
 
#46 · (Edited)
I have had all my history of horses and transportation lessons from textbooks, novels, TV and Hollywood. The women of the American frontier were largely prostitutes. This is what cowboy pictures often show. Kim Darby was a fly in the ointment but she couldn't fire a gun to save her own soul. My treatise thread is more about the thousands of years of transportation development and the use of man of horses. Women have had limited involvement with horses and most other transportation over thousands of years. The 20th century brought in women's voting as that was in itself revolutionary at the time. My human geography teacher in college taught us that the advent of agriculture to the human species was to the delight of women. It meant women for the first time in human history could settle down and stay in a home community. Women hated a nomadic life as in hunter-gatherer societies and transhumance/livestock herding cultures which were harsh and devoid of comforts.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top