The place of women in equestrianism has undergone significant societal evolution. Until the 20th century, in most Eurasian and North African countries, and later in North and South America, the horse was primarily a symbol of military and masculine prowess, associated with men for both warfare and daily labor. In contrast, women in ancient Asian cultures like the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Achaemenids are believed to have practiced horsemanship, unlike the Greco-Roman civilizations. In the Near East and Central Asia, access to horseback riding was restricted, particularly during the Safavid period.
References to women riders and warriors are often rooted in myths, such as the Amazons, or describe exceptions where women were limited to roles like caretakers of horses, as seen with the "Servants of the Horse" in the Bamoun kingdom in the 19th century. In Western Europe, horse riding was largely reserved for the elite, restricting access for women, depending on their social status. Conversely, in Central Asia horses were accessible to all social classes for seasonal migrations. By the end of the Middle Ages, the practice of riding sidesaddle became prevalent in Western Europe, further constraining the autonomy of women riders. The American frontier's expansion brought women from various backgrounds into horseback riding and driving, including notable figures like Calamity Jane, helping to challenge the norm of sidesaddle riding in the West.
Until the early 20th century, horses were primarily used as working animals in Western countries. Over the century, the role of horses expanded into urban and female spheres, leading to their status evolving towards that of pets and a notable increase in female participation in horse riding. Despite this shift, women are still underrepresented at the highest levels of equestrian competition, such as show jumping, due to gender-based labor divisions and a focus on the animal's performance rather than the emotional connection. There are still some equestrian practices with low female participation, such as among South American Gauchos.
However, equestrian culture has increasingly embraced women, reflecting the broader feminization of equestrian activities. From the Anglo-Saxon pony books of the 1920s to contemporary television and film, women have gained a more prominent role. Notable works such as National Velvet (1944), Sarraounia (1986), Mulan (1998), and Sport de filles (2012) feature young girls and warrior riders, showcasing the growing representation of women in equestrian narratives.
Sources and terrain The relationship between women and horses has been addressed by sociologists, ethnologists, and anthropologists, and also by psychoanalysts. Equestrian sports offer a unique perspective for gender studies, as they are the only sporting domain where men and women compete directly against each other in the same events at international and Olympic levels. Since the 1950s, mixed-gender competitions have been a feature in countries that organize show jumping, eventing, and dressage competitions. This has led to the publication of numerous studies throughout the world.
In French scholarship, the primary sociological work addressing the feminization of equestrianism is Catherine Tourre-Malen's thesis and her subsequent book, which focus exclusively on Europe and the West. Émilie Maj calls it a "fine analysis [that] will attract the interest of both audiences, researchers in the humanities, and professionals and enthusiasts of the horse world". For Martine Segalen, the book contributes significantly to the feminization of society and contains fine observations. Catherine Monnot, on the other hand, deplored an initial bias, adding that "the demonstration suffers from a lack that runs through the whole analysis [...] One is led to believe that the author, a horse professional, has so internalized the dominant masculine discourse and values of this milieu, particularly critical of a systematically devalued 'feminine', that she no longer knows how to see and therefore analyze the meanings of the transformations underway". For geographer Sylvie Brunel, this is "a work of synthesis nourished by a long period of theoretical and practical research", but Brunel does not follow Tourre-Malen's conclusion, believing that "it is precisely women's infatuation with equines that have given a new lease of life to an activity that had lost its economic and military usefulness".
History
Women's relationship with horses appears marginally in historical documents.
There are major differences depending on geographical region, social status, and era. The horse's pre-industrial status implies that women, particularly those from the highest social classes, have always had theoretical access to equitation. Catherine Tourre-Malen identifies three stages in the evolution of women's riding in the Western world: from Antiquity to the 16th century, riding was a passive form of transport, requiring no special training or clothing; the generalization of riding sidesaddle went hand in hand with the quest for a graceful attitude; and third, the development of the "third fork" of the sidesaddle, which enabled women to participate in equestrian activities previously considered dangerous, such as jumping.
The feminization of equestrian practices has been observed in every country in the world since the mid-20th century, with varying degrees of intensity. notes that while this trend is well-documented and widely discussed in developed, urbanized countries such as France, Sweden, and the United States, it often overshadows the historical equestrian practices of women in other regions of the world.
Antiquity The earliest evidence of horse domestication is found among the Botai culture in present-day northern Kazakhstan, dating back to between 3,000 and 3,500 BC. From this origin, the practice of domesticating horses and horse riding gradually spread across Eurasia through various cultural interactions.
According to the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, both Greeks and Romans attributed the practice of female horsemanship to foreign queens, such as the Phoenician queen Dido and the legendary Babylonian queen Semiramis.
Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire According to Louis L'Allier, Professor of Classical Hellenistic Studies, Greek women were generally not depicted as riders. As described by Xenophon, Greek society was deeply patriarchal, with the public sphere (including horseback riding) reserved for men, while the private sphere (the home) was the domain of women. The horse, associated with the outer world, thus became a symbol primarily for men. L'Allier notes that in the Symposium, Socrates compares the "training" of his wife to that of a horse. The equestrian metaphor is also used by Xenophon to compare Greek women to horses: "Woman is to man what a mount is to a rider: a useful companion to be tamed and mastered".
Paulette Ghiron-Bistagne from Université Paul-Valéry-Montpellier notes that in Greek mythology, the horse often represents violence and savagery. Aeschines, Dio Chrysostom, and Diodorus Siculus recount a myth where a young woman who lost her virginity before marriage was condemned to be locked in a stable with a horse, which then killed her. Furthermore, centaurs, the mythological creatures that are half-human and half-horse, are depicted as violent towards women. For instance, Eurytos attempts to assault Hippodamia, whose name means "horse tamer", and Nessos tries to rape Deianira, the wife of Heracles.
Scythians and Sarmatians Greek sources describe the nomadic, horse-riding peoples of present-day Kazakhstan, and by extension Central Asia, as Scythians and Sarmatians, established as early as the 6th century BC. Evidence from around 20% of female Sarmatian tombs reveals that these women were involved in horseback riding and warfare, as many tombs contain harnesses and weapons. This suggests that female equitation, including its use in military contexts, was a common practice among them. However, contemporary written sources, heavily influenced by the myth of the Amazons, do not provide a clear picture of the actual practices of female horsemanship.
According to the Hippocratic treatise Des airs, des eaux et des lieux (Of Airs, Waters and Places), Sauromatian (Sarmatian) women were as warlike as men, rode horses, and had their right breast cauterized to transfer the vigor to their right arm. However, again according to this treatise cited by Alain Ballabriga, riding ceases when these women lose their virginity; they only get back on horseback in the event of extreme peril or mass mobilization.
Achaemenid Empire According to Herodotus, horseback riding was a common practice in the Achaemenid Empire, with the horse being the primary mode of transport for the Persian nobility. There is no evidence to suggest that the use of horses was restricted for women. The Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus testifies that the queen of Persia, the king's mother, and courtesans rode horseback alongside the king. The Greek philosopher Heracleids also mentions courtesans accompanying the king on horseback during his hunting activities. By contrast, after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the pre-Islamic empires (Seleucids, Parthians, and Sassanids) were associated with an upheaval of the social order, and subsequently with external insecurity, which probably led women
Middle Ages
In China, under the Tang dynasty, a loss of social status for women coincided with the development of equestrianism, as attested by the archaeological discovery of numerous statuettes of riders. Pre-Islamic Persian literature from the 11th century also contains references to women participating in equestrian activities on an equal footing with men.
During the Western Middle Ages, many guilds accepted widows as members, so that they could continue the work of their deceased husbands. Some women worked in horse-related trades. On farms, women frequently worked alongside men, managing draft horses and oxen as part of their duties.
Despite these difficulties, many Western women traveled long distances on horseback in medieval times. High society wives accompanied their husbands to tournaments. Others took on social or family commitments that led them to travel. Nuns and women of faith made pilgrimages. When not on foot, these women generally traveled on horseback (most often on a palfrey, which was more suitable) or, if weak or ill, in a wagon or litter. Women of the nobility sometimes owned horses with which they accompanied men in activities such as hunting and falconry.
Until the 14th century, most women rode astride, with one leg on each side of the horse. Around the 11th century, a model of saddle with a footrest was invented to allow noblewomen to ride sidesaddle, accommodating elaborate dresses. However, this saddle was not universally adopted during the Middle Ages. Another technique for riding a horse in dress consists of sitting sideways on a heavily padded saddle, with both legs dangling along one of the horse's flanks: this type of riding is known as "en séant", "à la fermière" or "à la planchette".
Several Western women took part in wars on horseback, including Joan of Arc, Empress Matilda (who led an army against her cousin Stephen of England, armed and caparisoned) and Stephen's wife, Mathilde de Boulogne, in the 12th century. Equestrian jousting, on the other hand, was reserved exclusively for men.
Renaissance and modern times