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Is it permissible for an Orthodox woman to do horseback riding in an ordinary saddle, or does she have to use a sidesaddle? Furthermore, would she be able to use women's trousers made for horseback riding, or does she need to dress in a skirt?

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    @ba, do we know whether they rode sidesaddle?
    – msh210 ♦
    Oct 28, 2012 at 7:27
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    Maria, orthodox Judaism permits the same things for Orthodox women and for other Jewish women (at least in the vast majority of cases). Is there a particular reason you ask whether standard riding would be permissible for, specifically, an Orthodox woman?
    – msh210 ♦
    Oct 28, 2012 at 7:29
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    @msh210 a non-orthodox woman is not likely to feel that orthodox understanding of the Halachah is binding on her.
    – Seth J
    Oct 28, 2012 at 16:33
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    @SethJ, but the question was whether it's permissible, not whether the woman views it as such.
    – msh210 ♦
    Oct 29, 2012 at 0:33
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    @msh210 Yes, but that depends on whom you ask. If you assume, as many here seem to, that any Halachic discussion must be from the Orthodox perspective, then, sure, it's redundant. But if you don't, it makes sense to specify.
    – Seth J
    Oct 29, 2012 at 1:33

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Rabbi Barry Freundel (rabbi of Kesher Israel in Washington, DC) said in a Q&A that if a woman is doing an activity more modestly done in pants than a skirt, she should wear women's pants. As examples, he mentioned bicycle riding and mountain climbing. He said there no longer exists an issue of beged ish with women wearing pants.

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    This doesn't answer the sidesaddle issue.
    – Seth J
    Oct 28, 2012 at 5:05
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    Should I refrain from answering one because I can't answer the other? One might be able to make a case that riding a horse is no worse than riding a bike, which he explicitly permits.
    – Ze'ev misses Monica
    Oct 28, 2012 at 5:34
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    Wearing pants is not about beged ish, it's about showing the shape of the legs. So the suggestion is either VERY loose pants, or pants with a skirt on top.
    – Ariel
    Oct 28, 2012 at 6:56
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    Too bad my other comment was removed, but this person proved by his own deeds that his rulings, in these subjects especially, should be ignored.
    – user6591
    Jun 21, 2015 at 18:30
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    @Ze'ev this is not a mathematical equation dependant on logic alone. This is a halachic ruling trying to delicately and ethically balance rules of decency that are not written in stone. This is the epitome of a ruling that depends on the validity of the source.
    – user6591
    Aug 27, 2015 at 17:41
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Rav Avigdor Nevenzahl in Hanhagos uMinhagim 16 writes there is an inyan for a woman to refrain from riding a horse because of a proof from Rashi (Pesachim daf 3a Rashi Ki Amar) by a woman its written "או על הכלי אשר היא יושבת" since it is not appropriate to mention riding or pisuk reglaim regarding a woman. For this reason it is assur for women to wear pants because of pisuk reglayim aside from other issurim.

It seems riding a horse should not be done,but pants are assur,that's how I understood it,see it inside.

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  • How is pants pisuk raglayim if she is standing? I understand if she is squatting with her legs apart (as she would be if on a horse) then it's pissuk raglayim. But pants by itself isn't.
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 20, 2014 at 2:26
  • I would assume it means the outline is already pisuk reglayim,I do hear the question,but I can see how pants shows the outline too
    – sam
    Jun 20, 2014 at 2:28
  • I don't know why one say that. Legs together aren't split...
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 20, 2014 at 2:29
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    But you do understand when one walks in,pants each leg is shown separated as opposed to a skirt or cloak of some sort
    – sam
    Jun 20, 2014 at 2:31
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    Perhaps I'm ignorant, but I am unaware of sources before recent times that interpreted the gemara in P'sachim as forbidding wearing pants. Nor am I aware of any non-recent sources (i.e. prior to late Acharonim) who mention this notion of pisuk raglayim (in the manner popularly interpreted by the hamon am in our day) beyond saying that it's indelicate to speak explicitly about a woman riding astride when it is unnecessary.
    – Fred
    Jun 22, 2014 at 5:56
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In describing his stay in the city of Messina, R. Ovadia of Bartenura writes as follows:

וראיתי בחופה שנעשתה בהיותי שמה שהוציאו את הכלה אחרי ברכו שבע ברכות והרכיבוה על הסוס ברחוב העיר וכל הקהל עוברים לפני' ברגליהם והחתן באמצע הזקנים ולפני הכלה אשר היא לבדה על הסוס

At a wedding which took pace near my residence I witnessed the following ceremony. After the seven blessings had been repeated, the bride was placed on a horse and rode through the town. The whole community went before her on foot, the bridegroom in the midst of the elders and before the bride, who was the only one on horseback;

(Neubauer translation)

While not explicitly saying that horseback riding is permitted, he is describing what was evidently an established custom, and he makes no objection nor mention of anyone else objecting on the grounds that women are prohibited from riding on a horse.

(Of course, there may be other details to this incident that we are not privy too.)

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Very loose pants are not allowed: First, because many of them are not tznius; and second, poskim don't allow even the ones that are tznius because it would be opening a can of worms/germs etc...

Women are not allowed to horseback ride in front of men regardless, because it's not tznius. Gemorah Pesachim 3a-b.

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    b"H for cars! Otherwise, apparently women would have to sit at home all day.
    – Double AA ♦
    Jan 13, 2013 at 20:09
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    i am not convinced that that is the meaning of the gemara in Pesachim.
    – josh waxman
    Jan 13, 2013 at 23:48
  • @DoubleAA, how do cars alleviate that problem? theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/women-driving
    – Seth J
    Jun 24, 2013 at 17:44
  • @Seth tell me about it... have you seen Rav vosner's tshuva on it? Shevet halevi 4:1:2 I'm kinda embarrassed to link to it in public
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 24, 2013 at 21:17
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I am Orthodox and I did it in jeans on regular saddle. I don't see a problem in that, neither did the women who taught me how to ride.

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    Were the women who taught you halachik experts? Are you?
    – Double AA ♦
    Jan 25, 2013 at 13:29
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    @Carlita, welcome to mi yodeya, and thanks for sharing your experience! This answer would be more valuable if you could edit in your or your teachers' Halachic rationale, communal traditions, or other source for your and their feelings on the subject. Also, please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Jan 25, 2013 at 14:43
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    Orthodox. I'm not sure that you're using that word the same way many of the users here do.
    – HodofHod
    Jan 28, 2013 at 0:09
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    @DoubleAA Facebook profile from user's website.
    – HodofHod
    Jan 28, 2013 at 5:27
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    @DoubleAA I think that could have been asked less sarcastically.
    – mevaqesh
    Jun 15, 2015 at 22:05

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