Lady Riders

The Lady Riders
The lady rider was produced in many designs and variations. The regular size was made with a composition head, carved head, bisque head, and one-part composition head. Blouses are usually green but are sometimes found in purple.
Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Judith Lile Early composition Head The earliest Lady Rider's head was made from a molded composition material. The entire head was made from a material similar to that used for the faces of the two-part head clowns and hobos. These are exceptionally rare. This head is similar to one used on a Schoenhut Rolly Dolly. Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Andy Yaffee	Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Andy Yaffee Early head, no top-knot This Lady Rider's head may have been carved or made from molded composition material. We don't have enough examples to make this determination. Her expression is rather remarkable. The heavy string holding the head to the body is knotted to resemble a top-knot. Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Andy Yaffee	Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Judith Lile Carved head, top-knot The carved head lady rider was introduced very early - probably around 1907. It is, however, rare probably because it was labor intensive to make. The costume was made with a green blouse and pink dress trimmed with gold rickrack. The leggings were painted in either red or blue. Below are photos of the heads of three examples of this Lady Rider design. Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Judith Lile
Photos by Judith Lile from the collection of Judith Lile Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Andy Yaffee These three examples of the carved-head Lady Rider with top-knot show how highly variable the shapes of the heads are. This suggests hand shaping. Most early animals show similar variations due to hand shaping. Notice particularly how different the top-knot shapes are. The construction material may be a composition or, possibly, solid wood. The faces may have been hot pressed. It is easy to speculate that due to the high labor costs and skill levels required to make this design, this Lady Rider became the model for the bisque head.
Photo by Judith Lile Bisque head The bisque head style replaced the two-part head, The costume remained the same. Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Sneed The lady rider performs on a GE white horse.	Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner Bisque heads The bisque head hair always has a top-knot but can be blond, brown, or black. We haven't seen a red-head. Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner	Photo by Judith Lile One-part molded head, top-knot, long neck One-part, composition head lady riders were hand painted so facial expression can vary. These heads were made after WWI interrupted the supply, from Europe, of the bisque heads. The rickrack was changed to a yellow, all cotton, design. Photo by Judith Lile
One-part head, top-knot, thick neck (need photo)	One-part head, no top-knot (need photo)	A Barnum and Bailey poster from ca 1903 Notice that the horse does not have a platform - riders always perform on bare backs or small saddles.
Reduced size, top-knot	Photo by Judith Lile Reduced size, no top-knot Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Norman Coler	Notice that in a real circus, horses did not wear a platform.