If you’ve lived in the Wilton-Lyndeborough area long enough, you know whenever there’s a parade you’ll most likely see Rhonda Watts-Hettinger participating with the Lafayette Artillery, seated on her grandfather’s cavalry saddle while dressed in appropriate military garb.

What’s different is that she may not be seated in the manner you anticipate. Most likely, she’ll be riding sidesaddle. This skill has made her a distinctive and requested participant in local, national and even international events, including five presidential inaugurations and three Kentucky Derby parades. She also has the distinction of being the first to use a sidesaddle in New England 4-H competitions and the only non-Brit to qualify for the 4-Way Rider of the Year Ride-Off.

I joined Rhonda in her Wilton farm barn, where she was tending the three horses that are successors to this distinctive, award-winning team. Two, Draco and Brother, are mere youngsters at 2 and 7 years old, while Charm is in his 20s.

When I met them, they had just come in from time in the sun. Draco is a replacement in manner and talent for Isaac, who was Rhonda’s constant companion, but he is still a work in progress, soon to be saddled and ridden. Brother is Isaac’s great-nephew and shares many of his looks, while Charm is her current hunt horse.

As we talked, the conversation naturally migrated to Rhonda’s first memories of being around horses or on horseback. She said, “I think horses were built into my genes. My grandfather’s spurs and cavalry saddle are in my tack room and I still use that saddle for special events, and the spurs on a daily basis. I was told my grandmother could ‘drive anything with legs’ and my grandfather was no slouch on a horse. Even further back, my great-grandfather got his first horse when he helped one with a broken leg survive and he was promised that horse if it lived.”

She continued, “My parents always had horses to do the work on our farm in Hollis, where we lived at that time. Our first saddle horse arrived just about the same time I was born. He became my brother’s horse. A family story explaining it all begins with me being attached by my sun suit to the porch while my mother went inside to check on something. When she returned, she found my sun suit still attached to the porch, but I was happily playing beneath the feet of Diamond, my brother’s horse. As soon as I could sit up straight, I was on a horse. I cried for my turn, and that was it. I knew where I belonged.”

“We moved to Wilton when I was 2 1/2. I started riding on English saddles, but I had a Shetland pony with a western saddle that I rode from age 7 until 14. As I grew I needed to tuck my feet beneath his belly.”

When I asked Rhonda how she began riding sidesaddle, she explained that it was all because of 4-H show that featured costumed riders. She and her mother settled on the theme “Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross,” featuring a sidesaddle rider.

She added, “I wore my grandmother’s wedding dress and tried to portray sidesaddle by hooking my knee over the saddle horn. Then my parents found a sidesaddle and a book on sidesaddle riding, so I decided to try it on my pony. By the time I was 16, my parents purchased a slightly larger mare whose behavior issues were calmed by the sidesaddle. I became the first to use sidesaddle in New England 4-H riding competitions.”

To my question about where this has all taken her professionally, she replied, “I’ve taught sidesaddle since the early 1980s after passing my U.S. exams as an instructor. Then in late 1996 or early 1997, Roger Philpot, a renowned English instructor, came to the U.S. to teach and give exams. He suggested that I come to England to compete. I ended up as the only overseas rider who has ever qualified to compete in the Rider of the Year Ride-Off winning the equitation jumping competition. Over a course of several years, I received my British teaching and judging credentials and passed riding exams to show that I could do what I taught.”

“One of my most interesting experiences was trying to teach a group of non-English-speaking Japanese ladies how to ride sidesaddle. My only instruction from Roger was ‘just make sure they have a good time.’ By the time our lessons ended, I was assured I had succeeded.”

Rhonda belongs to several sidesaddle organizations, in particular the American Sidesaddle Association, which has local clubs throughout North America. It’s through this and other organizations to which she belongs, that she receives the invitations to participate in national and international events.

Since I most often see Rhonda at events that feature the Lyndeborough Lafayette Artillery, I asked how her participation as a female sidesaddle rider, fits the mold.

Laughing, she replied, “We created a bit of fictional theater. There never was a ‘daughter of the regiment,’ but we now have one. If I need to be in male persona, I wear appropriate garb and hold the rank of a private.”

The Portsmouth Christmas Parade is the furthest she usually travels, aside from inaugural parades in Washington, D.C., the Kentucky Derby Parade and international competitions.

In 2011 and 2012, she served as a mounted cross-country steward for an international three-day hunt event in Kentucky. What she likes about doing this is that without competing, you act as a surrogate for the competitors that allows the members of the crowd to have horse-related mementos. She offered, “I was the first cross-country steward to go sidesaddle in formal hunting attire. We ended up in a lot of photos.”

Finally, I must add, that formal hunting attire for Rhonda is not just for show. She is a member of the Old North Bridge Hounds Hunt Club, where she used to hunt sidesaddle until a bad knee began to act up, but she still helps control the hounds.

When not riding or teaching, Rhonda has kept herself busy authoring two books on the sidesaddle, “The Western Sidesaddle” and “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Sidesaddle.” You can find copies in the Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library. The reason she wrote these books is that most books on sidesaddle riding are based upon European models, and there are distinct differences in the American sidesaddle. She has two more in the works that should fill just about every remaining niche on the topic.