Alice M. Hayes

Born Alice Mary Pyett and later known as Alice M. Hayes, she was a British horse trainer and riding expert active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is most closely associated with The Horsewoman, a practical guide to side-saddle riding that helped establish her reputation as a knowledgeable and confident voice on horsemanship.

Sources from her published work and reference entries describe her as an accomplished, well-traveled rider with experience handling difficult horses. She became especially notable for writing about riding for women in a direct, usable way rather than as a matter of fashion alone, and she is often remembered as part of the wider history of women’s equestrian sport.

She died in January 1913. Although some biographical details vary between sources, her surviving books and the portrait reproduced with The Horsewoman leave a strong impression of a skilled horsewoman who turned practical experience into guidance that outlived her.