Saddle the Pony

Ryan's Mammoth Collection, published in Boston in 1883, printed this jig as "Rough Diamond," and related untitled jigs appear in Irish collections from the 1870s and 1880s. Its first part is shared with "Down with the Tithes" and "The Widow Well Married." English dance players know it as "The Red Stocking."

In some parts of Ireland it is one of the first jigs a learner is taught. Boston accordion players Jerry O'Brien and Joe Derrane played it, and for a time it was a favorite of New England contra dance bands. In mid-century New York it was used for the dance called the Haymakers' Jig.