How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I can ride on the other [saddle]: trust me." (2.31)
When tasked with the responsibility of riding a horse to the nearby mill, Bathsheba decides to ride her horse like a man, with one leg dangling down each side of the animal. This would have been a scandalous thing to do during Hardy's time, since riding this way was seen as a twisted way for women to get sexual pleasure. Hey, don't look at us. That's what people thought back then. We're not the perverts—the pervert is Victorian society as a whole.
Quote #2
Recollection of the strange antics she had indulged in when passing through the trees, was succeeded in the girl by a nettled palpitation, and that by a hot face. (3.24)
When she realizes that Gabriel Oak has watched her doing some of her strange, manly riding tricks, Bathsheba becomes flushed with embarrassment. It's not so much that someone saw her, but the fact that someone was watching without her knowing it that bothers her so much. And can we blame her?
Quote #3
"How soft [your hand] is—being winter-time, too—not chapped or rough or anything!" (3.62)
Gabriel has seen Bathsheba do some pretty manly things. That's why he tries to reassure himself of her femininity when he takes her hand and compliments how smooth its skin is, especially for the wintertime.