Japan, Horses, and Women during the Late Tokugawa/Meiji Restoration?

Question

This question deals with the Bakumatsu era. Firstly, regarding horses, what exactly were the laws or customs regarding who could ride horses?

I've heard that only samurai could. If so, could women of the samurai class ride, or only men?

Thirdly, how anachronistic would it be to depict a samurai woman riding a horse in 1858?

Some of the plot of the story I am writing hinges upon a Samurai woman riding a horse, who meets a smith that shoes said horse. Would it be worth rewriting the whole thing, (re-editing whole characters) to depict it 'accurately' or am I just nitpicking?

Answer 1

It's not a problem to have a woman riding in that era. For a samurai woman, riding would be as normal a skill as naginatado or kyudo.