LONDON: HUNTED BY

Si'OTTlSWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE

AND PARLIAMENT STREET

BIBUOTHEEK UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT

C. S. MARCH PHILLIPPS,

AUTHOR OF 'JURISPRUDENCE' ETC.

' Si je n'avais rien a dire de nouveau, je ne prendrais
pas la peine d'ecrire.' Bauciier.

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1869.

The principal object of this little work is
to make the English sportsman acquainted
with the rudiments of M. Baucher's admirable
system of Suppling the Horse.

It is now about thirty-five years since M.
Baucher first laid his theory of equitation be-
fore the French public. Its merits have
been long and keenly discussed upon the Con-
tinent, but I cannot find that it has ever at-
tracted any serious notice in England. An
English pamphlet, containing an outline of its
principles as adapted to the training of cavalry
horses, was indeed published by the late
lamented Captain Nolan in 1853; but it was
not calculated to attract, and certainly did not
receive, much attention from civilian horse-
men.

I have not thought it advisable to translate

any part of M. Baucher's works. Like
many men of original genius, he was far more
successful in discovering truth than in explain-
ing it. His style of disquisition is very pro-
lix, and sometimes not a little obscure ; indeed
there are certain portions of his teaching whose
precise object and connection I frankly ac-
knowledge myself unable to comprehend.
Nor is this all. He perpetually employs that
peculiar tone of philosophical grandiloquence
which is so dear to French writers, and so
utterly intolerable to English readers. I ques-
tion whether there are many of my hunting
acquaintance who would patiently hear them-
selves admonished that the cavesson must be
' sustained with an energetic wrist,' or that
the horse must be prevented from ^c taking
an initiative which might have its dangers.'

But it has occurred to me that I may be
able to do good service by introducing to the
civilian horseman those elementary principles
of M. Baucher's system which Captain Nolan
has judged likely to be useful in the military
riding-school. My own observation has con-

vinced me that they may be made exceedingly
serviceable in the education of ordinary horses,
and that they are entirely unknown to, or
neglected by, ordinary horsemen. I have
therefore endeavoured to explain them in a
simple and straightforward manner, as I find
them laid down by M. Baucher himself; and
I have also stated the opinion which experience
has led me to form of their practical utility or
necessity, in the hope that better judges may
possibly be induced to give them an equally
fair trial.

All Englishmen naturally hate theory; and
perhaps no Englishman hates it so thoroughly
as an English sportsman. The fact is, in my
opinion, highly creditable to the English in-
tellect. Practical men are quite justified in
hating a thing of which, potentially beautiful
and admirable as it may be, they have never
met with any specimen that was not actually
useless or pernicious. And just as English
statesmen despise a theory of government
which practically leads to slavery or to anar-
chy, even so do English horsemen despise a

theory of equitation which practically disables
its professors from riding across country.
Your conclusions, we say, may be true in
theory, but they are false in practice; and
this familiar platitude is by no means so ab-
surd as it sounds. Its real meaning is : We
do not think it worth while to prove by argu-
ment that your theory is false, because experi-
ment has convinced us that it cannot possibly
be true.

But I do not observe that, when English-
men have once perceived the practical value
of a theory, they are either incapable or im-
patient of the abstract reasoning necessary to
explain its principles. The kind of theory
which we despise is that which is founded
upon ingenious assumption unverified by ex-
periment. Experiment is therefore our first
demand. Show us your results, we say, and
if we like them we will try to understand
your demonstration. And how faithfully we
in this respect keep our word, nobody who
has ever been intimate with an enthusiastic
rifleman or yachtsman requires to be reminded.

I persuade myself that M. Baucher's system
is one which will stand this test. The simple
and obvious method of manipulation by which
it imparts lightness and elasticity to the dull,
or calmness and docility to the fretful horse,
can be tried without the slightest difficulty
by any practised horseman; nor do I believe
that any practised horseman who fairly tries
it will deny its efficiency. That I neither
profess to be an accomplished master of its
resources, nor an implicit believer in the
magical properties which some of its admirers
ascribe to it, will appear hereafter. But I am
convinced that its elementary lessons may be
employed with perfect ease, and with most
satisfactory effect, by. any man who has an
awkward hack which he wishes to make a
clever one.

I have however, in the present work,
attempted something more than this. I
must confess that I have never seen any
book upon horsemanship which I thought
likely to be useful to a beginner. The old
treatises on manege-riding, being founded on

a false theory, are of course wholly out of
the question. The modern English manuals,
though far more rational and correct, have all
one great deficiency. They are invariably
written by men who have evidently been
practised horsemen from their childhood.
How can such a man realize the difficulties
of a novice ? He tells us what we ought to
do ; but if we were to suggest that we cannot
do it, he would listen as if we were complain-
ing that we cannot help stammering or squint-
ing. It is very singular and very unfortunate;
he cannot account for it; he has been per-
forming these manoeuvres all his life, and
never found them puzzling or difficult.

Now I am well aware that most of these
gentlemen know much more of good riding
than I do, but I flatter myself that I know
more of bad riding than they do. Circum-
stances induced me, when in the prime of
life, to take pains enough to become a fair
mechanical horseman; and the difficulties of
the achievement are therefore fresh and vivid
in my memory. The method which I have

found most effectual for the purpose is a
simple adaptation of the system which M.
Baucher applies to the education of the horse.
In other words, it consists in learning one
thing at a time. This method I have taken
the present opportunity briefly to explain.
It is, I need scarcely remark, exclusively in-
tended for the use of inexperienced horsemen.
It cannot change a good rider into a first-rate
one ; but I believe that, if perseveringly and
intelligently practised, it will enable a bad
rider to become a tolerable one.

One word more. The present work is a
treatise upon mechanical equitation, and upon
that alone. Upon the mystery of riding
races, or of riding to hounds, I have not a
word to say. ' Riding across country,' said
the renowned Meynell, ^c requires three things
�head, heart, and hand'; in other words,
judgment, courage, and horsemanship. Mere
mechanical horsemanship�that is to say, the
mere knack of making your horse do what
you please�is therefore far from sufficient
to distinguish you in the field. It will not

teach you what to make him do, nor prevent
you from being afraid to make him do what
is required. Now mere horsemanship, and a
comparatively humble degree of mere horse-
manship, is all that I can show you how to
acquire. The higher qualities of the English
sportsman must be learnt, if they can be
learnt at all, from teachers more experienced
in their practice than I can pretend to be.

February 16, 1869.

Introduction ....... v

1. Position on Horseback ..... 6

2. Fixing the Legs . . . . . .12

3. Suppling the Waist . . . . . .18

4. Riding with Stirrups . . . , -23

i. Riding on the Snaffle . . . . -35

2. Riding on the Curb. . . . , . 41

i. Working in Line ...... 52

2. Working Sideways ...... 56

1. Sitting a Restive Horse . . . . .66

2. Managing a Restive Horse . . . . 72

BREAKING THE HORSE . . -7%

1. Balancing the Horse ..... 89

2. Bending the Horse ...... 96

3. Additional Remarks . . . . .104

FINISHING THE HORSE.

1. Finishing the Hunter . . . . ,112

2. Finishing the Charger . . . . . 117

Conclusion . . . . . . .124

Upon no subject has more consummate non-
sense been talked or written than upon the
best method of acquiring a good seat on horse-
back. In fact, the highest authorities have
fairly renounced the task of suggesting any
method at all, and seem to hold that horse-
manship, like reading and writing in the opinion
of Master Dogberry, comes by nature. The
once celebrated Nimrod pronounces that no
man whose thighs are round, or whose calves
are large, can ever ride well; and a far better
judge, the clever writer who signs himself
^c Harry Hieover,' has indorsed the vulgar
opinion, that no man can become a horseman
who has not been used to riding from his

childhood. It is quite time that these pre-
judices, so derogatory to the science of
equestrian and to the spirit and intelligence
of pedestrian Englishmen, should be resolutely
protested against.

It is undoubtedly true that not one man in
a hundred ever does learn to ride well, unless
he has ridden early in life. But why is this ?
Simply because full-grown men seldom acquire
new tastes in amusement, and therefore do not
care to ride well when they have not been ac-
customed to ride at all. It does not follow
that they could not learn to ride, if good
riding were necessary to their safety or conve-
nience. Indeed the reverse is the fact. We
are told that shopmen and mechanics, when
settled upon an Australian or Californian
cattle-farm, soon learn to imitate the gymnas-
tic feats of the stockmen or vaqueros around
them; and we know that if a hundred clerks
or apprentices are enlisted in a dragoon regi-
ment, ninety-nine of them will in six months
sit their horses quite as firmly as an ordinary
groom or postboy.

This, however, is understating our case.
Horsemanship is in these instances acquired

by mere mechanical practice or by an unsci-
entific system of teaching which is very Jittie
better. What will be the consequence if a
grown man, being anxious to become a horse-
man, can be shown how to use, not only his
limbs and muscles, but his reason and memory
for the purpose ? I answer that in a month
he will be perfectly easy upon an ordinary
horse, and that in three months he will possess
as perfect a seat as his natural aptitude for
riding would have permitted him to acquire
if he had passed his whole life in the saddle.

How, it may be asked, is this to be done ?
I answer, simply by attending to one thing
at a time. You want to learn how to sit a
horse. Very good; then put aside for the
present all anxiety about managing and guid-
ing him. Your present business is, wherever
he may go and whatever he may do, to con-
tinue steady upon his back. Therefore leave
it to some one else to take care that he goes
where he ought and does nothing which he
ought not. You are at present in the situa-
tion of a landsman going to sea, and must not
think about steering until you have got your
sea legs.

You have only to take a lesson in an ordi-
nary riding-school to learn how necessary this
advice unfortunately is. Your instructor first
screws you by main force into what is to you
a most unnatural position, and next gives you
certain instructions which you cannot under-
stand. In this state of bodily and mental
discomfiture you walk twice or thrice round
the school, and then your troubles begin.
^c Trot. Steady, Mr. So-and-so. Keep him in
hand. Guide him into the corners. Don't let
him canter. A little faster. Press him with
the legs. Touch him with the whip. Too fast.
Pull him up. Halt�halt�halt! Never
mind, Sir; mount him again�you will soon
catch the knack of it.' And so no doubt
you would, if you were allowed to catch one
knack at a time ; but half-a-dozen simulta-
neous catches are too much for human dex-
terity.

Take the advice of an old sportsman.
Single out your bird, and bring it down. Let
the rest of the covey fly�you shall have a fair
shot at each in its turn, before you have
done with them. Get a docile old horse,
with a well-made saddle; and choose as your

assistant a groom who has his wits about him,
but over whom you have complete authority.
Have your mount led into a field or paddock,
if you have not access to a riding-house; and
there, forgetting all other cares and consider-
ations whatever, fix your whole attention upon
the single object of keeping steadily and com-
fortably astride upon your saddle.

I say keeping astride your saddle, because
I intend to Jet you get into it and out of it as
you can. You are probably acquainted with
the ordinary method of mounting and dis-
mounting ; and if you are not, you can easily
find it out for yourself. The only advice
I have to give you is to acquire the habit
of getting on and off your horse as smoothJy
and quietly as possible. I ought, however, to
mention, that M. Baucher recommends the
horseman to seize the -pommel of the saddle
before he springs from the ground, instead of
laying his hand upon the cantle and shifting
his grasp as he throws his leg over. The
suggestion, so far as I can venture to judge
of it by my own experience, is one of litrie
importance.

i. Position on Horseback. � As the art of
riding is divisible into the art of sitting your
horse and the art of controlling him, so the
art of sitting your horse is subdivisible into the
art of taking your seat and the art of keeping
it. Begin by finding out the safest and firmest
position which the human frame can assume
upon horseback. Place yourself in this posi-
tion, and exercise yourself until it has become
perfectly comfortable and familiar to your body
and limbs. Persevere in quitting and renew-
ing it until you drop into it as naturally as
into an easy chair. When you have done this,
you may proceed to enquire how you can
best prevent the position thus acquired from
being disturbed by the movements of the
horse.

It is commonly said that the best and firm-
est position on horseback is the most natural;
and this is in one sense perfectly true. But
the word natural is often loosely used, and
therefore easily misunderstood. The best and
firmest position on horseback is undoubtedly
that which is natural to the human frame
when in its proper state, and therefore that
which ought to be natural to every human

being. But we know too well that the frame
of an ordinary human being is by no means
in its proper state, and will often be unplea-
santly strained and wearied by a position which
would be perfectly natural to a well-trained
athlete. And it is therefore probable that an
ordinary human being may require some in-
struction before he can assume, and some
gymnastic discipline before he can with com-
fort retain, the position on horseback which
experience shows to be the most secure, and
which an accomplished horseman would no
doubt pronounce to be the most natural.

The position on horseback recommended
by experience may be described as follows.
The horseman's fork�that is to say, the space
between his thighs�must rest upon the centre
of the saddle, and support the full weight of
his body. The necessary consequences will
be, that the flat or inner surface of his thighs
will lie along the saddle-flaps, that his spine
will be hollow or concave at the waist, that
his chest will expand itself, that his shoulders
will fall back, and that his head will stand
erect upon his neck. The arms and hands,
in the absence of reins, and the legs and feet,

in the absence of stirrups, may be suffered to
hang down in the postures assigned by their
weight.

Now this position may be perfectly natural
to a strong well-made young man, thoroughly
inured to athletic exercise ; but it will prove
exceedingly irksome to a middle-aged gentle-
man of sedentary habits, long accustomed to
divide his existence between lying in a bed,
stooping over a desk, lounging in a chair, and
plodding along a pavement. The position
which such a person will find the most easy
and comfortable, when first placed on horse-
back, will be very different from that just de-
scribed. He will probably rest his weight
upon his seat behind the thighs, with his back
curved, his shoulders drooping forward, his
knees elevated, and his feet advanced. And,
if induced by his instructor to assume a better
attitude, he will go home with his spine and
thigh-joints aching as if dislocated, and with
his mouth full of indignation at the pedantry
which forbids him to use his limbs and mus-
cles in the manner designed by Providence.

The mistake made by such a pupil is easily
explained. He objects to the position on

■�~~■"■■'■■ "~~...~~m.-~~.,. ~~,.,,.,~~ ~~jumimtf'-~~' . ~~.mm~~ �------------------------------------■---------■■�-

horseback which he is required to assume, be-
cause, whatever may be its other advantages,
it is painful and fatiguing. How can he
possibly tell at present whether it is necessarily
fatiguing or not ? He has all his life been
standing and walking with his backbone con-
vex and rigid, and it is no wonder that he now
feels uneasy when it becomes concave and
supple. If he had been hopping all his life
upon one leg, he would have felt uneasy when
he began to stand or walk upon two. Before
he can judge whether the upright or the stoop-
ing position on horseback is really the easiest�
that is to say, which of the two is capable of
being longest maintained without fatigue�
he must first become equally familiar with
both.

This may, to a considerable extent, be ef-
fected on foot. Begin by using the ordinary
gymnastic means for suppling the shoulders
and loins. Stand erect; and work the hips
laterally at every possible angle, permitting
the bust to fall loosely in whatever direction
its weight may draw it. Stretch and exercise
the muscles of the chest and shoulders by
using the clubs or dumb-bells, or by practising

the military extension-motions. In a very few
days you will find, if you are in tolerable
health and strength to begin with, that you
naturally stand and walk with your waist drop-
ping in and your bust expanded. Then get
on horseback again. You will immediately
become aware that you have taken a consi-
derable step in advance. The flexure of the
loins which is necessary to combine the proper
positions of the fork and bust, is no longer irk-
some. In other words, you have no longer
any physical uneasiness in sitting your horse
as you ought.

But, above all things, do not permit your-
self to shirk this preliminary difficulty. Be
assured that it is a difficulty, and that it must
be fairly faced and conquered. The fork
home on the saddle, and the bust poised upon
the fork, are the indispensable conditions of a
good seat on horseback ; and they cannot be
united without hollowing the waist to a degree
which most men will find at first exceedingly
tiresome. Work patiently on until it ceases to
be so. You will be well rewarded for your
trouble. It is this position, correctly taken
and skilfully kept, which gives fine riders that

peculiar air commonly described as forming
part of the horse. They may, from careless-
ness or affectation, have ungraceful peculiari-
ties ; but the poise of their bodies is always
perfect. In fact nothing is more curious than
to watch how the trunk of a skilful but
slovenly horseman appears to grow out of his
horse's back, while his legs are working and
swaying like mere appendages.

Look, for instance, at Leech's admirable
caricature, in Mr. Sponge's Tour, of Lord
Scamperdale riding over to dine at Jawley-
ford Court. The noble lord is represented
as a square, thickset, ungainly man, dressed
in a style of flashy vulgarity; and nothing
can be more grotesque than the jockey-like
affectation with which he is lowering and
spreading his hands, or than the pseudo-mili-
tary affectation with which he is stretching
down his short legs, and cocking up his large
feet. But all these absurdities are forgotten
at once, when we observe the commanding
ease with which his body is planted in the
saddle. The great artist knew better than to
trifle with that part of his hero. The horse,
a remarkably clever white galloway, is striding

away at a slashing hand-gallop ; and the rider
carries his bust and head like an ugly, vulgar
centaur. Lord Scamperdale is certainly an
ill-dressed and ill-looking man, but there is no
mistake about his being a consummate horse-
man.

You now know how to sit properly in
your saddle, and are beginning to feel tolerably
comfortable while doing so. Next learn to
resume your seat quickly and naturally when-
ever it is disturbed. Have your horse led
about at a walk. Throw yourself into every
irregular attitude you can think of. Swing
your body backwards and forwards, shift
your seat from side to side, sway and stretch
your thighs and legs ; and return, after every
change of posture, to your original position.
When you can do this with a single, quick,
smooth, easy movement, you know how to
take a good seat on horseback. All that
remains is to find out the best way of
keeping it.

1. Fixing the Legs___There are good

judges who maintain that the art of keeping
your seat on horseback is simply the art of

balancing your body according to the move-
ments of the horse. This, however, is not
my opinion. I acknowledge that there are
horsemen who, by the help of a perfect balance
and a perfect hand, can ride almost any horse
with almost perfect safety. They can do this
because their exquisite tact enables them to
foresee any movement which the horse can
make, and to prevent or follow any move-
ment which they can foresee. But few men can
acquire such skill as this, and even those who
possess it may occasionally be caught off
their guard. I therefore advise the equestrian
novice to take some pains for the purpose of
acquiring a kind of seat which will enable
him to resist such shocks as he may be un-
able to foresee.

The celebrated Assheton Smith is said to
have been a horseman of this kind. He is
described as galloping across country, his
body perfectly poised, and his legs flapping
loose with his horse's stride. The conse-
quence was, that a blunder at a fence was
pretty sure to throw him from his saddle, and
that, when taken unawares, he was sometimes
unhorsed by a start or a plunge. It is true

that, to a man of his hardihood and agility,
such accidents were jokes. He was never
hurt, he never lost his horse, and he always
escaped the only danger for which he cared a
farthing�that of being crushed or kicked on
the ground. ' A fall,' he used to say, ^c is
nothing to me; it is you fellows with the
sticky breeches that get nipped under your
horses.' But it is not every man who can
contemplate with so much philosophy a flight
over the head of a sixteen-hands hunter.

If you wish to keep your seat in an unex-
pected shock, you have only one course to
pursue. You must acquire the knack of
firmly grasping your saddle with your legs.
Nothing else will do. A good horseman can
no doubt, when he knows what his horse is
going to do, place himself in an attitude which
will preserve him from receiving any shock
from the movement. But this attitude will
not always be the same. There is no one
attitude in which you can, without the aid of
force, be prepared for whatever irregular
movement your horse may choose to make.
You must therefore learn, in order to be secure
on horseback, either to employ the aid of force,

or to foresee all your horse's movements ; and
the former alternative, I need scarcely add, is
much the easier of the two.

What, then, ought to be your first step ?
Look at a cookmaid skinning eels. She knows
that the strongest man in England could not
effectually grasp an eel with a slippery hand,
and therefore she commences operations by
carefully sanding her fingers. You know, or
if you choose to try you will soon find out,
that the strongest pair of legs cannot, if clad
in cloth overalls, effectually grasp a leather
saddle. Begin, therefore, by clothing your
legs in leather. Breeches and top-boots are,
or used to be, the characteristic garb of the
English horseman ; but the Napoleon legging
will be found, by those who dislike the
trouble of changing their dress whenever they
ride, as adhesive to the saddle and almost as
neat to the eye.

Grasping with the legs may appear a very
simple exercise of muscular force; but there is
a right and a wrong way of doing everything,
and you will stick much more tenaciously to
your saddle if you begin by finding out the
most effectual method of applying your

strength for the purpose. Remember then,
first that the grasp of the fore part of the leg
is more adhesive than that of the back part,
and secondly that the grasp of the upper part
of the leg is more adhesive than that of the
lower part. Remember also that, the more
precisely under your weight your legs embrace
your horse's body, the less power he will have
to shake off their hold. The attitude in
which you can clip your saddle most vigor-
ously will consequently be the following.
Keep your fork resting upon the centre of the
saddle, your weight resting upon your fork,
and the flat of your thighs lying along the
saddle-flaps ; then place your feet horizontally,
and draw back your legs until your toes are
vertically beneath your knees.

By maintaining this position you will effec-
tually avoid two fatal blunders. Some no-
vices endeavour to obtain a firm gripe by
stooping forward and doubling up their legs
behind them. Others sit far back, carry for-
ward their feet, and rest their knees against
the padding of the saddle-flaps. Both errors
are quite inconsistent with good riding ; but
the former, as being the more obviously and

absurdly so, is the less dangerous of the two.
You cannot crouch with your back and cling
with your heels, without becoming conscious
at once that you are thoroughly at your horse's
mercy. But the oblique seat, though ne-
cessarily always imperfect, is quite consistent
with a considerable degree of ease and firm-
ness in the saddle, and is therefore retained, if
not recommended, by many horsemen whose
experience ought to have taught them better.
Some of our equestrian artists are in these
particulars sad misguiders of youth. They
appear to think that a good horseman keeps
his seat over a large fence by embracing his
horse's barrel with the calves of his legs drawn
backwards until they slant from the saddle-
girths to the stifle-joints. No equestrian figures
can for instance, as a general rule, be more
elegant than those of Mr. Hablot Browne;
but he cannot free himself from this inveterate
delusion. Look at his illustrations of Mr.
Lever's popular tale, ^c The O'Donoghue.'
How admirably poised in his saddle is the
horseman who is forcing his rearing steed into
the surf; and what a contrast does he present
to the tailor who, with legs gathered up and
c

tucked under him like those of a cockney
making his first attempt at the leaping-bar,
is compelling his unfortunate mount to smash
a five-barred gate.

When you understand how to grasp your
saddle with your legs, you will find a little
practice very useful in suppling and strengthen-
ing the muscles which you have to use for the
purpose. Take your gripe deliberately, and
then try its strength by abandoning your ba-
lance. Throw your body backwards, or sway
it from side to side, and watch how heavy a
strain the tenacity of your thighs and legs is
able to support without slipping. Next sit
loosely, let your body fall backwards or side-
ways, and stop its fall by catching the saddle
with your legs. You will, after a very few
days of this exercise, become conscious of a
surprising increase in the ease and power of
your adhesion to your horse.

3. Suppling the Waist.�A good seat on
horseback may be defined as the knack of
grasping the saddle firmly with the legs with-
out disturbing the position of the body. You
have now learnt how to place the body, and

how to grasp with the legs. You must next
learn how to combine the two actions while
the horse is in movement. The combination
will at first be a matter of some little difficulty.
You will soon find, or fancy you find, that
you can exert the muscular force of your legs
more powerfully when your waist is allowed
to become round and stiff than when it is kept
hollow and pliant. You will therefore be
tempted to increase the tenacity of your gripe
at the expense of losing the regularity of your
position. This temptation you must reso-
lutely and successfully resist.

For this purpose you must first of all realise
the truth, that no muscles ever bestowed upon
man can possibly keep you secure in your
saddle, so long as your spine is allowed to be
rigid at the waist. The grasp of your legs,
well placed and steadily exerted, is sufficient
to keep your body from the hips downwards
from being dislodged by the movements of
your horse, however violent they may be.
But the result will be otherwise if, by stiffen-
ing your back-bone, you allow the additional
weight of your bust to be abruptly thrown

upon the support of your femoral gripe. You
c z

must therefore, unless you wish to be con-
stantly jerked or twisted out of your seat,
learn to keep your waist pliant while you keep
your legs fixed.

So long as your horse stands still, or only
moves at a walk, you will have no difficulty
in maintaining any position on his back which
you may choose to assume. You must, there-
fore, in order to acquire the knack of keeping
your balance, venture upon a trot or a canter.
For this purpose, place yourself in your
proper position and take a steady grasp of
your saddle. Let your reins hang quite
slack, and do not use your stirrups. Thus
prepared, let your assistant put your horse
into a gentle trot. Leave the management
of the animal entirely to him, and attend to
nothing but keeping your seat as firmly as
possible.

The first difficulty to be mastered for this
purpose is that of keeping your waist hollow
and your shoulders back. It is a difficulty
to which you have no excuse for yielding,
because it is one which you can vanquish by
main force. When your horse is about to
strike a trot, resolve that nothing shall induce

you to relax the position in which you place
yourself. If you cannot keep your spine con-
cave without stiffening it, stiffen it by all
means. Set yourself to endure, with patient
fortitude, the bumps and thumps which un-
doubtedly are (in a metaphorical sense) before
you. In a very short time the involuntary
rigidity of the muscles will begin to relax, and
the waist will regain its easy play without
relinquishing its necessary flexure.

When this is the case, the first great
obstacle to your progress has fairly begun to
give way. You have now acquired the foun-
dation of a good seat, and require nothing but
practice to make it perfect. Persevere in
trotting without stirrups, making your attend-
ant increase the action of your horse as you
find yourself firmer and easier in the saddle.
When you are quite easy at a full trot, let
him halt and make your horse circle round
him to the right and left. Do not be satis-
fied until, by combining the steady grasp of
the legs and the supple play of the spine, you
are able to stick to the roughest goer as if
you were part of the saddle. Three weeks

2 2 Horse and Man.

or a month of hard drudgery will be amply
rewarded by such a result.

Your assistant may now put your horse
into a steady canter. You will find this pace
much easier to sit than the trot, but not at
first easier to sit well. The action of the horse
no longer jolts you from side to side ; it tends
to tilt you upwards and forwards. This sen-
sation will at first make you stiffen yourself
without being conscious of it; and you will
be tempted to mitigate your consequent con-
cussion upon the saddle, not by the difficult
though effectual expedient of keeping your
waist concave and making it supple, but by
the easy though imperfect makeshift of allow-
ing it to remain stiff and become convex.
You have only to do as you did in learning to
trot. Keep your waist concave by force, and
allow it to become supple by degrees ; and you
will soon experience the delightful sensation of
sailing along at full gallop without stirring
in your saddle.

When you can sit your horse perfectly in
his trot and canter, you possess a seat such as
not one rider in half-a-dozen ever acquires.
You are still far from being a good horseman.

You cannot indeed, properly speaking, be
termed a horseman at all. But you may look
forward with confidence to becoming what
most men would consider an excellent horse-
man ; because you have had the patience and
perseverance to drudge on until you have
been bumped and jolted into a smooth and
solid union with your saddle. It is by the
absence of this union, and by the abrupt
shocks and displacements to which they are
consequently exposed, that so many riders are
disabled from acquiring the proper use of their
hands and legs, and consequently from ever
becoming masters of their horses.

4. Riding with Stirrups.�You have hither-
to ridden, if not altogether without stirrups,
at Jeast without making any perceptible use of
them ; and your experience has, I trust, con-
vinced you that a perfectly firm seat may be
acquired without their assistance. If, in fact,
a good horseman rides more securely with
than without stirrups, this is not because they
help him to keep his seat, but only because,
if he should happen by any accident to lose it,
they enable him to recover it with ease and

quickness. This, however, is not all. Stir-
rups are of the greatest use in making the
horseman's seat easy and comfortable, and in
enabling him to ride fast and long without
fatigue. The proper method of using them
ought therefore to be carefully practised by
every equestrian novice.

Even at a walk the assistance of stirrups is
far from unimportant. You will soon find it
intolerably wearisome to keep your thighs and
legs always grasping the saddle; not only be-
cause the muscles thus used will become tired,
but because by fixing yourself in your seat
you greatly increase the play of your waist
and loins with the action of the horse. You
will find it almost equally fatiguing to let
your legs dangle loosely in the position deter-
mined by their weight. But by stretching
down your heels and pressing the stirrups
steadily with your feet, you will not only re-
lieve the limbs themselves, but will prevent
your body from incessantly writhing and
working as the horse steps along.

At a trot�at least at a full trot�the use
of stirrups is almost indispensable. Without
them the fatigue of the steadiest horseman

would soon become intolerable, not only be-
cause he would have no means of avoiding the
incessant shock of the horse's action, but also
because he could not depart from his regular
position in the saddle, except at the risk of
being immediately unseated. With them a
free and elastic trotter becomes the best and
pleasantest of hacks. Well poised in his
stirrups, and rising corkily to the stroke of
his lively nag, the practised horseman can
support his body in almost any attitude which
he may find convenient, and can thus ride a
day's journey without any unpleasant exer-
tion.

At the gallop the stirrups are seldom em-
ployed. But this is only because, in ordinary
riding, the horse is seldom galloped very fast
or very long. When this becomes necessary,
as in hunting it often does, the rider will soon
find the incessant spring and pitch exceedingly
jarring. In this case let him incline his body
forward, lower his hands upon the horse's
withers, and press the stirrups steadily with
his feet. At first he will undoubtedly feel
his new position somewhat precarious. But
after a little practice he will find that it en-

tirely relieves his fatigue. His seat will part
from and return to the saddle with a gentle
oscillation as the horse strides along, but the
alteration of his balance will remove all dis-
agreeable concussion from the contact.

Let the length of your stirrups be entirely
determined by the natural position of your
legs while grasping your saddle. Take your
gripe, with your thighs at the angle most
convenient for tenacious adhesion, your legs
vertical from the knee downwards, and your
feet drooping easily from the heel to the toe.
Then regulate the stirrup-leathers so that the
irons shall touch, just enough to keep them
steady, the hollow of the foot. You will
thus be sure that your stirrups are long
enough not to interfere with your position
when you do not want their assistance, and short
enough to give you full support when you
do. Feel the stirrup-iron with the hollow or
the ball of the foot as you please; remembering
only that, if you prefer the latter posture, the
instep must be carefully kept pliant when you
are not pressing upon your stirrups.

You will easily divine from this advice that
I am, as to one favourite article of the ordi-

nary equestrian creed, a complete heretic. I
am utterly unable to understand why different
positions on horseback should be adopted by
different descriptions of horsemen. Every
horseman, I humbly conceive, wishes to be as
firm and as easy in his saddle as he possibly
can. If one position of the legs is found the
most effectual for this purpose by the jockey,
why should another be found more so by the
dragoon ? or how can we persuade ourselves
that an attitude, which would be insecure if
the horse were to charge an ox-fence, is
secure when he is charging a square or a
battery ?

The oldfashioned military and the old-
fashioned hunting seats were both, in my
opinion, more or less mistakes. In the for-
mer the thighs were stretched almost verti-
cally downwards, so that it became impos-
sible to grasp the saddle below the knee.
In the latter they were raised almost horizon-
tally forwards, so that it became impossible to
grasp the saddle above the knee. In both,
therefore, the position of the rider was mate-
rially less secure than it would have been if
they had been allowed to lie in their natural

attitude. I believe, moreover, that the best
judges are now of the same opinion, and
that there is no longer any really important
difference between the seat of an average
fox-hunter and that of an average dragoon.

I know that there are certain mysteries of
iockeyship which may possibly require, for
the convenience of the horse and not of the
rider, a peculiar attitude in the saddle. I
also know that, if a horseman's body is but
perfectly poised, there is no conceivable posi-
tion into which he may not, with comparative
security, torture his lower limbs. There were
fine horsemen in the antique manege, where
the legs of the cavalier were placed like a pair
of tongs ; and there are fine horsemen now in
India, whose legs are placed like those of a
tailor at work. But remember that, if such
seats can be made secure, they must be so by
what would otherwise be a superfluous nicety
of balance. The rational horseman will place
his body and legs so as to assist each other as
much as possible, instead of having to correct
the awkwardness of the one posture by the
extraordinary excellence of the other.

Whoever wishes to find the true model of

universal horsemanship, has only to look at
the equestrian figures of Grecian sculpture.
Nothing can be more delightful to the eye of
a horseman than the beautiful relics of ancient
art which compose the Elgin Marbles. One
is never weary of admiring that long proces-
sion of graceful cavaliers, each seated in the
finest possible position, yet each having an
individual character of his own; their thighs
and knees riveted to the horse's girth, their
easily drooping legs and feet, their supple
waists, their expanded and recumbent busts,
their neatly poised heads, their hands and
arms playing lightly with every movement of
the bridle. It is almost annoying to think
that such godlike equitation was thrown away
upon the stag-necked, hammer-headed, hog-
maned cobs which seem to have been the
only inmates procurable for the classical stable.

You are now perfectly firm and easy on your
horse in his regular paces, and tolerably con-
fident that no irregular movement which he is
at all likely to make will disturb you in vour
saddle. In other words, you have acquired a
pretty good seat. But you are still very far
from being a good horseman. So far, indeed,
that you are likely, if you now stop short in
your education, to become a singularly clumsy
and dangerous horseman; because you have
acquired strength and confidence without ac-
quiring skill. In fact, the only conceivable
objection to the plan of teaching horsemanship
by successive steps is the possibility, that the
pupil may be so perverse as to think the first
step sufficient. The novice who studies seat
and hand together is at least kept out of pre-
matuie risks by his instinctive fear of falling
off; but no man is so likely to kill his horse

and hurt himself, as a bold and firm rider who
has never learnt to manage his bridle.

The principle upon which the horse is con-
trolled by the bridle is a very simple one. No
horse can, or at least no horse will, execute any
pace without stretching and relaxing his neck
or crest in time to the action of his legs. If,
therefore, we can restrain this movement of
the horse's crest, we disable him from advanc-
ing by moving his legs. This is effected by
fastening in his mouth a steel machine termed
a Bit, attached to a leather strap termed the
Rein. The rider holds the rein in his hands,
and may, if he can pull it with sufficient
strength, keep the horse's head by main force
in such a position that he cannot extend his
neck. And if you can do this, whether by
forcibly drawing down the horse's nose to his
chest or by compelling him to raise it into the
air, there can be no doubt that you will effect-
ually prevent any ordinary horse from either
walking, trotting, or galloping.

This, it is quite clear, is physically impos-
sible. The neck of the smallest pony is far
stronger than the arms of the strongest man,
even if assisted by the weight of his shoulders.

3 2 Horse and Man.

The strongest man will therefore fail in re-
straining by main force the action of his horse.
It is true, no doubt, that the rider has certain
odds in his favour. He can pull at the rein
with all his strength; whereas the horse, if he
pulls very hard at the bit, is likely to suffer
pain from its pressure. The inexperienced
horseman may therefore flatter himself that he
will be able to control his horse by main force,
not because the horse is physically unable to
overpower him, but because he will be afraid
of hurting himself in making the attempt.
This, however, will be found a very dangerous
mistake.

There is no truth whatever in the common
superstition, that the mouths of some horses
are naturally light, and those of others natur-
ally hard. The mouths of all horses are
tender to the bit, so long as its interior part
presses upon the bars or gums, and its exterior
part upon the beard or chin. The mouths of
all horses are callous to the bit, when its inte-
rior part presses upon the corners of the mouth,
and its exterior part upon the bones of the
jaw. Every horse can therefore defy the pres-
sure of the bit, so long as he can keep it in

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the latter position. By a hard-mouthed horse
is consequently meant a horse which, either
from natural make or from long habit, finds
it easy to do this; and by a light-mouthed
horse, a horse which finds it difficult or im-
possible.

Now it is obvious that, the more a horse
draws in his nose towards his chest, the more
directly the bit will press across his bars, and
that, the more he thrusts out or throws up his
nose, the more the bit will slip up towards the
corners of his mouth. In other words, the
horse's mouth will become sensitive or callous
to the bit in proportion as he withdraws or
protrudes his nose. A horse which always
carries his neck curved and his head vertical
will therefore be always light in hand ; and a
horse which can contrive always to carry his
neck stiff and his head horizontal may defy
any horseman in the world to regulate his pace
or control his direction.

We may, however, be thankful that there
is no such horse as this in existence. I have
already said that no horse can execute any
pace without stretching and relaxing his neck
with the action of his legs. From this it is

clear that no horse can execute any pace with-
out becoming, at momentary intervals, com-
paratively sensitive to the bit. And therefore
a horseman who knows how to take advantage
of this, by yielding his hands when the horse
extends himself so that he is able to resist the
bit, and by pulling the rein when the horse
bends or contracts himself so that he becomes
sensitive to the bit, is able to regulate the
paces of any horse in the world. The prac-
tice of this invaluable knack is commonly
known as Giving and Taking.

The whole equestrian art may be said to
consist in these two simple words. The horse-
man whose delicate tact enables him never to
rLk a pull which the horse is prepared to
resist, and never to miss a pull which the
horse is unprepared to resist, is absolutely
perfect. His horse can make no movement
which he will not foresee, and therefore none
which he cannot if necessary baffle. Such
perfection of handling as this cannot always
be learnt, and is far from necessary; but no
horseman who regards his own safety or com-
fort ought to be satisfied until he has acquired
a certain degree of it. We have now to con-

sider how this can be most effectually and
most expeditiously done.

1. Riding on the Snaffle.�A plain Snaffle is
a bit consisting simply of a single cylindrical
bar, jointed in the centre and secured across
the horse's mouth. When the snaffle rein is
pulled, the bit presses the horse's bars if his
head is in its natural place, and the corners of
his mouth if his nose is thrown up or thrust
out. The natural position of an ordinary
horse, having a plain snaffle in his mouth, is
with his neck nearly straight at an angle of
about forty-five degrees above the horizon,
and his head at a right angle to his neck.
The plain snaffle, if judiciously used, is quite
sufficient to control the horse's direction and
to regulate his pace; but it has no power to
bend or collect him into the attitude which
makes his rider most completely master of
his movements. The latter operation of the
hand must therefore be discussed at a future
opportunity.

Begin by putting a plain snaffle on your

horse, and adjust your bridle before you let

him move. Place yourself with the upper arms
d 2

vertical, the fore-arms parallel to each other,
and the hands at the height of the elbows.
Hold the rein in the full grasp of both hands,
at such a length that you can just feel the
pressure of the horse's mouth upon the bit;
and secure it from slipping by your thumbs.
Take particular care that your shoulders,
elbows and wrists are perfectly supple, and
prepared to play loosely with every movement
of the horse's head. Let the rest of your
body remain in its ordinary position.

Now let your horse move forward at a
steady walk. You will find that the moment
he begins to advance his neck begins to
stretch and contract with every step he makes.
Give your whole attention to the effect of this
movement upon your arms. Keep them so
loose and easy that they yield to every stretch
of the horse's neck, but at the same time let
them draw lightly towards you whenever the
opposition of his mouth gives way. En-
deavour in this manner to preserve one gentle
and uniform feeling of the horse's bars,
neither allowing the rein to tighten when he
extends himself nor to slacken when he con-
tracts himself. Avoid any attempt to alter

his pace or his direction, and carefully keep
the play of your waist and that of your arms
independent of each other.

When you can feel your horse's mouth
quite smoothly at a walk, you may begin to
regulate his pace. For this purpose you must
gently increase the pressure of your hands
when his mouth gives way, and gently di-
minish their yielding motion when it resists.
Do this at first with great caution and very
lightly, for fear you should get into the habit
of attempting to check him by a dead pull.
Persevere in thus taking at every step a little
more than you give, until the horse comes to
a halt. By degrees, as the knack becomes
more familiar to you, you may increase the
power of your alternate pulls, until you can
bring your horse in two or three paces from a
fast walk to a full stop.

You may now proceed to the same practice
at a trot and a gallop. Begin by starting
your horse at a steady pace, and give all your
attention to feeling his mouth without at-
tempting to check or guide him. If he is
disposed to press forward, let your assistant
run beside you and regulate his pace. As

soon as you have got him comfortably in
hand, begin to shorten his action by pulling
smoothly and steadily when his neck relaxes ;
and continue to do so until he drops into a
walk if trotting, or into a trot if galloping.
Be careful never to stiffen your arms so that
they become insensible to the resistance of the
horse's mouth, and never to assist them by the
weight of your shoulders.

When you know how to regulate your
horse's paces, you may begin to practise
changing his direction. In order to do this
smartly and suddenly, you must have com-
mand of his hind quarters; and you cannot
have full command of his hind quarters until
you have learnt how to use your legs. But
the use of the bridle alone is sufficient to
make him gradually swerve or circle to either
hand. For this purpose you have only to in-
cline your body and hands in the direction to
which you wish him to turn ; maintaining the
feeling of his mouth with both hands, but
strengthening the pull of the inward hand.
The pressure of the inward rein on the bit,
and that of the outward rein on the neck, will
be sufficient to make a well broken horse

turn correctly, provided the turn is not so
sudden as to require his hind quarters per-
ceptibly to depart from the line of his
shoulders.

When you can ride, halt and turn your
horse easily with both hands, you will have
little difficulty in doing so with one. Your
only embarrassment will be the necessity of
making up for the diminished play of the
bridle hand by occasionally shortening and
lengthening the rein, and the consequent temp-
tation to avoid this necessity by thrusting
forward the bridle arm and shoulder instead of
carrying the body square. You will avoid it
by getting into the habit of letting the reins
pass loosely between the fingers of the bridle
hand, and grasping them next your body with
the fingers and thumb of the other. Both
hands will thus naturally place themselves in
front of your waist; and when one is dropped
or removed, the other will instinctively retain
its central position.

There are two causes which usually prevent
the acquisition of a perfect bridle hand. The
first is the unsteadiness of the rider's seat.
The second is the habit of pulling at the reins

by the weight of the bust instead of by the
play of the arms. No man can give and take
as he ought while he is being jolted about in
his saddle, nor yet while his body is hanging
upon, and supported by, his bridle. The
former difficulty you can only overcome by
patiently working yourself into a perfectly
smooth and steady seat before you attempt
to manage your bridle. The latter you must
avoid by carefully keeping your arms detached
from your body, and allowing them to play
freely in the air with the pull and yield of
your horse's mouth.

Do not be deluded by the indiscriminate
praise usually bestowed upon a light bridle
hand. A light hand is a good thing, but only
when it is effective as well as light. The first
merit of the hand is to command the horse;
the second is to do so without unnecessarily an-
noying him. Nor ought the hand to be light
when the horse resists it. A hand which
is always light will be as ineffective as a hand
which is always heavy. The hand of a horse-
man should resemble the temper of a com-
mander�pleasant while obeyed, formidable if
disobeyed. Nobody cares for the man who

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always smiles, any more than for the man who
always scolds.

2. Riding on the Curb.�An ordinary Curb
is a bit consisting of a curved bar or mouth-
piece fastened across the horse's mouth, and
having a Cheek, or cross-bar, at each end.
To the lower ends of the cheeks are fastened
the ends of the rein, and their upper ends are
connected by a chain which passes under the
horse's chin. When the curb rein is pulled,
the upper ends of the cheeks rise and tighten
the curb chain across the horse's chin, and at
the same time the mouth-piece turns and
presses its Port or curvature against the roof
of his mouth. The natural position of a well
made or well broken horse, when properly
ridden on the curb, is with his neck arched
and his head vertical; and the curb is there-
fore useful, not only to regulate the horse's
pace, but also to place him in a graceful and
manageable attitude.

Begin to practise riding upon the curb with-
out using the snaffle at all. Mount your horse,
and keep him at a halt until you have learnt
the proper feeling of his mouth. Take up

the rein with the fingers and thumb of the
right hand, and draw it through the fingers of
the left hand until you meet with a gentle re-
sistance. If the horse has a good mouth, he
will gradually arch his neck until his head
drops into a vertical position, and champ or
play with the mouth-piece of the bit. Let
slip the rein when he yields in this manner to
the hand, and allow him to extend his neck.
Then proceed to repeat the same practice,
until you can catch him upon the curb and
bring home his head with a quick and easy
touch, and without any uncertainty or delay.
When you have mastered this knack, put
your horse into a walk. If he has a good
mouth, he will move off without endeavour-
ing to extend his neck or thrust forward his
nose. As he steps along, you will become
conscious no longer of a steady though inter-
mittent pressure upon the mouth-piece, but
of an elastic play or vibration of the cheeks,
which increases or diminishes with the move-
ment of his crest, but never wholly ceases.
Carefully watch the ebb and flow of this soft
and almost imperceptible sensation; and en-
deavour to let your hand give and take, so as

to keep it as nearly as possible uniform. You
will soon find that you can detect both its
absence and its increase, although you do not
seem to feel its presence ; and this curious
faculty will be your guide in maintaining it.

If your horse is a good steady goer, who
does not require much assistance from the
legs, you may now ride him at a short or col-
lected trot or canter. Endeavour to main-
tain the elastic play of the bit, and to keep his
neck arched and his head home. If he extends
his neck and protrudes his nose, try to check
him by feeling the rein as if you were very gra-
dually pulling him up, at the same time urging
him forward, or making your attendant do so,
by a touch of the whip. You will soon become
aware of the great pleasure which a light
mouthed and high couraged horse, skilfully
kept in hand with the curb, bestows both
upon the rider and upon the spectator.

No ordinary horse should ever be ridden,
except for the purpose of instructing his rider,
otherwise than in a curb and snaifle at once.
He cannot be compelled to put forth his full
powers in either of these bridles singly. If
you ride him in a single curb, or as it is com-

monly called a hard-and-sharp, you cannot
leap him over a fence, or even extend him at
a full trot or gallop, without letting go his
head. If you ride him in a single snaffle, you
cannot bend or collect him so as to show off
his action and make him handy in turning or
circling. You must therefore, in order to be
fully master of your horse, learn to combine
the use of the curb and snaffle, or bit and
bridoon, by riding him in a double bridle
comprising both.

You will find no great difficulty in this.
Take the two reins in both hands, the little
fingers dividing the bit from the bridoon rein,
and hold them at equal lengths. You will
immediately feel a steady pressure upon the
bridoon; but you will also feel that, if you
raise your hands or if the horse thrusts out his
nose, the bit forthwith comes into play. You
thus gain the advantage of holding your horse
firmly by the head however fast he may go,
while you keep in reserve a mode of handling
which will effectually prevent him from rak-
ing or boring against his bridle. As soon as
you are familiar with the use of the double
bridle in both hands, take it in one, and divide

the bit from the bridoon reins by your fingers,
keeping all fast by the thumb.

No horse suppled according to M. Baucher's
system requires any bit except a plain snaffle
and an ordinary curb ; and I believe that there
is scarcely any horse which may not be sup-
pled according to M. Baucher's system. But
this is not generally known; and you will
often find, when you mount a hot or hard-
mouthed horse, that he has been equipped for
your especial convenience with some engine of
torture which is expected to make him more
easily controllable. In such cases you will
always, if you take my advice and can find an
opportunity, procure the exchange of the Chif-
ney or Segundo for a simple bit and bridoon.
But if this is impossible, a light and elastic
hand will do wonders in reconciling the poo
animal to his unnecessary punishment.

I give you no special rules for leaping. If
you are cool enough not to change or stiffen
your attitude as your horse rises, you will
naturally sit steady in your saddle; and if you
sit steady in your saddle, you will naturally
handle your horse as you ought. A flying
leap is nothing more than a stride in the horse's

gallop of extraordinary height and width ; and
a standing leap is nothing more than the com-
mencement of his gallop with such a stride.
If therefore you know how to give and take
properly, and if the unusual effort which
the horse is making has not disturbed your
seat so as to disable you from giving and
taking properly, you have no further difficulty
to overcome.

The man who has acquired a perfect seat and
a perfect hand is in England considered as a
perfect horseman. We all know that there
is some difficulty, and therefore some merit,
in sitting a horse firmly and in handling him
skilfully. But few of us seem to be aware
that any science is required to make him exert
himself according to his rider's pleasure, or
even that a horse, if made to exert himself
sufficiently and kept well in hand, can possibly
be otherwise than completely under his rider's
command. The consequence is that the scien-
tific use of the legs or spurs is entirely neglected
by most English horsemen.

It is easy to account for this omission. The �
ordinary English horseman is accustomed only
to work his horse upon a single line. Whether
he rides upon the road, upon the race-course,
or across country, he is quite satisfied so long

as his horse goes forward freely and yields to
the bit readily. The dexterous manceuvres of
the manege he does not find necessary; and
therefore he despises them as mere riding-
school tricks, unworthy the attention of a
practical sportsman. That their successful
study would enable him to ride an ill-made or
ill-broken horse with greater pleasure and
safety than he can do at present, he probably
does not know and would not believe.

It must not, however, be supposed that the
English horseman sustains no positive incon-
venience from this neglect. It is true that he
only requires his horse to work straight for-
wards ; and it is also true that a high couraged
horse, so long as he works straight forwards,
requires nothing but a good hand to make him
go as he ought. But suppose that the rider
requires his horse to work straight forwards,
and that the horse is resolved to swerve aside.
Excellent judges have long ago remarked that
the same man who can regulate a free going
horse in his gallop and pilot him over his fences
with the precision of clockwork, is often quite
at a loss when mounted on a sulky or timid
animal which refuses to leap; and a certain

degree of the same awkwardness may often be
remarked on the road, when it becomes neces-
sary to open a gate or to pass an object of
which the horse is afraid.

This is very readily explained. An active
horse can, as every horseman knows, change
the direction in which he is going, without
either slackening his pace or turning his head,
by simply carrying his hind quarters to the
right or left, and working sideways instead of
straight forwards. An active horse can there-
fore proceed in a direction contrary to his
rider's will, without resisting his rider's 'hand.
In other words, no rider has complete com-
mand of his horse until he has learnt to regu-
late the movements of his hind quarters as
well as to handle his mouth. This can only
be done by the judicious use of the legs or
spurs.

A well-broken horse whose flank is struck
or pressed will instinctively endeavour to with-
draw himself from the contact. This is the
obvious principle upon which the horse's hind
quarters are controlled by the rider's legs.
When the rider closes both legs to his horse's
flanks, the horse will instinctively move forward

5<3 Horse and Man.

or increase his pace. When the rider closes
one leg the horse will instinctively shift his
croup or step aside in the opposite direction if
he was previously standing still, and will in-
stinctively traverse or sidle in the opposite di-
rection if he was previously advancing. The
use of the legs, in short, depends upon this
simple truth�that whenever you touch your
horse's flanks, he will promptly throw his
weight the other way.

It must however be remembered, that the
use of the legs will be of no advantage what-
ever unless it is combined with that of the
bridle. The horseman who drives his horse
forward without knowing how to keep him in
hand is getting up steam without having pro-
vided a rudder, and will find that, the more the
animal is roused to exert himself, the more
headstrong and unmanageable he becomes.
The horse is excited by the pressure of the
legs to throw his weight forward, and the in-
elastic hand of the rider is overpowered by
the sudden impulse which it is thus re-
quired to support. The consequence is that
the horse begins to bore heavily upon his
shoulders, and unless pulled short up will pro-
bably attempt to run away.

But the case is very different when the
horseman knows how to catch and balance in
his hands the weight which he has thrown for-
ward by means of his legs. The horse may
spring forcibly from his hind-quarters, but
the bent position of his neck keeps his mouth
sensitive, and disables him from carrying the
impulse of his spring so far as to increase his
pressure upon the bit. The rider has, there-
fore, obtained the equilibrium which is the
object of every skilful horseman. The horse,
as it is technically expressed, is before the legs
and behind the hands. In other words, he is
ready to spring forwards or sideways at the
slightest touch of the leg, and yet is restrain-
able from doing so by the slightest feeling of
the hand.

In my instructions how to acquire the pro-
per use of the legs or spurs, I shall of course
take for granted that you are mounted upon
a horse sufficiently well broken to obey with
perfect docility the ordinary indications of a
skilful horseman. In England this sort of
animal is not always easy to procure, but
with a little patience you will probably succeed
in getting one quite good enough for your

5 2 Horse and Man.

purpose. What is termed a highly managed
charger is altogether unnecessary ; because,
however far you may wish to carry your own
education, you will find it easy, when you have
once acquired a certain degree of tact, to push
forward that of your horse at the same time.

i. Working in Line.�Begin by acquiring
the knack of moving your legs freely without
disturbing your seat or hand. Do not re-
semble that unskilful cavalier recorded in
Henry IV., who ' gave his able horse the
head, and bending forward struck his armed
heels into the panting sides of the poor jade.'
Shakespeare no doubt drew from nature ; but
we know that nature sometimes turns out
very indifferent horsemen. What do you
suppose would have happened if the poor
jade, instead of answering the spur like an
honest horse, had set up his back and given
a resolute plunge ? The unwary messenger
would have been thrown clean out of his
saddle, and the king would have had to wait
another post for news of the battle of Shrews-
bury.

Commence your practice. without spurs.

Fix yourself in your seat, bring the horse's
head home with the curb; and then, keeping
him at a halt, proceed to close your legs and
heels to his flanks. Steadily maintain the
pressure notwithstanding his fidgeting or
shifting to avoid it, trying not to let him move
forward, and taking care not to stiffen your
body or relax the grasp of your thighs.
When you can do this with perfect ease, go
on to practise it at a walk, trot, and canter.
You will soon find that the constrained posi-
tion of the leg, though certainly no assistance
to the gripe of the thigh and knee, need not
be allowed to interfere with it.

Next put on a pair of ordinary road-riding
spurs, with blunt rowels. Seat yourself and
take hold of your horse as before, move him
forward at a walk, and then close your legs
steadily and touch him lightly with the spurs.
If he is a good-tempered, high-couraged horse
(and I need not say that for this lesson you must
not choose a dull or a restive one), he will sink
his croup and try to spring forward. Care-
fully keep him bent with the curb, so that he
cannot get a pull at your hand. If you do
this skilfully, the result of the impulse will be

merely to raise his forehand and bring his
hind legs well under him ; and you must per-
severe in the present practice, though without
using the spurs if you find the pressure of
your legs sufficient, until you succeed in pro-
ducing this effect and no other.

When you have fairly got your horse be-
tween your hands and legs at a fast walk, pro-
ceed to shorten his pace until, without letting
him escape from his equilibrium, you have
brought him to a full halt. Then drop your
hands and legs, and permit the horse to stretch
his neck and stand at his ease ; and then,
gently drawing the rein and closing the legs,
endeavour to bring him again into balance
without permitting him to shift his ground.
This is a task of considerable delicacy, and
you will require some practice before you can
do it quickly and completely ; but your suc-
cess will be rewarded by a consciousness of
perfect command over your horse such as you
never felt before.

Reining back must be your next lesson.
Get your horse collected and light in hand at
a halt; and then, by alternately relaxing your
hands and legs, induce him to throw his

weight alternately upon the forehand and the
haunches, without stepping forward or back-
ward. You will soon, if you are skilful in
thus soliciting him to change his balance, be-
come conscious of a gentle but perceptible
oscillation of his body upon his legs. Catch
your opportunity when the reflux of his
weight from the fore to the hind legs is just
beginning, maintain the pressure of the hands
and forbear to renew that of the legs. The
inevitable consequence will be that he will
step backwards at a steady walk.

When you have got your horse well col-
lected at a walk and a halt, you will probably
find little difficulty in keeping him so at a
trot and a canter. Indeed, if the contrary
should happen, the fault is more likely to be
his than yours ; and the remedy is therefore
no part of our present subject. If, on the
other hand, you feel him when in quick mo-
tion eager to spring from the spur, yet reluc-
tant to throw his weight upon the bit, the
natural power of the animal will be the only
limit to your command over him. By judi-
ciously timing your indications, you may make
him bound and curvet, caper and caracole,

so as to realize, if you think it worth while
to do so, the equestrian marvels of chivalrous
romance.

You will easily perceive that the true diffi-
culty of your present practice consists, not in
the proper use of the legs themselves, but in
the additional difficulty which their use will
throw upon the hands. The office of the two
is different but similar. As the hands are to
yield when the horse's mouth resists, and to
pull when it gives way, so the legs are to close
when the horse's weight falls backward, and to
relax when it flows forward ; and therefore a
perfect horseman will seldom or never use his
hands and his legs precisely together. But
the difference between the two indications is
this ; that the horse's flanks are comparatively
callous, and that his mouth is highly sensitive.
The use of the legs will therefore, if well
timed, be always tolerably correct; whereas
that of the hands requires in addition the most
careful elasticity of touch.

2. Working sideways.�When you have got
your horse perfectly collected and light in
hand while working in a straight line, you

will have no difficulty in making him work
correctly with his fore and hind quarters upon
distinct lines. Begin, as before, at a halt.
Bring the horse's head home; and close one
leg to his flank behind the girths, restraining
him by the opposite rein from shifting his
forehand. He will immediately shift his croup
in the opposite direction, and if the pressure
is continued will circle his hind completely
round his fore legs. Next turn his head to
one side by the rein, and restrain him by the
opposite leg from shifting his croup, which
will cause him to shift his forehand without
moving his hind legs until he circles upon the
latter.

With a perfectly docile and well-broken
horse, these are very simple manoeuvres. But
you must, in performing them, be upon your
guard against any irregular movement which
he might make if impatient or reluctant. In
circling on the forehand, be ready to stop him
by carrying the hands in the opposite direc-
tion if he begins to change ground with his
fore legs. In circling on the haunches, be
equally ready to arrest the movement of his
hind legs by the application of your opposite

leg. And in all circles at the halt let your
hands carefully restrain him from stepping for-
ward, while the instantaneous closing of both
legs must prevent him from reining back.

When you can circle or pirouette your
horse quickly and smartly, ytt with perfect
accuracy, you may try the passage or side step.
For this purpose you have only to get your
horse well in hand at a halt, and then, alter-
nately turning his head aside by the rein and
pressing his opposite flank with the leg, induce
him to shift alternately his fore and hind legs
in the opposite direction. The outer rein is
to assist the leg by pressing the neck so as to
lead off the forehand, and the inner leg is to
stop the croup if it traverses too rapidly. The
horse will soon comprehend the movement
which he is required to execute, and will, un-
der the simple pressure of the outward leg
assisted by the feeling of the inward rein,
begin to step sideways by crossing his fore
and hind legs simultaneously and not alter-
nately.

You may now, if you choose to amuse
yourself by doing so, practise at a trot the
same movements which you have learned to

execute at a walk. First get your horse well
collected at a steady advancing trot; and
then, by delicately increasing the pressure of
your hands, without ceasing that of your legs,
gradually shorten his pace until he correctly
executes at a halt the motions of a full trot.
This exercise is termed PiafEng. It is one of
great difficulty; and its successful performance,
even by the best broken horse, requires un-
usual tact and skill in the rider. When you
can once make your horse piaff you may, by
persevering upon the same principles, induce
him to rein backwards, or to passage sideways,
at a full trot without changing his action.

Until you are tolerably perfect in circling
and passaging at the walk and trot, or at all
events at the walk, you must not attempt to
work sideways at the canter or gallop. The
reason of this is obvious. A horse advancing
at the walk or trot works his legs diagonally
and moves square to the front, so that he can
swerve with equal readiness to either hand.
But a horse advancing at the canter or gallop
moves by a succession of strides or springs, in
each of which his fore and hind legs on one
side lead, and are followed by those on the

other; and whoever watches his action will
perceive that he cannot, without imminent risk
of falling, swerve towards the hand on which
his legs are not leading. You cannot, there-
fore, safely circle or passage a horse at the
canter, until you have learned to make him
canter with whichever leg you please.

In order to put a horse out of a walk or trot
into a canter or gallop, you have only to collect
him by applying your legs, without allowing
him to increase his pace, until you feel him
raising his forehand and beginning to prance,
and then gradually to let him out straight.
In this case he will, of course, lead with which-
ever leg he happens to prefer. But if you
wish him to lead with the right (or left) leg
rather than the other, you must, as soon as
you feel him prepared to strike a canter, carry
his croup to the right (or left) by increasing
the pressure of the left (or right) leg, and at
the same time lead him off by feeling the
right (or left) rein. And when you can do
this with ease and certainty, a little additional
practice will enable you to make him change
his leg at your pleasure while actually on the
canter.

You will occasionally find yourself mounted
upon an otherwise well broken horse which,
either from natural make or from long habit,
is very reluctant to strike a canter. In such
cases, you must have recourse to what is termed
lifting him�a manoeuvre perpetually practised
by all experienced horsemen, but never, I be-
lieve, described or even noticed by writers
upon horsemanship. It is performed by
smoothly but vigorously giving and taking
the snaffle, while the horse continues to trot,
with the movement which your hands would
naturally adopt if he were cantering. Do
this steadily and perseveringly, neither jerk-
ing the horse's mouth so as to make him
throw up his head nor pulling at it so as to
shorten his pace, and he will very soon be
unable to prevent himself from falling into
the pace which you require.

A horse is said to canter Disunited, when
he leads with opposite legs before and behind.
This way of going is both uneasy and unsafe,
and must be immediately corrected. If you
wish him to change with his fore legs, throw
the weight of his forehand upon the fore leg
which is leading, by carrying your hands to

that side. If you wish him to change with
his hind leg, throw the weight of his croup
upon the hind leg which is leading by apply-
ing the opposite leg. Both changes are easy
and certain, provided the horse remains light
in hand and collected, or can be got so before
the attempt is made.

We will now suppose that you are, physi-
cally speaking, a perfect horseman. In other
words, you can ride your horse, so long as he
is willing to obey you, precisely as he ought
to be ridden. Even so you are, physically
speaking, a consummate swordsman when
you can defend yourself so as never to be hit
with the foils. But as the champion of the
fencing-school sometimes forgets his science
when first he sees the point of a rapier pre-
sented at his body, so the model of the manege
is sometimes startled into awkwardness when
first he feels beneath him the plunge and rush
of an angry or frightened thoroughbred. In
both cases, we know, the novice has within
him the means required for safety; but in
neither is he sure of retaining his presence of
mind so as to be able to use them.

If you take my advice, you will not leave

this important question to be answered by the
event. You can, if you will use the necessary
means, gradually familiarize yourself with the
action of an unruly horse, until you are quite
secure upon the back of the great majority.
But your training for this purpose must be
moral, not physical. You already know how
to communicate your wishes to your horse,
and how to sit upon his back while he obeys
them. You must now learn how to make
him obey them, and how to sit upon his back
while he is attempting to disobey them. The
skill which you have already acquired will be
amply sufficient to effect this, provided you
can secure your command of it by one im-
portant acquisition. That acquisition is the
quality which we term Nerve.

By Nerve is understood the faculty of not
overrating danger. It is therefore a quality
quite distinct from courage, which is the
faculty of disregarding danger. The courage
which enables us to face real danger can only
be supplied, when it is naturally absent, by a
strong will or a high sense of duty. But the
nerve which enables us not to shrink from
imaginary danger will come of itself, so soon

as familiarity with the circumstances has
taught us that the danger is imaginary.
Now there can be no doubt that the danger
which a skilful horseman incurs by riding a
restive horse is, except in very extraordinary
cases, almost entirely imaginary; and a skilful
horseman will therefore, as a general rule,
acquire nerve by becoming accustomed to ride
restive horses.

Still you must remember that a general
rule may easily be far from an invariable one.
The force which a restive horse can exert for
the purpose of overpowering his rider is some-
times very great. If you have presence of
mind enough to sit and manage him as coolly
as in his ordinary paces, you will baffle his
efforts with ease. But if you allow yourself
to be startled out of your position on his back
and your command of his mouth, you may
easily be unseated or run away with. The
discouragement naturally caused by such an
accident will, of course, greatly retard your
progress in horsemanship. You must, there-
fore, in order to acquire with quickness and
certainty the art of riding restive horses,
commence your practice under circumstances



	Introduction.
	Introduction.	vii

vinced me that they may be made exceedingly serviceable in the education of ordinary horses, and that they are entirely unknown to, or neglected by, ordinary horsemen. I have therefore endeavoured to explain them in a simple and straightforward manner, as I find them laid down by M. Baucher himself; and I have also stated the opinion which experience has led me to form of their practical utility or necessity, in the hope that better judges may possibly be induced to give them an equally fair trial. All Englishmen naturally hate theory; and perhaps no Englishman hates it so thoroughly as an English sportsman. The fact is, in my opinion, highly creditable to the English in- tellect. Practical men are quite justified in hating a thing of which, potentially beautiful and admirable as it may be, they have never met with any specimen that was not actually useless or pernicious. And just as English statesmen despise a theory of government which practically leads to slavery or to anar- chy, even so do English horsemen despise a



		Introduction.
	viii	Introduction.
	viii

theory of equitation which practically disables its professors from riding across country. Your conclusions, we say, may be true in theory, but they are false in practice; and this familiar platitude is by no means so ab- surd as it sounds. Its real meaning is : We do not think it worth while to prove by argu- ment that your theory is false, because experi- ment has convinced us that it cannot possibly be true. But I do not observe that, when English- men have once perceived the practical value of a theory, they are either incapable or im- patient of the abstract reasoning necessary to explain its principles. The kind of theory which we despise is that which is founded upon ingenious assumption unverified by ex- periment. Experiment is therefore our first demand. Show us your results, we say, and if we like them we will try to understand your demonstration. And how faithfully we in this respect keep our word, nobody who has ever been intimate with an enthusiastic rifleman or yachtsman requires to be reminded.



	xii
	xii		Introduction.
			Introduction.

teach you what to make him do, nor prevent you from being afraid to make him do what is required. Now mere horsemanship, and a comparatively humble degree of mere horse- manship, is all that I can show you how to acquire. The higher qualities of the English sportsman must be learnt, if they can be learnt at all, from teachers more experienced in their practice than I can pretend to be.

		February 16, 1869.



	The Seat.
	The Seat.	13
		13

balancing your body according to the move- ments of the horse. This, however, is not my opinion. I acknowledge that there are horsemen who, by the help of a perfect balance and a perfect hand, can ride almost any horse with almost perfect safety. They can do this because their exquisite tact enables them to foresee any movement which the horse can make, and to prevent or follow any move- ment which they can foresee. But few men can acquire such skill as this, and even those who possess it may occasionally be caught off their guard. I therefore advise the equestrian novice to take some pains for the purpose of acquiring a kind of seat which will enable him to resist such shocks as he may be un- able to foresee. The celebrated Assheton Smith is said to have been a horseman of this kind. He is described as galloping across country, his body perfectly poised, and his legs flapping loose with his horse's stride. The conse- quence was, that a blunder at a fence was pretty sure to throw him from his saddle, and that, when taken unawares, he was sometimes unhorsed by a start or a plunge. It is true



	The Seat.
	The Seat.	21

you to relax the position in which you place yourself. If you cannot keep your spine con- cave without stiffening it, stiffen it by all means. Set yourself to endure, with patient fortitude, the bumps and thumps which un- doubtedly are (in a metaphorical sense) before you. In a very short time the involuntary rigidity of the muscles will begin to relax, and the waist will regain its easy play without relinquishing its necessary flexure. When this is the case, the first great obstacle to your progress has fairly begun to give way. You have now acquired the foun- dation of a good seat, and require nothing but practice to make it perfect. Persevere in trotting without stirrups, making your attend- ant increase the action of your horse as you find yourself firmer and easier in the saddle. When you are quite easy at a full trot, let him halt and make your horse circle round him to the right and left. Do not be satis- fied until, by combining the steady grasp of the legs and the supple play of the spine, you are able to stick to the roughest goer as if you were part of the saddle. Three weeks



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			INTRODUCTION.

		The principal object of this little work is to make the English sportsman acquainted with the rudiments of M. Baucher's admirable system of Suppling the Horse. It is now about thirty-five years since M. Baucher first laid his theory of equitation be- fore the French public. Its merits have been long and keenly discussed upon the Con- tinent, but I cannot find that it has ever at- tracted any serious notice in England. An English pamphlet, containing an outline of its principles as adapted to the training of cavalry horses, was indeed published by the late lamented Captain Nolan in 1853; but it was not calculated to attract, and certainly did not receive, much attention from civilian horse- men. I have not thought it advisable to translate



		vi Introduction. any part of M. Baucher's works. Like many men of original genius, he was far more successful in discovering truth than in explain- ing it. His style of disquisition is very pro- lix, and sometimes not a little obscure ; indeed there are certain portions of his teaching whose precise object and connection I frankly ac- knowledge myself unable to comprehend. Nor is this all. He perpetually employs that peculiar tone of philosophical grandiloquence which is so dear to French writers, and so utterly intolerable to English readers. I ques- tion whether there are many of my hunting acquaintance who would patiently hear them- selves admonished that the cavesson must be ' sustained with an energetic wrist,' or that the horse must be prevented from ^c taking an initiative which might have its dangers.' But it has occurred to me that I may be able to do good service by introducing to the civilian horseman those elementary principles of M. Baucher's system which Captain Nolan has judged likely to be useful in the military riding-school. My own observation has con-



			Introduction. ix

		I persuade myself that M. Baucher's system is one which will stand this test. The simple and obvious method of manipulation by which it imparts lightness and elasticity to the dull, or calmness and docility to the fretful horse, can be tried without the slightest difficulty by any practised horseman; nor do I believe that any practised horseman who fairly tries it will deny its efficiency. That I neither profess to be an accomplished master of its resources, nor an implicit believer in the magical properties which some of its admirers ascribe to it, will appear hereafter. But I am convinced that its elementary lessons may be employed with perfect ease, and with most satisfactory effect, by. any man who has an awkward hack which he wishes to make a clever one. I have however, in the present work, attempted something more than this. I must confess that I have never seen any book upon horsemanship which I thought likely to be useful to a beginner. The old treatises on manege-riding, being founded on



			x Introduction.

		a false theory, are of course wholly out of the question. The modern English manuals, though far more rational and correct, have all one great deficiency. They are invariably written by men who have evidently been practised horsemen from their childhood. How can such a man realize the difficulties of a novice ? He tells us what we ought to do ; but if we were to suggest that we cannot do it, he would listen as if we were complain- ing that we cannot help stammering or squint- ing. It is very singular and very unfortunate; he cannot account for it; he has been per- forming these manoeuvres all his life, and never found them puzzling or difficult. Now I am well aware that most of these gentlemen know much more of good riding than I do, but I flatter myself that I know more of bad riding than they do. Circum- stances induced me, when in the prime of life, to take pains enough to become a fair mechanical horseman; and the difficulties of the achievement are therefore fresh and vivid in my memory. The method which I have



	Introdtiction.
	Introdtiction.	xi

found most effectual for the purpose is a simple adaptation of the system which M. Baucher applies to the education of the horse. In other words, it consists in learning one thing at a time. This method I have taken the present opportunity briefly to explain. It is, I need scarcely remark, exclusively in- tended for the use of inexperienced horsemen. It cannot change a good rider into a first-rate one ; but I believe that, if perseveringly and intelligently practised, it will enable a bad rider to become a tolerable one. One word more. The present work is a treatise upon mechanical equitation, and upon that alone. Upon the mystery of riding races, or of riding to hounds, I have not a word to say. ' Riding across country,' said the renowned Meynell, ^c requires three things �head, heart, and hand'; in other words, judgment, courage, and horsemanship. Mere mechanical horsemanship�that is to say, the mere knack of making your horse do what you please�is therefore far from sufficient to distinguish you in the field. It will not



			CONTENTS.

		PAGE Introduction ....... v CHAPTER I. THE SEAT. 1. Position on Horseback ..... 6 2. Fixing the Legs . . . . . .12 3. Suppling the Waist . . . . . .18 4. Riding with Stirrups . . . , -23 CHAPTER II. THE HAND. i. Riding on the Snaffle . . . . -35 2. Riding on the Curb. . . . , . 41 CHAPTER III. THE LEGS. i. Working in Line ...... 52 2. Working Sideways ...... 56



		xiv Contents.

			CHAPTER IV. THE NERVES. PAGE 1. Sitting a Restive Horse . . . . .66 2. Managing a Restive Horse . . . . 72 CHAPTER V. BREAKING THE HORSE . . -7% CHAPTER VI. SUPPLING THE HORSE. 1. Balancing the Horse ..... 89 2. Bending the Horse ...... 96 3. Additional Remarks . . . . .104 CHAPTER VII. FINISHING THE HORSE. 1. Finishing the Hunter . . . . ,112 2. Finishing the Charger . . . . . 117 Conclusion . . . . . . .124



	HORSE AND MAN.

CHAPTER I. THE SEAT. Upon no subject has more consummate non- sense been talked or written than upon the best method of acquiring a good seat on horse- back. In fact, the highest authorities have fairly renounced the task of suggesting any method at all, and seem to hold that horse- manship, like reading and writing in the opinion of Master Dogberry, comes by nature. The once celebrated Nimrod pronounces that no man whose thighs are round, or whose calves are large, can ever ride well; and a far better judge, the clever writer who signs himself ^c Harry Hieover,' has indorsed the vulgar opinion, that no man can become a horseman who has not been used to riding from his B

		�



		Horse and Man.
	2	Horse and Man.

childhood. It is quite time that these pre- judices, so derogatory to the science of equestrian and to the spirit and intelligence of pedestrian Englishmen, should be resolutely protested against. It is undoubtedly true that not one man in a hundred ever does learn to ride well, unless he has ridden early in life. But why is this ? Simply because full-grown men seldom acquire new tastes in amusement, and therefore do not care to ride well when they have not been ac- customed to ride at all. It does not follow that they could not learn to ride, if good riding were necessary to their safety or conve- nience. Indeed the reverse is the fact. We are told that shopmen and mechanics, when settled upon an Australian or Californian cattle-farm, soon learn to imitate the gymnas- tic feats of the stockmen or vaqueros around them; and we know that if a hundred clerks or apprentices are enlisted in a dragoon regi- ment, ninety-nine of them will in six months sit their horses quite as firmly as an ordinary groom or postboy. This, however, is understating our case. Horsemanship is in these instances acquired



			The Seat. 3

		by mere mechanical practice or by an unsci- entific system of teaching which is very Jittie better. What will be the consequence if a grown man, being anxious to become a horse- man, can be shown how to use, not only his limbs and muscles, but his reason and memory for the purpose ? I answer that in a month he will be perfectly easy upon an ordinary horse, and that in three months he will possess as perfect a seat as his natural aptitude for riding would have permitted him to acquire if he had passed his whole life in the saddle. How, it may be asked, is this to be done ? I answer, simply by attending to one thing at a time. You want to learn how to sit a horse. Very good; then put aside for the present all anxiety about managing and guid- ing him. Your present business is, wherever he may go and whatever he may do, to con- tinue steady upon his back. Therefore leave it to some one else to take care that he goes where he ought and does nothing which he ought not. You are at present in the situa- tion of a landsman going to sea, and must not think about steering until you have got your sea legs. B 2



		4 Horse and Man. You have only to take a lesson in an ordi- nary riding-school to learn how necessary this advice unfortunately is. Your instructor first screws you by main force into what is to you a most unnatural position, and next gives you certain instructions which you cannot under- stand. In this state of bodily and mental discomfiture you walk twice or thrice round the school, and then your troubles begin. ^c Trot. Steady, Mr. So-and-so. Keep him in hand. Guide him into the corners. Don't let him canter. A little faster. Press him with the legs. Touch him with the whip. Too fast. Pull him up. Halt�halt�halt! Never mind, Sir; mount him again�you will soon catch the knack of it.' And so no doubt you would, if you were allowed to catch one knack at a time ; but half-a-dozen simulta- neous catches are too much for human dex- terity. Take the advice of an old sportsman. Single out your bird, and bring it down. Let the rest of the covey fly�you shall have a fair shot at each in its turn, before you have done with them. Get a docile old horse, with a well-made saddle; and choose as your



			Ttie Seat. 5

		assistant a groom who has his wits about him, but over whom you have complete authority. Have your mount led into a field or paddock, if you have not access to a riding-house; and there, forgetting all other cares and consider- ations whatever, fix your whole attention upon the single object of keeping steadily and com- fortably astride upon your saddle. I say keeping astride your saddle, because I intend to Jet you get into it and out of it as you can. You are probably acquainted with the ordinary method of mounting and dis- mounting ; and if you are not, you can easily find it out for yourself. The only advice I have to give you is to acquire the habit of getting on and off your horse as smoothJy and quietly as possible. I ought, however, to mention, that M. Baucher recommends the horseman to seize the -pommel of the saddle before he springs from the ground, instead of laying his hand upon the cantle and shifting his grasp as he throws his leg over. The suggestion, so far as I can venture to judge of it by my own experience, is one of litrie importance.



			io Horse and Man.

		the military extension-motions. In a very few days you will find, if you are in tolerable health and strength to begin with, that you naturally stand and walk with your waist drop- ping in and your bust expanded. Then get on horseback again. You will immediately become aware that you have taken a consi- derable step in advance. The flexure of the loins which is necessary to combine the proper positions of the fork and bust, is no longer irk- some. In other words, you have no longer any physical uneasiness in sitting your horse as you ought. But, above all things, do not permit your- self to shirk this preliminary difficulty. Be assured that it is a difficulty, and that it must be fairly faced and conquered. The fork home on the saddle, and the bust poised upon the fork, are the indispensable conditions of a good seat on horseback ; and they cannot be united without hollowing the waist to a degree which most men will find at first exceedingly tiresome. Work patiently on until it ceases to be so. You will be well rewarded for your trouble. It is this position, correctly taken and skilfully kept, which gives fine riders that



			The Seat. 11

		peculiar air commonly described as forming part of the horse. They may, from careless- ness or affectation, have ungraceful peculiari- ties ; but the poise of their bodies is always perfect. In fact nothing is more curious than to watch how the trunk of a skilful but slovenly horseman appears to grow out of his horse's back, while his legs are working and swaying like mere appendages. Look, for instance, at Leech's admirable caricature, in Mr. Sponge's Tour, of Lord Scamperdale riding over to dine at Jawley- ford Court. The noble lord is represented as a square, thickset, ungainly man, dressed in a style of flashy vulgarity; and nothing can be more grotesque than the jockey-like affectation with which he is lowering and spreading his hands, or than the pseudo-mili- tary affectation with which he is stretching down his short legs, and cocking up his large feet. But all these absurdities are forgotten at once, when we observe the commanding ease with which his body is planted in the saddle. The great artist knew better than to trifle with that part of his hero. The horse, a remarkably clever white galloway, is striding



			12 Horse and Man.

		away at a slashing hand-gallop ; and the rider carries his bust and head like an ugly, vulgar centaur. Lord Scamperdale is certainly an ill-dressed and ill-looking man, but there is no mistake about his being a consummate horse- man. You now know how to sit properly in your saddle, and are beginning to feel tolerably comfortable while doing so. Next learn to resume your seat quickly and naturally when- ever it is disturbed. Have your horse led about at a walk. Throw yourself into every irregular attitude you can think of. Swing your body backwards and forwards, shift your seat from side to side, sway and stretch your thighs and legs ; and return, after every change of posture, to your original position. When you can do this with a single, quick, smooth, easy movement, you know how to take a good seat on horseback. All that remains is to find out the best way of keeping it. 1. Fixing the Legs___There are good judges who maintain that the art of keeping your seat on horseback is simply the art of



			14 Horse and Man.

		that, to a man of his hardihood and agility, such accidents were jokes. He was never hurt, he never lost his horse, and he always escaped the only danger for which he cared a farthing�that of being crushed or kicked on the ground. ' A fall,' he used to say, ^c is nothing to me; it is you fellows with the sticky breeches that get nipped under your horses.' But it is not every man who can contemplate with so much philosophy a flight over the head of a sixteen-hands hunter. If you wish to keep your seat in an unex- pected shock, you have only one course to pursue. You must acquire the knack of firmly grasping your saddle with your legs. Nothing else will do. A good horseman can no doubt, when he knows what his horse is going to do, place himself in an attitude which will preserve him from receiving any shock from the movement. But this attitude will not always be the same. There is no one attitude in which you can, without the aid of force, be prepared for whatever irregular movement your horse may choose to make. You must therefore learn, in order to be secure on horseback, either to employ the aid of force,



		The Seat. 15 or to foresee all your horse's movements ; and the former alternative, I need scarcely add, is much the easier of the two. What, then, ought to be your first step ? Look at a cookmaid skinning eels. She knows that the strongest man in England could not effectually grasp an eel with a slippery hand, and therefore she commences operations by carefully sanding her fingers. You know, or if you choose to try you will soon find out, that the strongest pair of legs cannot, if clad in cloth overalls, effectually grasp a leather saddle. Begin, therefore, by clothing your legs in leather. Breeches and top-boots are, or used to be, the characteristic garb of the English horseman ; but the Napoleon legging will be found, by those who dislike the trouble of changing their dress whenever they ride, as adhesive to the saddle and almost as neat to the eye. Grasping with the legs may appear a very simple exercise of muscular force; but there is a right and a wrong way of doing everything, and you will stick much more tenaciously to your saddle if you begin by finding out the most effectual method of applying your



		16 Horse and Man. strength for the purpose. Remember then, first that the grasp of the fore part of the leg is more adhesive than that of the back part, and secondly that the grasp of the upper part of the leg is more adhesive than that of the lower part. Remember also that, the more precisely under your weight your legs embrace your horse's body, the less power he will have to shake off their hold. The attitude in which you can clip your saddle most vigor- ously will consequently be the following. Keep your fork resting upon the centre of the saddle, your weight resting upon your fork, and the flat of your thighs lying along the saddle-flaps ; then place your feet horizontally, and draw back your legs until your toes are vertically beneath your knees. By maintaining this position you will effec- tually avoid two fatal blunders. Some no- vices endeavour to obtain a firm gripe by stooping forward and doubling up their legs behind them. Others sit far back, carry for- ward their feet, and rest their knees against the padding of the saddle-flaps. Both errors are quite inconsistent with good riding ; but the former, as being the more obviously and



			18 Horse and Man.

		tucked under him like those of a cockney making his first attempt at the leaping-bar, is compelling his unfortunate mount to smash a five-barred gate. When you understand how to grasp your saddle with your legs, you will find a little practice very useful in suppling and strengthen- ing the muscles which you have to use for the purpose. Take your gripe deliberately, and then try its strength by abandoning your ba- lance. Throw your body backwards, or sway it from side to side, and watch how heavy a strain the tenacity of your thighs and legs is able to support without slipping. Next sit loosely, let your body fall backwards or side- ways, and stop its fall by catching the saddle with your legs. You will, after a very few days of this exercise, become conscious of a surprising increase in the ease and power of your adhesion to your horse. 3. Suppling the Waist.�A good seat on horseback may be defined as the knack of grasping the saddle firmly with the legs with- out disturbing the position of the body. You have now learnt how to place the body, and



			The Seat. 19

		how to grasp with the legs. You must next learn how to combine the two actions while the horse is in movement. The combination will at first be a matter of some little difficulty. You will soon find, or fancy you find, that you can exert the muscular force of your legs more powerfully when your waist is allowed to become round and stiff than when it is kept hollow and pliant. You will therefore be tempted to increase the tenacity of your gripe at the expense of losing the regularity of your position. This temptation you must reso- lutely and successfully resist. For this purpose you must first of all realise the truth, that no muscles ever bestowed upon man can possibly keep you secure in your saddle, so long as your spine is allowed to be rigid at the waist. The grasp of your legs, well placed and steadily exerted, is sufficient to keep your body from the hips downwards from being dislodged by the movements of your horse, however violent they may be. But the result will be otherwise if, by stiffen- ing your back-bone, you allow the additional weight of your bust to be abruptly thrown upon the support of your femoral gripe. You c z



			20 Horse and Man.

		must therefore, unless you wish to be con- stantly jerked or twisted out of your seat, learn to keep your waist pliant while you keep your legs fixed. So long as your horse stands still, or only moves at a walk, you will have no difficulty in maintaining any position on his back which you may choose to assume. You must, there- fore, in order to acquire the knack of keeping your balance, venture upon a trot or a canter. For this purpose, place yourself in your proper position and take a steady grasp of your saddle. Let your reins hang quite slack, and do not use your stirrups. Thus prepared, let your assistant put your horse into a gentle trot. Leave the management of the animal entirely to him, and attend to nothing but keeping your seat as firmly as possible. The first difficulty to be mastered for this purpose is that of keeping your waist hollow and your shoulders back. It is a difficulty to which you have no excuse for yielding, because it is one which you can vanquish by main force. When your horse is about to strike a trot, resolve that nothing shall induce



			The Seat. 23

		You cannot indeed, properly speaking, be termed a horseman at all. But you may look forward with confidence to becoming what most men would consider an excellent horse- man ; because you have had the patience and perseverance to drudge on until you have been bumped and jolted into a smooth and solid union with your saddle. It is by the absence of this union, and by the abrupt shocks and displacements to which they are consequently exposed, that so many riders are disabled from acquiring the proper use of their hands and legs, and consequently from ever becoming masters of their horses. 4. Riding with Stirrups.�You have hither- to ridden, if not altogether without stirrups, at Jeast without making any perceptible use of them ; and your experience has, I trust, con- vinced you that a perfectly firm seat may be acquired without their assistance. If, in fact, a good horseman rides more securely with than without stirrups, this is not because they help him to keep his seat, but only because, if he should happen by any accident to lose it, they enable him to recover it with ease and



			24 Horse and Man.

		quickness. This, however, is not all. Stir- rups are of the greatest use in making the horseman's seat easy and comfortable, and in enabling him to ride fast and long without fatigue. The proper method of using them ought therefore to be carefully practised by every equestrian novice. Even at a walk the assistance of stirrups is far from unimportant. You will soon find it intolerably wearisome to keep your thighs and legs always grasping the saddle; not only be- cause the muscles thus used will become tired, but because by fixing yourself in your seat you greatly increase the play of your waist and loins with the action of the horse. You will find it almost equally fatiguing to let your legs dangle loosely in the position deter- mined by their weight. But by stretching down your heels and pressing the stirrups steadily with your feet, you will not only re- lieve the limbs themselves, but will prevent your body from incessantly writhing and working as the horse steps along. At a trot�at least at a full trot�the use of stirrups is almost indispensable. Without them the fatigue of the steadiest horseman



			The Seat. 25

		would soon become intolerable, not only be- cause he would have no means of avoiding the incessant shock of the horse's action, but also because he could not depart from his regular position in the saddle, except at the risk of being immediately unseated. With them a free and elastic trotter becomes the best and pleasantest of hacks. Well poised in his stirrups, and rising corkily to the stroke of his lively nag, the practised horseman can support his body in almost any attitude which he may find convenient, and can thus ride a day's journey without any unpleasant exer- tion. At the gallop the stirrups are seldom em- ployed. But this is only because, in ordinary riding, the horse is seldom galloped very fast or very long. When this becomes necessary, as in hunting it often does, the rider will soon find the incessant spring and pitch exceedingly jarring. In this case let him incline his body forward, lower his hands upon the horse's withers, and press the stirrups steadily with his feet. At first he will undoubtedly feel his new position somewhat precarious. But after a little practice he will find that it en-



			26 Horse and Man.

		tirely relieves his fatigue. His seat will part from and return to the saddle with a gentle oscillation as the horse strides along, but the alteration of his balance will remove all dis- agreeable concussion from the contact. Let the length of your stirrups be entirely determined by the natural position of your legs while grasping your saddle. Take your gripe, with your thighs at the angle most convenient for tenacious adhesion, your legs vertical from the knee downwards, and your feet drooping easily from the heel to the toe. Then regulate the stirrup-leathers so that the irons shall touch, just enough to keep them steady, the hollow of the foot. You will thus be sure that your stirrups are long enough not to interfere with your position when you do not want their assistance, and short enough to give you full support when you do. Feel the stirrup-iron with the hollow or the ball of the foot as you please; remembering only that, if you prefer the latter posture, the instep must be carefully kept pliant when you are not pressing upon your stirrups. You will easily divine from this advice that I am, as to one favourite article of the ordi-



	The Seat.
	The Seat.	= 7
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nary equestrian creed, a complete heretic. I am utterly unable to understand why different positions on horseback should be adopted by different descriptions of horsemen. Every horseman, I humbly conceive, wishes to be as firm and as easy in his saddle as he possibly can. If one position of the legs is found the most effectual for this purpose by the jockey, why should another be found more so by the dragoon ? or how can we persuade ourselves that an attitude, which would be insecure if the horse were to charge an ox-fence, is secure when he is charging a square or a battery ? The oldfashioned military and the old- fashioned hunting seats were both, in my opinion, more or less mistakes. In the for- mer the thighs were stretched almost verti- cally downwards, so that it became impos- sible to grasp the saddle below the knee. In the latter they were raised almost horizon- tally forwards, so that it became impossible to grasp the saddle above the knee. In both, therefore, the position of the rider was mate- rially less secure than it would have been if they had been allowed to lie in their natural



			28 Horse and Man.

		attitude. I believe, moreover, that the best judges are now of the same opinion, and that there is no longer any really important difference between the seat of an average fox-hunter and that of an average dragoon. I know that there are certain mysteries of iockeyship which may possibly require, for the convenience of the horse and not of the rider, a peculiar attitude in the saddle. I also know that, if a horseman's body is but perfectly poised, there is no conceivable posi- tion into which he may not, with comparative security, torture his lower limbs. There were fine horsemen in the antique manege, where the legs of the cavalier were placed like a pair of tongs ; and there are fine horsemen now in India, whose legs are placed like those of a tailor at work. But remember that, if such seats can be made secure, they must be so by what would otherwise be a superfluous nicety of balance. The rational horseman will place his body and legs so as to assist each other as much as possible, instead of having to correct the awkwardness of the one posture by the extraordinary excellence of the other. Whoever wishes to find the true model of



			The Seat. 29

		universal horsemanship, has only to look at the equestrian figures of Grecian sculpture. Nothing can be more delightful to the eye of a horseman than the beautiful relics of ancient art which compose the Elgin Marbles. One is never weary of admiring that long proces- sion of graceful cavaliers, each seated in the finest possible position, yet each having an individual character of his own; their thighs and knees riveted to the horse's girth, their easily drooping legs and feet, their supple waists, their expanded and recumbent busts, their neatly poised heads, their hands and arms playing lightly with every movement of the bridle. It is almost annoying to think that such godlike equitation was thrown away upon the stag-necked, hammer-headed, hog- maned cobs which seem to have been the only inmates procurable for the classical stable.



		Horse and Man.
	3°	Horse and Man.
	3°

CHAPTER II. THE HAND. You are now perfectly firm and easy on your horse in his regular paces, and tolerably con- fident that no irregular movement which he is at all likely to make will disturb you in vour saddle. In other words, you have acquired a pretty good seat. But you are still very far from being a good horseman. So far, indeed, that you are likely, if you now stop short in your education, to become a singularly clumsy and dangerous horseman; because you have acquired strength and confidence without ac- quiring skill. In fact, the only conceivable objection to the plan of teaching horsemanship by successive steps is the possibility, that the pupil may be so perverse as to think the first step sufficient. The novice who studies seat and hand together is at least kept out of pre- matuie risks by his instinctive fear of falling off; but no man is so likely to kill his horse