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RIDING FOR LADIES.
BY
W. A. KERR, V.C.,
FORMERLY SECOND IN COMMAND OF THE 2ND REGIMENT
SOUTHERN MAHARATTA HORSE.
_ILLUSTRATED._
NEW YORK:
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY,
MDCCCXCI.
PREFACE.
This work should be taken as following on, and in conjunction with, its
predecessor on "Riding." In that publication will be found various
chapters on Action, The Aids, Bits and Bitting, Leaping, Vice, and on
other cognate subjects which, without undue repetition, cannot be
reintroduced here. These subjects are of importance to and should
be studied by all, of either sex, who aim at perfection in the
accomplishment of Equitation, and who seek to control and manage the
saddle-horse.
W. A. K.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY 1
II. THE LADY'S HORSE 6
III. PRACTICAL HINTS: HOW TO MOUNT, 14--THE SEAT, 22--THE WALK,
27--THE TROT, 33--THE CANTER, 39--THE HAND-GALLOP AND GALLOP,
44--LEAPING, 46--DISMOUNTING, 51
IV. THE SIDE SADDLE 52
V. HINTS UPON COSTUME 63
VI. A LA CAVALIERE 73
VII. APPENDIX I.--THE TRAINING OF PONIES FOR CHILDREN 81
APPENDIX II.--EXTENSION AND BALANCE MOTIONS 89
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
PREPARING TO MOUNT 17
MOUNTING--SECOND POSITION 19
MOUNTED--NEAR SIDE 22
RIGHT AND WRONG ELBOW ACTION 26
RIGHT AND WRONG MOUNT 28
TURNING IN THE WALK--RIGHT AND WRONG WAY 31
RIGHT AND WRONG RISING 34
THE TROT 38
FREE BUT NOT EASY 43
THE LEAP 48
THE SIDE SADDLE, OLD STYLE 53
THE SAFETY SADDLE 54
SADDLES 55-62
THE "ZENITH" HABIT--JACKET BODY 65
COSTUMES 78
RIDING FOR LADIES.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
What I have said on the excellence of horse-exercise for boys and men,
applies equally to girls and women, if, indeed, it does not recommend
itself more especially in the case of the latter. For the most part
the pursuits of women are so quiet and sedentary that the body is
rarely called into that complete activity of all the muscles which is
essential to their perfect development, and which produces the strength
and freedom of movement so indispensable to perfect grace of carriage.
The woman who has been early accustomed to horse-exercise gains a
courage and nerve which it would be difficult to acquire in a more
pleasant and healthful manner. She also gains morally in learning to
feel a sympathy with the noble animal to whom she is indebted for so
much enjoyment, and whose strength and endurance are too often cruelly
abused by man. Numerous instances have occurred in my experience of the
singular influence obtained by ladies over their horses by simple
kindness, and I am tempted to introduce here an account of what gentle
treatment can effect with the Arab. The lady who told the tale did not
lay claim to being a first-rate horsewoman. Her veracity was undoubted,
for her whole life was that of a ministering angel. She wrote thus: "I
had a horse provided for me of rare beauty and grace, but a perfect
Bucephalus in her way. She was only two generations removed from a
splendid Arabian, given by the good old king to the Duke of Kent when
H.R.H. went out in command to Nova Scotia. The creature was not three
years old, and to all appearance unbroken. Her manners were those of a
kid rather than of a horse; she was of a lovely dappled gray, with mane
and tail of silver, the latter almost sweeping the ground; and in her
frolicsome gambols she turned it over her back like a Newfoundland dog.
Her slow step was a bound, her swift motion unlike that of any other
animal I ever rode, so fleet, so smooth, so unruffled. I know nothing
to which I can compare it. Well, I made this lovely creature so fond of
me by constant petting, to which, I suppose, her Arab character made
her peculiarly sensitive, that my voice had equal power over her, as
over my faithful docile dog. No other person could in the slightest
degree control her. Our corps, the 73rd Batt. of the 60th Rifles, was
composed wholly of the _elite_ of Napoleon's soldiers, taken in the
Peninsula, and preferring the British service to a prison. They were,
principally, conscripts, and many were evidently of a higher class in
society than those usually found in the ranks. Among them were several
Chasseurs and Polish Lancers, very fine equestrians, and as my husband
had a field-officer's command on detachment, and allowances, our horses
were well looked after. His groom was a Chasseur, mine a Pole, but
neither could ride "Fairy" unless she happened to be in a very gracious
mood. Lord Dalhousie's English coachman afterwards tried his hand at
taming her, but all in vain. In an easy quiet manner she either sent
her rider over her head or, by a laughable manoeuvre, sitting down like
a dog on her haunches, slipped him off the other way. Her drollery made
the poor men so fond of her that she was rarely chastised, and such a
wilful, intractable wild Arab it would be hard to find. Upon her I was
daily mounted. Inexperienced in riding, untaught, unassisted, and
wholly unable to lay any check upon so powerful an animal, with an
awkward country saddle, which, by some fatality, was never well fixed,
bit and bridle to match, and the mare's natural fire increased by high
feed, behold me bound for the wildest paths in the wildest regions of
that wild country. But you must explore the roads about Annapolis, and
the romantic spot called the "General's Bridge," to imagine either the
enjoyment or the perils of my happiest hour. Reckless to the last
degree of desperation, I threw myself entirely on the fond attachment
of the noble creature; and when I saw her measuring with her eye some
rugged fence or wild chasm, such as it was her common sport to leap
over in her play, the soft word of remonstrance that checked her was
uttered more from regard to her safety than my own. The least whisper,
a pat on the neck, or a stroke down the beautiful face that she used to
throw up towards mine, would control her; and never for a moment did
she endanger me. This was little short of a daily miracle, when we
consider the nature of the country, her character, and my
unskilfulness. It can only be accounted for on the ground of that
wondrous power which, having willed me to work for a time in the
vineyard of the Lord, rendered me immortal till the work should be
done. Rather, I should say, in the words of Cooper, which I have
ventured to slightly vary--
"'Tis plain the creature whom He chose to invest
With _queen_-ship and dominion o'er the rest,
Received _her_ nobler nature, and was made
Fit for the power in which she stands arrayed."
Strongly as I advocate early tuition, if a girl has not mounted a
horse up to her thirteenth year, my advice is to postpone the attempt,
unless thoroughly strong, for a couple of years at least. I cannot
here enter the reason why, but it is good and sufficient. Weakly girls
of all ages, especially those who are growing rapidly, are apt to
suffer from pain in the spine. "The Invigorator" corset I have
recommended under the head of "Ladies' Costume" will, to some extent,
counteract this physical weakness; but the only certain cures are
either total cessation from horse exercise, or the adoption of the
cross, or Duchess de Berri, seat--in plain words, to ride _a la
cavaliere_ astride in a man's saddle. In spite of preconceived
prejudices, I think that if ladies will kindly peruse my short chapter
on this common sense method, they will come to the conclusion that
Anne of Luxembourg, who introduced the side-saddle, did not confer an
unmixed benefit on the subjects of Richard the Second, and that riding
astride is no more indelicate than the modern short habit in the
hunting field. We are too apt to prostrate ourselves before the
Juggernaut of fashion, and to hug our own conservative ideas.
Though the present straight-seat side-saddle, as manufactured by
Messrs. Champion and Wilton, modifies, if it does not actually do away
with, any fear of curvature of the spine; still, it is of importance
that girls should be taught to ride on the off-side as well as the
near, and, if possible, on the cross-saddle also. Undoubtedly, a
growing girl, whose figure and pliant limbs may, like a sapling, be
trained in almost any direction, does, by always being seated in one
direction, contract a tendency to hang over to one side or the other,
and acquire a stiff, crooked, or ungainly seat. Perfect ease and
squareness are only to be acquired, during tuition and after dismissal
from school, by riding one day on the near and the next on the
off-side. This change will ease the horse, and, by bringing opposite
sets of muscles into play, will impart strength to the rider and keep
the shoulders level. Whichever side the rider sits, the reins are held,
mainly, in the left hand--the left hand is known as the "bridle-hand."
Attempts have frequently been made to build a saddle with two flaps and
movable third pommel, but the result has been far from satisfactory. A
glance at a side-saddle tree will at once demonstrate the difficulty
the saddler has to meet, add to this a heavy and ungainly appearance.
The only way in which the shift can be obtained is by having two
saddles.
[Illustration: NAOMI (A HIGH-CASTE ARABIAN MARE).]