Having endeavoured to mark out the course of equitation from the
preparatory suppling practices to the orthodox conventionalities of the
hunting field, I conclude this series of papers with a few hints which I
trust will be useful to ladies about to proceed to India or the
colonies.
In the first place, as regards riding habiliments, I recommend ladies
going to India to procure everything in the shape of habits, trousers,
and hats in this country. In India they cost a hundred per cent. more
than at home, and the natives can only make them by pattern. Riding
boots can be procured in the East quite as well made and as durable as
those made in England, and at a fifth of the price.
Saddlery should be taken out from England. It is also just a hundred per
cent. dearer in India. One good side-saddle, such as I have previously
described, will with care last a lady many years. Of bridles she should
take at least half a dozen double ones (bit and bridoon). Horse clothing
of any sort as used in England is not required in India.
As regards the horse itself on which the fair emigrant to the East will
take her health-preserving morning gallop at gun-fire, I must say
little. I have endeavoured elsewhere to give some idea of what Arab
horses are; and, as every lady going to India is certain to know some
male friend who is well up at buying a lady's horse, I need only say
that, if the animal purchased is a young unbroken one, the best plan is
to send him to the nearest cavalry or horse artillery station, and have
him broken precisely in the same form as an officer's charger. The Arab
dealers from whom the horse, if unbroken, is most likely to be
purchased, know nothing, and care less, about breaking, and the people
about them have the very worst hands upon a horse I have ever seen.
All riding in India, except in cases of absolute necessity, should be
done very early in the morning. The lady should be in the saddle soon
after gun-fire (five o'clock). By the time she arrives at the galloping
ground (in a large station or cantonment generally the racecourse) the
sun will be up, so quickly does it rise, with scarcely any twilight, in
India; but its rays are not then vertical, nor is the heat either
oppressive or injurious until much later in the day.
A couple or three hours' riding is sufficient for health, and the great
thing is to go home quite cool; the bath and breakfast are then most
enjoyable. Evening promenades are as a matter of fashion, and indeed, of
reason, usually attended by ladies in carriages. There are many,
however, who prefer riding on horseback again in the latter part of the
day; but experience proves that evening riding on horseback is not good,
as a rule, for ladies. Exposure to the sun on horseback, or indeed in
any way, should be specially avoided, as should also violent exercise of
any kind, that on horseback not excepted. The rattling gallop, which is
not only exhilarating but healthful in Leicestershire, is inadmissible
in most parts of India, where extremes of any kind are injurious.
Finally, I would respectfully impress upon every lady who is likely to
go to India, those especially who, having been born there, have been
sent home for their education, that they should avail themselves of
every opportunity in this country of becoming efficient horsewomen. To
be able to ride well is very desirable for a lady who is to pass her
life in Europe, in India it is absolutely indispensable; and if the
lady's equitation is neglected in early days at home, she will find
herself sadly at a loss when she arrives in India; for although there
are plenty of thoroughly competent men there who could instruct her,
their time is taken up with teaching recruits at the early time of the
day at which a lady could avail herself of their services. As regards
riding in Australia, the Cape, New Zealand, Canada, or the West Indies,
briefly it may be said that again it is best to take out saddlery from
this country, because, although it can be procured in any of the
above-named colonies far cheaper than in India, it is still
considerably dearer, and generally not so good as at home. At the Cape,
in Australia, and in New Zealand--the two former colonies
especially--long journeys have frequently to be done by ladies on
horseback; and if a thoroughly practical education in the saddle is
necessary to health, as regards a sojourn in India; it is equally so as
a matter of convenience in other of the British dependencies abroad.
Let me, then, close my humble efforts at carefully tracing out the
readiest way for a lady to become a thorough horsewoman by again
recommending them all to begin early, and to pay implicit attention to
the tuition of a first-class instructor; always to throw their whole
heart into their riding, fixing their minds rigidly on it while
learning, and never, however proficient or confident they may be,
venture, unless upon a life-and-death emergency, upon half-broken
horses. During the Indian mutiny instances occurred in which ladies owed
their lives to their nerve and courage in mounting horses ill-adapted to
carry them, and by dint of sheer determination urging them into top
speed and safety to the fair fugitives. In such desperate emergencies
there is no alternative but to accept the lesser risk; but in ordinary
cases my advice (the result of long experience) is to all lady riders,
never mount an untrained horse, and never allow your horse to become too
fresh for want of work.
A casualty which may be attended with trifling consequences to a man may
have the most serious results in the case of a lady; while I am firmly
of opinion that no such thing as an accident ought ever to occur to her
on horseback if due care and foresight are exercised by those about her,
and if the lady herself will be careful whenever or under whatever
circumstances she approaches or mounts a horse to be always on her
guard, to _ride_ all the time she is on him, to remember that in all
matters that relate to riding the homely old adage, "Afterwit is not
worth a penny an ounce" is strictly applicable, and that the golden rule
is, "Never give away a chance to your horse."
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note: Hyphen variations left as printed.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Barb and the Bridle, by Vielle Moustache