Road riding is here introduced, because the trot is its most
appropriate pace.
The difference between manège and road riding, consists chiefly in a
shorter seat and a shorter stirrup being used in the latter. A certain
freedom and ease are also admissible. These, however, must not exceed
propriety, lead to neglect of the horse, or risk security. The hand
should keep its situation and property, though the body be turned to
any extreme for the purpose of viewing or conversing; and the body must
not, by any freedom it takes, throw itself out of balance, or take
liberties when it cannot be done with safety.
When the trot is extended to an unpleasant roughness, the jolting
may be eased by rising upward and slightly forward in the stirrups.
The faster the horse trots, the easier it is to rise; for it is the
action of the horse, and not any effort of the rider, that must raise
him. The foot he leads with determines that which the rider must rise
to; and, if the horse change his foot, he must change with him. He
must accordingly rise and fall with the leading foot, rising when the
leading foot is in the air, and falling when it comes to the ground.
The rise and fall of the body are to be smooth, and as regular as the
beats of the feet.
[Illustration: _Plate XXXIX_
_Page 150._
The Trot.