RIDING FOR LADIES.
[Illustration:
_LAFAYETTE, PHOTO: DUBLIN._
[Author’s Signature]
W. THACKER & CO. LONDON.]
_THE COMMON SENSE OF RIDING._
RIDING FOR LADIES
_WITH HINTS ON THE STABLE_.
BY
MRS. POWER O’DONOGHUE,
AUTHOR OF
“LADIES ON HORSEBACK,” “A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK,” ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED BY A. CHANTREY CORBOULD._
LONDON:
W. THACKER & CO., 87, NEWGATE STREET
CALCUTTA: THACKER, SPINK, & CO.
BOMBAY: THACKER & CO. LIMITED.
1887.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
TO MY FRIEND
LADY GLOVER,
WIDOW OF THE LATE SIR JOHN HAWLEY GLOVER, R.N., G.C.M.G.,
GOVERNOR OF NEWFOUNDLAND.
_A SMALL TOKEN OF SYMPATHY, AFFECTION,
AND ESTEEM._
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
INTRODUCTION xi
I.--OUGHT CHILDREN TO RIDE 1
II.--FOR MOTHERS AND CHILDREN 11
III.--FIRST HINTS TO A LEARNER 24
IV.--SELECTING A MOUNT 32
V.--THE LADY’S DRESS ON HORSEBACK 43
VI.--THE LADY’S DRESS ON HORSEBACK--(_continued_) 54
VII.--BITTING 63
VIII.--SADDLING 81
IX.--“LEARNING TO RIDE”--HOW TO SIT, TO WALK,
TO CANTER, AND TO TROT 92
X.--REINS, VOICE, AND WHIP 105
XI.--RIDING ON THE ROAD 122
XII.--PACES, VICES, AND FAULTS 135
XIII.--A LESSON IN LEAPING 146
XIV.--MANAGING REFUSERS 158
XV.--FALLING 166
XVI.--HUNTING OUTFIT CONSIDERED 179
XVII.--ECONOMY IN RIDING DRESS 188
XVIII.--HACKS AND HUNTERS 203
XIX.--IN THE HUNTING-FIELD 217
XX.--SHOEING 231
XXI.--FEEDING 241
XXII.--STABLING 250
XXIII.--DOCTORING 262
XXIV.--BREEDING 280
XXV.--TRAINING 292
XXVI.--A BUDGET OF “TIPS” 307
INDEX 339
[Illustration]
INTRODUCTION.
The work to which these few lines are meant to form a preface does not
aspire to the dignity of containing anything resembling an exhaustive
treatise on each, or any of the numerous minor subjects connected with
the principal one of Equitation. It is simply a collection of useful
and practical hints on matters that pertain to the horse and his
management--no study of things abstruse being brought into requisition,
or any complicated theories put forward for guidance. The instructions
given are of the plainest and easiest description, and are the result
of an experience which has in some instances been rather dearly bought;
the experiments described have been duly tested, the recipes tried, the
systems explored, and the rules set forth rigidly investigated before
being recommended.
The unexpected success which attended the publication of “Ladies on
Horseback” induced the Messrs. Ingram, proprietors of the _Lady’s
Pictorial_, to commission me, some little time ago, to write for them
a set of articles of a prepared in part from very rough sketches made
by my own hand, I think I shall have said enough to form a suitable
“preliminary canter” to this volume, and may prepare to go up to the
starting-point, and begin my race.
N. P. O’D.
[Illustration: ASSISTING HIM.
_See p. 175._]
A HORSE’S PETITION TO HIS OWNER.
Going up hill, Whip me not.
Going down hill, Hurry me not.
On level road, Spare me not.
Of hay and corn, Rob me not.
Of pure water, Stint me not.
Of fresh air, Deprive me not.
To damp bed, Subject me not.
With brush and sponge, Neglect me not.
Home from grass, Physic me not.
Tired or hot, Wash me not.
Sick or cold, Chill me not.
With bit and reins, Jerk me not.
When you are vexed, Strike me not.
When old and grey, Despise me not.
When past my labour, Work me not.
When sick and dying, Leave me not.
And, when dead--
FORGET ME NOT.
RIDING FOR LADIES.
CHAPTER I.
OUGHT CHILDREN TO RIDE?
[Illustration]
The “Common Sense of Riding,” which formed the title under which these
writings were first furnished to the public in the columns of a London
journal, supplied a fitting heading for the articles at the time, very
little concerning stable or general horse management being appended to
the instructions offered to equestrians. The expediency of adding to
the work formed a necessity for altering the title; but the original
one, if used here, would set forth precisely the manner in which I am
about to deal with the subject that I have taken in hand.
To discard preamble, and plunge at once _in medias res_, is usually the
wisest and most common-sense manner of coming at and coping with the
difficulties surrounding crotchety questions: and surely one of the
foremost in the category of such is the often-heard inquiry, “How shall
I best learn to ride?”
To offer instruction on any subject to persons who fancy they have no
need of it, is at all times mere waste of time and trouble. My remarks,
therefore--embracing, as it is meant they shall, a variety of matters
especially interesting to ladies--will be addressed throughout to those
only who really feel their need of friendly counsel, who are _anxious_
to learn, and are willing to benefit by such hints and instructions as
my varied experiences of horses and horse-management enable me to give
them.
Before entering fully upon my pleasant task, I would say that although
many men, and very many youths, may learn a useful lesson or two from
matters upon which I shall touch, or possibly deal with in detail, my
observations will be directed chiefly to _ladies_, my desire being to
take each separately, as it were, into my confidence, and speak to her
less as teacher to pupil than as friend to friend.
It seems to me that to adopt the homely pronouns “you” and “I” will
be more convenient and concise than adhering to the stereotyped and
old-fashioned terms “the reader,” and “the author”--modes of expression
which are as a rule unnecessarily formal, and most uncomfortably cold.
When, therefore, I begin my subject, I shall suppose that you are a
novice, with but a very shadowy idea of the subject on which you wish
to be enlightened; but when I say “novice,” I do not necessarily mean
a child. Indeed, I hope that you are not one, for it is widely known
that I object very strongly to children riding, my reasons for doing so
being founded on the surest and most common-sense principles. The point
is one which has of late years led me into discussions with very many
high-class authorities on equitation, but I have never for a moment
swerved from my fixed opinions, and many of my keenest opponents have,
from time to time, ranged themselves on my side.
It is indeed a matter of surprise to me that anybody possessed of even
moderate reasoning capacity can advocate infantile equestrianism. The
two arguments which defenders of it make their strong points, namely,
that it is “splendid exercise,” and that it imparts a courage which is
beneficial in after life, can, while admitted, be counterbalanced by
so many genuine drawbacks and objections, that their boasted efficacy
runs considerable risk of being regarded as a thing of nought. Before,
however, dealing with the _con’s_ of the case, let us take up the
_pro’s_ in rotation. It is splendid exercise. Granted; but rolling hoop
is quite as good, while ball-playing, tennis, badminton, and every
other game that sets the blood in motion and calls the muscles into
active play, may be styled equally beneficial. All the advantages which
are derivable from exercise--and they are many--can be had without
riding; this is an admitted fact; and, being so, it serves to sweep
away suppositious inferences respecting the superiority of _equine_
practice, or training, over that of any other sort. So much for the
oft-quoted plea of “exercise.”
With regard to the question of courage, it cannot be denied that a
certain and useful amount of _confidence_ is imparted to all young
persons who participate largely in pursuits which have a smack of
daring or danger about them. Watch, for example, the peasant girls who
inhabit the country districts of Ireland. They climb steep mountains,
descend jagged cliffs, run barefooted along sharp ledges and high
rugged walls, without thought of danger, or trace of fear. And why?
Because from childhood they have been accustomed to it. It goes, then,
without saying that early practice does impart an amount of bravado,
which may in later life be found useful on occasion; but, having
acknowledged this, I feel that I have done my entire duty towards
the advocates of a system to which I strongly object, and I shall,
therefore, proceed, in all fairness, to demolish their theories by a
clear and simple setting forth of the evils which are, in my opinion,
attendant upon early equestrian pursuits.
Few persons will be found to dispute the fact that a child on
horseback, especially a girl, runs at least as many risks as a grown
person. She may at any moment be jerked off, run away with, overpowered
by the strength or temper of her mount, cannoned against by awkward
or reckless riders, or subjected to the unpleasantness of discovering
that the animal she herself is riding is given to slipping, stumbling,
falling completely under her, or behaving in some unseemly manner that
is entirely beyond her powers to check or control. To these dangers and
discomforts--as well as to many others with which equestrians, old and
young, are uncomfortably familiar--she is at all times liable to be
exposed, and, this being an admitted truth, I ask whether it can for
a moment be asserted that a child is as capable as an adult of coping
with such risks? The answer _must_ be “No.” The perils are the same for
both--while the weaker side is absolutely unable to grapple with them
when they arise. I speak from experience, and strive to teach from it
also. Having been largely associated with juvenile riders, especially
in country parts of England, the knowledge which I have picked up from
_their_ absolute want of it has proved most fitting and serviceable
to me when offering hints and instructions to others of similar age.
Five years ago I had the unhappiness of seeing a pretty child who was
riding with me seriously hurt, through her horse falling under her
while traversing an extremely rutty road. He made what is called a
double stumble, and had her hands possessed the cunning, or her arms
the strength, to have pulled him together after he had made the first
blunder, he would undoubtedly not have gone down; but he was a slovenly
animal,--one that wanted “collecting” and keeping well in hand: two
things of which my tender little companion knew nothing whatever; nor
was she capable of putting them in practice, even had it been otherwise.
About the same time I saw another bright-eyed little maiden run away
with over the “breezy downs.” Her horse, fresh and frolicsome, started
with mine at a light canter, and for awhile we kept nicely together;
but presently--after a quarter of a mile or so--her mount began to romp
with his head, and finally breaking into a gallop, made off at terrific
speed, lashing the damp turf from beneath his flying hoofs, and laying
back his wicked ears until they rested flat upon his neck. I knew that
the youngster he was carrying had abundance of pluck, even without any
very distinct knowledge of the art of riding, so I shouted to her with
all my might to sit close and leave him his head (we were going up hill
at the time), and to give him the whip when he tired, which I knew he
very soon would do, with a long, heavy incline in front of him. I might
as well have spoken to the wind. Terror, and consciousness of her own
ignorance robbed the child of her wits: she gripped the pommel with her
right hand, tugged at the reins with her left, and, after swaying about
in a manner that makes me sick to think of, finally fell off, and was
picked up bruised and bleeding, and so entirely unnerved as to render
it a matter of extreme difficulty to persuade her ever to ride again.
As for the horse, he was not personally any the worse of his escapade,
but, having conquered his rider, he was ever afterwards rightfully
considered an unsafe animal for a lady to mount.
I have seen children over and over again subjected to the most fearful
risks through riding horses that were too much for them. It is so
easy for a girl to be overpowered,--and, once she is so, good-bye for
ever to all or any pleasure in riding the animal who has been her
conqueror. He will always remember his victory, and presume upon it.
Horses are not simpletons; their wisdom, on the contrary, is
astonishing. Allow them to vanquish you once, and they will pursue
their advantage to their lives’ end.
There are other reasons, also, on which I ground my objections to
children riding. Little girls are exceedingly apt to grow crooked. It
is all sheer nonsense to say “they will not if they _sit straight_,”
inasmuch as young riders never do, as a rule, fall into the desired
method; or, if for awhile it is a thing accomplished, they very
speedily fall out of it again, when fatigue overpowers them, or the
groom has shortened their stirrup-leather too much, or when a large
amount of pressure upon it during a long ride has stretched it to an
uncomfortable length. It is the merest sophistry to argue that such
things _ought_ not to occur, seeing that they do, and are in fact
happening every day around us. One child out of five hundred may,
perhaps, be an habitual straight-sitter, but to counterbalance her
perfection in this particular, the remaining 499 will be either hanging
to one side or the other (usually the near, or left side), or sitting
square enough, it may be, yet with the right shoulder thrust forward
and upward, thus sowing the seeds of a deformity which in ten years’
time, when the little one of eight shall have grown into a belle of
eighteen, will have become an incurable disfigurement, one which all
the arts of the most skilful _modiste_ cannot by any possibility cover,
or the most seraphic charms of face and manner serve to put out of
sight.
The frame of a child, even the most robust, is too weakly and
delicate--too liable to grow “out of form”--to render equestrian
exercise a fitting pursuit for persons of tender age. Nature has
not ruled that her frail handiwork shall be roughly or unfairly
strained, and when it is, the penalty is certain to follow, in
disarranged system, weakened or injured muscular development, misplaced
shoulder-blades, undue tension of the tendons of the left leg--or
contraction of them, which is worse--accompanied by an unnatural
languor and a constant craving for permission “to go and lie down,”
which, in so many cases, children are observed to manifest.
The absurd assertion that no girl can excel as a horsewoman unless
she begins to practise the art when a child has been so often and
substantially refuted that to attempt further contradiction of it
would be merely to entail loss of time. Suffice it to say that some of
the finest equestrians the world has ever produced have been entirely
ignorant of riding until after their arrival at womanhood, or, at all
events, until childish days had been left far in the rear. Of these a
foreign Empress is a noteworthy example, while many others, whose names
in park and hunting-field are familiar as household words, might go to
swell the list.
“Well, but really”--I fancy I hear some unconvinced matron saying--“I
cannot see that my children are anything the worse for riding every
day. I myself rode when I was their age, and it never seemed to do me
any harm.” Granted, madam; but question yourself, whether you have a
right, because _you_ have had the good fortune to escape the evils
usually consequent upon a prejudicial system, to encourage your
offspring to go in the way of contracting them. As well might you boast
of having escaped contagion during an attendance on a fever patient,
and then (presuming on your own lucky chance) thrust your children
deliberately into an infected house. No; if you are a wise parent, or
guardian, advocate early instruction in pianoforte-playing and its
study, also in drawing, painting, and such branches of education as
will expand and benefit the understanding, without unduly straining
the yet undeveloped resources of the body; encourage likewise such
exercises as are of a healthful and suitable nature--but compel the
young folks of whom you have charge to leave riding alone, at all
events until the fourteenth year has been well got over: because,
just as in singing the vocal organs are weak, and the voice apt to
alter and break about that period (which is the case with girls as
with boys, although very many fail to know or believe it), so, in like
manner, the frame of a young girl is delicate and unstrung, and is
absolutely _incapable_ of enduring strain or fatigue without incurring
consequences which, even if not made much account of at the time, will
most likely in after life cause themselves to be dismally felt.
About fifteen, or from that to twenty, is an excellent time for a
girl to learn to ride--by which I mean that she ought not to attempt
it before the first-mentioned age while the last will not be one
whit too late. Boys may begin whenever they choose; their position
on horseback obviates the possibility of growing shoulder-crooked,
while custom which enables them to ride with a leg on each side of
the saddle, equalises their seat, and fairly distributes the amount
of _stress_ which pressure on the stirrups entails upon both nether
limbs. Moreover, they are infinitely stronger, even from babyhood--can
bear any amount of knocking about, and so far from being injured by an
occasional spill or two, are immensely benefited by making moderate
acquaintance with mother earth. It is not so with girls, and around
them all my sympathies entwine.
[Illustration: CONQUERED HIS RIDER.]