"What delight
To back the flying Steed, that challenges
The wind for speed! Seems native more of Air,
Than Earth! Whose burden only lends him fire!
Whose soul is in his task, turns labour into sport
And makes your pastime his!"
'_Love Chase._'
"The chief point in Horsemanship", Colonel GREENWOOD observes in his
"Hints on Horsemanship" "is to get your horse to be of your party; and
not only to obey, but to obey willingly,"--"Good riding as a whole is
indeed no trifle, and is worth acquiring by those whose pleasure or
business it is to ride, because it is soon, and easily acquired, and
when acquired it becomes habitual, and is as easy, nay much more so; and
infinitely more safe, than bad riding. Good riding is an affair of
skill, but bad riding is an affair of courage." Yet, in no other art,
are there so many self-thought Amateurs. Many ladies have a decided
objection to going through the ordeal of a riding school; others have no
opportunity of obtaining instructions, and the generality consider, that
they are in possession of all that can be acquired upon the subject,
when they have discovered a mode of retaining the seat, and guiding the
horse; but to those who wish to sit a horse through all his paces,
firmly, yet gracefully, to have the animal entirely under command, and
as if imbued with one intelligence, to unite boldness, with modesty, and
employ energy, without losing delicacy, these hints are addressed.