When persons are pursuing their business or pleasure on the road,
precise formality, and attention to the strict rules of riding, would
interrupt their enjoyment.
The rudiments of the art being once known, when on the road, no more of
it is to be applied, than will, with the greatest ease, facilitate our
designs. When nothing more is required of the horse, than to perform the
natural paces, he will walk, trot, and gallop with the greatest freedom.
The rider participates in the like ease, or unrestrained liberty, but
this ease or inattention, is not to suffer unseemly habits to take
place, such as the back and shoulders to get round, the head to shake,
the leg to dangle, and beat against the horse's side.
These errors may creep on a person, who has not been confirmed in the
principles by sufficient practice; but when habits of good riding are
once firmly established, the ease and liberty the rider assumes, will
not exceed propriety, risk her security, nor abandon, nor baffle her
horse,--her hand will keep its situation and properties, though the body
be turned to any extreme for the purpose of conversing, and the like,
nor will the body by any freedom it takes, throw itself out of balance,
nor take the liberty, when it cannot be done with safety. This freedom
and ease, so desirable and so universally admired, is affected by every
person who is in the habit of riding, but with this difference, some
possess system, with negligence, and ease, and others merely negligence
and ease, without system.
A lady's horse should be sure footed, but the best become careless. When
a horse trips, he should be kept more than usually collected. It is
useless to whip a horse after stumbling, as it is also after shying, for
it is clear, he would not run the risk of breaking his knees nor his
nose if he could help it. A bad horsewoman throws her horse down, which
a good horsewoman does not do. That is, because a bad horsewoman hurries
her horse, over bad ground, or down hill, or over loose stones, or rough
and broken ground, lets him flounder into difficulties, and when there,
pulls him so that he cannot see, nor exert himself to get out of them
and expecting chastisements, the horse springs to avoid it, before he
has recovered his feet, and goes down with a tremendous impetus; if she
have to cross a rut to the right, she probably forces her horse across
it, when the right foot is on the ground; in which case, unless the
horse collect himself, and jump; if he attempts to step across it, the
probability is, that crossing his legs, he knocks one against the other
and falls. The reverse of all this, Colonel GREENWOOD, writes, should be
the case, if the lady have not sufficient tact to feel, which of her
horse's feet is on the ground, she must allow him his own time for
crossing, which will be, when the left foot is on the ground. The rider
should habitually choose her horse's ground for him, this by practice,
will become as easy to her, as choosing her own path when walking.
It is a common error to suppose, that a rider can support a horse when
falling, lift him over a leap, or hold him up, they are mechanical
impossibilities. Were a similar weight attached to the thin rein of a
lady's bridle, could the lady lift it with her left hand. A pull from
the curb, will indeed give the horse so much pain in the mouth, that he
will throw up his head, and the rider flatters herself that she has
saved her horse from falling; but this error is not harmless, by so
doing, she prevents his seeing to foot out any unsafe ground; and
further, when an unmounted horse stumbles, nature teaches him to drop
his head and neck, which relieves the shoulders of their weight, and
that is the instant that the horse makes his effort to recover himself;
the muscular power employed to raise the head and neck, will act to sink
his knees, for as much as the rider pulls up, so much will she pull
down. The great point is, to keep the horse so well balanced and in
hand, with his legs well under him, that should the horse stumble, or
get into difficulties, he is able to recover himself without much
exertion.
_When proceeding along a road_, the rule is, to keep to the left side of
it, but when about to pass those travelling in the same direction,
though at a less speedy pace; to pass on their right. A party meeting
another passes to the right, that is, the right hands of the parties
meeting, are towards each other.
_A gentleman riding with a lady_, should be on her right side, as on
that side, if the road be dirty, he does not bespatter the lady's habit,
and on that side also, he is situated next the carriages, and various
objects they meet, or which may be passing near them.
If a lady find her horse become affected and uneasy in his gait, she
should endeavor to ascertain the cause, the probability is, there will
be found to be something wrong, in the bridle or saddle or perhaps a
stone in the horse's foot, and she should have it remedied if possible.
A lady should also habitually prevent her horse out-walking, or lagging
behind her companions, she is either very unsociable, or a bad
horsewoman, who does not keep abreast of them.
A lady, although advised to ride in general on the curb bridle, should
occasionally use both hands to the reins. It assists in obtaining a firm
seat, by giving greater power and command over the horse; it prevents
the strain on the left arm, which is the natural result of holding a
horse entirely with one hand, it makes the pressure upon the animal's
mouth more even, which is so truly essential to the comfort of both
horse and rider, it keeps the shoulders square, a very important point
in the elegance of a young lady's appearance, it causes the elbows to be
even on either side instead of one being infinitely in the rear of the
other, as is too often the case, and though last not least, it keeps the
whip quiet until its use is called for.
There is a piece of inhumanity practised, as much, perhaps more by
ladies than by gentlemen, it is, _riding a horse fast on hard ground_.
If the ground be hard and even, a collected canter may be allowed, but
one hour's gallop on hard and uneven ground, would do the soundest horse
irremediable injury, his sinews would be strained, his joints
prematurely stiffened, fever in the feet would be produced, and the
horse would be deprived at once, and for ever, of his elasticity and
action, and be brought prematurely a cripple to the grave.