The body should always be in a situation, as well to preserve the
balance, as to maintain the seat.
[Illustration]
One of the most common errors committed by ladies on horseback, who have
not been properly taught to ride is hanging by the near crutch, so that,
instead of being gracefully seated in the centre of the saddle, with the
head in its proper situation, and the shoulders even, the body is
inclined to the left, the head is brought to the right by an inelegant
bend of the neck, the right shoulder is elevated, and the left
depressed.
To correct or avoid these and similar faults, is important. All the
rider's movements should harmonize with the paces of the animal: her
position should be at once easy to herself and to her horse; and alike
calculated to ensure her own safety and give her a perfect command over
the animal. If she sit in a careless, ungraceful manner, the action of
her horse will be the reverse of elegant. A lady seldom appears to
greater advantage than when mounted on a fine horse, if her deportment
be graceful, and her positions correspond with his paces and attitudes;
but the reverse is the case, if, instead of acting with, and influencing
the movements of the horse, she appear to be tossed to and fro, and
overcome by them. She should rise, descend, advance, and stop _with_,
and not _after_ the animal. From this harmony of motion result ease,
elegance, and the most brilliant effect. The lady should sit in such a
position, that the weight of the body may rest on the centre of the
saddle. One shoulder should not be advanced more than the other. Neither
must she bear any weight on the stirrup, nor hang by the crutch towards
the near side. She ought not to suffer herself to incline forward, but
partially backward. If she bend forward, her shoulders will, most
probably, be rounded, and her weight thrown too much upon the horse's
withers: in addition to these disadvantages, the position will give her
an air of timid _gaucherie_. Leaning a little backward, on the contrary,
tends to bring the shoulders in, keeps the weight in its proper
bearing, and produces an appearance of graceful confidence.
The head should be in an easy, natural position: that is, neither
drooping forward nor thrown back; neither leaning to the right nor to
the left. The bust should be elegantly developed, by throwing back the
shoulders, advancing the chest, and bending the back part of the waist
inward. The elbows should be steady, and kept in an easy, and apparently
unconstrained position, near the sides. The lower part of the arm should
form a right angle with the upper part, which ought to descend almost
perpendicularly from the shoulder. The position of the hands, when both
are occupied with the reins, or when the reins are held in one only, we
have already noticed: the right arm and hand, in the latter case, may
depend, easily, from the shoulder, and the whip be held in the fingers,
with the lash downward, between two fingers and the thumb. The whip may
also be carried in the right hand, in the manner adopted by gentlemen:
the lady is not restricted to any precise rules in this respect, but may
vary the position of her whip arm as she may think fit, so that she do
not permit it to appear ungraceful. She must, however, take care that
the whip be so carried, that its point do not tickle or irritate the
flank of the horse.
The stirrup is of very little use except to support the left foot and
leg, and to assist the rider to rise in the trot: generally speaking,
therefore, as we have already remarked, none of the weight of the body
should be thrown upon the stirrup. The left leg must not be cramped up,
but assume an easy and comfortable position: it should neither be forced
out, so as to render the general appearance ungraceful, and the leg
itself fatigued; nor, should it be pressed close to the horse, except
when used as an aid; but descend gracefully by his side, without bearing
against it.
Although hanging by the left crutch of the saddle, over the near side,
is not only inelegant, but objectionable in many important respects, the
near crutch, properly used, is a lady's principal dependence on
horseback. The right knee being passed over the near crutch, the toes
being slightly depressed, and the leg pressed against the fore part of
the saddle, the pommel is grasped, and the rider well secured in the
possession of her seat. It is said, that when a lady, while her horse is
going at a smart trot, can lean over, on the right side, far enough to
see the horse's shoe, she may be supposed to have established a correct
seat; which, we repeat, she should spare no pains to acquire. In some of
the schools, a pupil is often directed to ride without the stirrup, and,
with her arms placed behind her, while the master holds the long rein,
and urges the horse to various degrees of speed, and in different
directions, in order to settle her firmly and gracefully on the
saddle,--to convince her that there is security without the
stirrup,--and to teach her to accompany, with precision and ease, the
various movements of the horse.
Nothing can be more detrimental to the grace of a lady's appearance on
horseback, than a bad position: a recent author says, it is a sight that
would spoil the finest landscape in the world. What can be much more
ridiculous, than the appearance of a female, whose whole frame, through
mal-position, seems to be the sport of every movement of the horse? If
the lady be not mistress of her seat, and be unable to maintain a proper
position of her limbs and body, so soon as her horse starts into a trot,
she runs the risk of being tossed about on the saddle, like the Halcyon
of the poets in her frail nest,--
"Floating upon the boisterous rude sea."
If the animal should canter, his fair rider's head will be jerked to and
fro as "a vexed weathercock;" her drapery will be blown about, instead
of falling gracefully around her; and her elbows rise and fall, or, as
it were, flap up and down like the pinions of an awkward nestling
endeavouring to fly. To avoid such disagreeable similes being applied to
her, the young lady, who aspires to be a good rider, should, even from
her first lesson in the art, strive to obtain a proper deportment on the
saddle. She ought to be correct, without seeming stiff or formal: and
easy, without appearing slovenly. The position we have described,
subject to occasional variations, will be found, by experience, to be
the most natural and graceful mode of sitting a horse:--it is easy to
the rider and her steed; and enables the former to govern the actions of
the latter so effectually, in all ordinary cases, as to produce that
harmony of motion, which is so much and so deservedly admired.
The balance is conducive to the ease, elegance, and security of the
rider:--it consists in a foreknowledge of the direction which any given
motion of the horse will impart to the body, and a ready adaptation of
the whole frame to the proper position, before the animal has completed
his change of attitude or action;--it is that disposition of the person,
in accordance with the movements of the horse, which prevents it from an
undue inclination, forward or backward, to the right or to the left.
By the direction and motion of the horse's legs the balance is governed.
If the animal be either standing still, or merely walking
straight-forward, the body should be preserved in the simple position
which we have directed the lady to assume on taking her seat. Should it
be necessary to apply the whip, so as to make the animal quicken his
pace, or to pull him in suddenly, the body must be prepared to
accommodate itself to the animal's change of action. When going round a
corner at a brisk pace, or riding in a circle, the body should lean back
rather more than in the walking position: to the same extent that the
horse bends inward, must the body lean in that direction. If a horse shy
at any object, and either turn completely and suddenly round, or run on
one side only, the body should, if possible, keep time with his
movements, and adapt itself so as to turn or swerve with him; otherwise,
the balance will be lost, and the rider be in danger of falling, on the
side from which the animal starts. In no case, let it be remembered,
should the rider endeavour to assist herself in preserving her balance,
by pulling at the reins.
[Illustration]