I. A PRELIMINARY CHAT WITH ESMERALDA The proper frame of mind
--Dress--Preparatory exercises.
II. SHALL YOU TAKE YOUR MOTHER, ESMERALDA? The first lesson--
Various ways of mounting--Slippery reins--Clucking--After
a ride.
III. CHAT DURING THE SECOND LESSON Equestrian language--
Trotting without a horse--Exercises in and out of the saddle.
IV. ESMERALDA'S TRIALS AT THE THIRD LESSON Pounding the saddle
--A critical spectator--A few rein-holds.
V. ESMERALDA ON THE ROAD Good and bad and indifferent riders--
A very little runaway.
VI. THE ORDEAL OF A PRIVATE LESSON Voltes and half voltes--
"On the right hand of the school"--Imagination as a teacher.
VII. ESMERALDA AT A MUSIC RIDE Sitting like a poker--The
ways of the bad rider.
VIII. ESMERALDA IN CLASS Keeping distances--Corners--
Proper place in the saddle--Exercises to correct nervous
stiffness.
IX. ELEMENTARY MILITARY EVOLUTIONS "Forward, forward, and
again forward!"--How to guide a horse easily.
X. CHAT DURING AN EXERCISE RIDE The deeds of the three-legged
trotter--The omniscient rider--Backing a step or two--
Fun in the dressing-room.
XI. ESMERALDA IS MANAGED Intervals--The secret of learning
to ride.
XII. CHAT ABOUT THE HABIT Riding-dress in history and fiction--
Cloth, linings and sewing--Boots, gloves, and hats.
XIII. CHAT ABOUT TEACHERS Foreign and native instructors--Why
American women learn slowly--"Keep riding!"