24 IN THE HIDING-SCHOOL. 



After your first lesson, you will find it well to 

 practise springing upward from the right foot, 

 holding your left on a hassock, or a chair rung, 

 your right hand raised as if grasping the pom- 

 mel, your shoulders carefully kept back, and 

 your body straight. It is best to perform this 

 exercise before a mirror, and when you begin to 

 think that you have mastered it, close your eyes, 

 give ten upward springs and then look at your- 

 self. A hopeless wreck, eh ? Not quite so bad 

 as that, but, before, you unconsciously corrected 

 your position by the eye, and you must learn to 

 do it entirely by feeling. You will probably 

 improve very much on a second trial, because 

 your shoulders will begin to be sensitive. Why 

 not practise this exercise before your first les- 

 son ? Because you should know just how your 

 master prefers to stand, in order to be able to 

 imagine him standing as he really will. It is 

 not unusual to see riders of some experience 

 puzzled and made awkward by an innovation on 

 what they have regarded as the true and only 

 method of mounting, although, when once the 

 right leg and wrist are properly trained, a 

 woman ought to be able to reach the saddle 



