ON THE VALUE OF BOOKS ON RIDING. 1 3 



horse take a desired lead preparatory to turning in 

 the gallop, and the tutor should have a practical 

 knowledge of what he is to teach. I repeat, that I 

 think it would be difficult to find such an instructor. 

 I contend that a pupil would learn more from a 

 thoroughly good book than from a teacher who is 

 ignorant of what he undertakes to teach, and I 

 deny that there is any insuperable difficulty in 

 acquiring a thorough knowledge of the art from a 

 book. The proper position to take upon the horse, 

 the mode of using the reins, the manner and objects 

 of applying the spurs, can be plainly told in printed 

 words, and as a test whether the combined effects of 

 the aids to produce certain results can be explained 

 in type, I will describe the method of demanding 

 the most difficult movement in horsemanship — the 

 change in the gallop, — and ask the reader if he could 

 not, after proper practice, carry the instructions 

 into effect. 



First, it must be understood that in the gallop 

 the horse goes into air from a fore-foot — say the 

 right ; he then alights upon the left hind-foot ; then 

 he brings the right hind-foot and the left fore-foot 

 to the ground, and then the right fore-foot (from 

 which he again goes into air in a new stride). 



Now, to the eye the horse has taken longer steps 

 with the legs of the right side, because they are 



