376 RIDING 



more disheartening than to keep on finding out that a thing 

 which looks so easy when one sees a good rider doing it 

 comes so difficult to oneself; but a little patience and lots 

 of encouragement will get over these difficulties. The pupil 

 should be kept at a very steady pace, in fact barely out of a 

 walk, and frequently changed from one rein on to the other by 

 the incline^ but as yet always making the change at a walk : 

 for this reason, that while he is going round the school at a trot 

 to the right he is leaning a little to the right, and if he makes 

 the change at a trot, before he has time to get his balance to 

 the left, he comes to the corner and, as likely as not, tumbles 

 into it. While walking he may take his feet out of the stirrups, 

 and cross them over the horse's neck, taking them again before 

 he begins to trot. 



LESSON V 



The pupil should now be pretty well acquainted with the 

 motions in mounting and dismounting, and should be required 

 on the command 'Prepare to mount,' to go through all the 

 motions correctly, and the same in mounting, care being taken 

 that he makes a pause with the body upright before passing 

 the right leg over, and that the right hand on the pommel of 

 the saddle receives the weight of the body as it comes into it. 

 He should now be getting a little steadier in his seat at a trot, 

 and able to keep going a little longer without becoming dis- 

 tressed. He may also be shown how to make a turn at a walk, 

 it being explained that in turning to the right it is not suf- 

 ficient to feel the right rein only, but that he should retain a 

 steady feeling of the left also, and that both legs should be 

 closed, the left leg the more strongly, so that the hind quarters 

 are not thrown out; on arriving at the opposite side of the 

 school he again turns to the same hand. The pace at a trot 

 should still be steady and regular, and the same attention paid 

 to the position of the body, hands, and legs. The pupil should 

 also try to ride his horse nearly into the corners of the school 

 by feeling the rein nearest the side and closing the opposite leg, 



