INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



IT may be well, at starting, to state the objects with 

 which this little book has been brought before the 

 public interested in horses, and at the same time, in 

 order to prevent misapprehension, to say, that the 

 author has not the slightest intention of setting up any 

 one kind of seat or style of riding as a model for all 

 riders. On the contrary, he is fully persuaded that 

 each of these has its own merits, and, as our French 

 neighbours would say, its own raison d'etre that is to 

 say, has been adopted for good and sufficient reasons, 

 so far as each individual rider possessed an insight into 

 the true essentials of the case, and has been able to dis- 

 tinguish these from what is merely matter of fashion 

 or supposed convenience. 



Some men, and these are the naturally good or born 

 riders, possess the sort of knowledge in question in- 

 stinctively, and frequently without being able to account 

 either to themselves or others for the way in which 

 they have acquired it, or give satisfactory reasons for 

 the adoption of their methods. Such men are most 

 usually, although not invariably, of the peculiar build, 



