328 Among Men and Ho rses. 



surcingle can displace her from the saddle. I need hardly 

 remind my readers that I am here referring to pupils who 

 wish to learn in a short time to ride, and not to girls that can 

 acquire the art by years of practice. At the same time, I 

 confidently assert that my wife and I could teach in a fort- 

 night young ladies to ride a great deal better than those who 

 have ridden all their lives without any special training. We 

 must remember that ladies, unlike men, ride the saddle and 

 not the horse, and as their side seat is a wholly artificial one, 

 practice alone is not sufficient to obtain grace and skill. To 

 explain my meaning with reference to artificial and natural 

 exercises, I may point to the fact that a sprinter may be an 

 exceedingly graceful and fast runner without teaching ; but 

 that no one has ever become a dancer of great merit, without 

 long and serious training. Hunting ladies might say that 

 my pupil of fourteen days, however well she might stick 

 on her horse and handle him, would be certain to make a 

 poor show in the hunting field from lack of an instructed c eye 

 for a country,' and from not understanding ' pace.' To this 

 I may reply that riding is only one of the component parts of 

 hunting, and that many good men and women to hounds have 

 been extremely poor riders. In the same way, some of our 

 best jockeys, and even some good chase riders, have been 

 indifferent horsemen. I may here remind my readers of the 

 old saying that we should ride to hunt, and not hunt to ride. 



In London, as, I believe, elsewhere, competition has re- 

 duced school charges so much, that there is but little profit 

 to be gained from the teaching of riding. As a rule, the pro- 

 prietors are content, for a slight increase for the hire of the 

 horse or horses, to add the services of the riding-master, who 

 has to act the part of groom as well as instructor on from 305. 

 to two guineas a week. These men have been usually army 

 rough-riders, and rarely know anything beyond what they 

 have been taught at Canterbury or Woolwich. Consequently 

 they teach ladies and civilians to ride with one hand ; for the 

 very funny reason that soldiers, who are supposed to have 



