HORSEMANSHIP. 



with its instructor on the high road, or in the park when 

 nearly empty. 



So far the child-rider has not experienced the luxury and 

 support of a stirrup. As part of the pony's education ought 

 to be to stand stock still the moment the rider is unseated, 

 there is not much fear of a child being dragged. Still, as 

 prevention is better than cure, all saddles should be fitted 

 with the safety stirrup bar made by Messrs. Champion and 

 Wilton. When these patent-safety arrangements are not used 

 I prefer the boy's-clog-slipper to the open stirrup. The girl's 

 length of leather should, as explained in the volume on 

 ladies' riding, be such as to bring the left knee up against 

 the lower and padded face of the hunting head; a boy 

 should ride with a somewhat short stirrup or clog, and with 

 a bent leg, otherwise he will find himself riding on the 

 "fork," standing astride over rather than sitting down in the 

 saddle ; he will, with long stirrups, not be sufficiently seated, 

 will be too forward in the saddle, and so be liable to lose 

 his clog. No doubt the foothold of the stirrup is much 

 firmer than that of the clog. 



With boys and lads I do not counsel any coddling. The 

 English boy — and in the term I include Scotch and Irish — 

 as a rule is a young dare-devil requiring curbing. We have 

 the testimony of the Duke of Wellington as to the gay light- 

 hearted manner in which our British boys, fresh from the 

 playing fields, marched on that June evening some seventy- 

 six years ago, to tackle the war-worn Old Guard of France, 

 and how the gallant young fellows bore themselves through- 

 out that long and bloody day. When our boys are twelve or 

 fourteen years old, they, if brok&n early to the saddle, are fit 

 to ride anything, and the more of all sorts they practise on 

 the better. Plucky youngsters of this fibre, those who with 

 years will develop what Carlyle termed '' the silent ivccy and 



