i8o HANDS, VOICE, WHIP AND SPUR. 



of sharp spurs is forbidden, except by special permis- 

 sion. Why te- Melville points out that my sex are 

 unmerciful in the abuse of the spur. He says : 

 " Perhaps because they have but one, they use this 

 stimulant liberally and without compunction. From 

 their seat and shortness of stirrup every kick tells home. 

 Concealed under a riding habit, these vigorous applica- 

 tions are unsuspected by lookers on." I have seen 

 more than one poor animal's side badly torn and 

 bleeding from a lady's spur. A lady who rides a horse 

 in the ordinary way with this instrument of torture, 

 which she is unable to use correctly, brands herself in the 

 eyes of her more experienced sister as an incompetent 

 horsewoman. I have heard hunting men advocate 

 the spur for ladies ; but they would probably change 

 their opinion if they were to try the effect of riding 

 with one spur, and that on the left foot, especially in a 

 lady's hunting saddle. Very few men who wear spurs 

 are able to use them properly ; Whyte Melville says 

 not one in ten, and " the tenth is often most unwilling 

 to administer so severe a punishment." The late 

 George Fordham wholly repudiated " the tormentors," 

 and said they made a horse shorten his stride and " shut 

 up," instead of struggling bravely home. My husband, 

 in Riding and Hunting, says it is the fashion to wear 

 spurs with top-boots, but many good horses go much 

 better without them. Whyte Melville remarks that " a 

 top-boot has an unfinished look without its appendage 

 of shining steel ; and although some sportsmen assure us 

 that they dispense with rowels, it is rare to find one so 



