196 FIRST LESSONS IN RIDING. 



A lady learning to trot will require to do her hair 

 up securely with plenty of hair* pins, pay attention to 

 the fit of her hat, and see that it is provided with 

 elastic an inch wide (p. 114), because she will find 

 her head jerked about a good deal during her first 

 lessons. The trot should be properly studied in a 

 school or enclosure before a lady is taken out on the 

 roads, for she can learn nothing by " slithering " along 

 anyhow, and will be liable to contract a bad method 

 of riding, which will probably prevent her from ever 

 becoming a good horsewoman. We must remember 

 that the trot is the most difficult of all paces, and can 

 be correctly acquired only after much patient practice ; 

 but it is worth doing well. Very few ladies excel in 

 this art, for the simple reason that they do not care 

 to go through the drudgery of it. Some ladies are 

 so impatient that they give up the study of a pace as 

 soon as they can stick on their saddles. How few 

 who hunt can. really ride well! In Leicestershire a 

 fine horsewoman remarked to me that several ladies 

 ride hard who are indifferent horsewomen a fact 

 which I think we may see demonstrated in every 

 hunting-field ; but what is worth doing at all is surely 

 worth doing well, and a lady should strive to be a 

 good horsewoman as well as a plucky rider. When a 

 horse increases his pace without being ordered to do 

 so, he should be at once checked by a pull, not a jerk, 

 on the reins, which should be accompanied by a word, 

 such as "steady," uttered in a warning, determined 

 tone that he will understand ; because he should never 



