LADIES, HOW TO BE TAUCHT. 115 



comfortable for the short legs of little boys, and likely to 

 induce rupture. On a narrow, well-bred pony, of 11 or 

 12 hands high, a boy of six can sit like a little man. It 

 is cruel to make children ride with bare legs. 



Before Earey introduced his system, there was no 

 satisfactory mode of training those ponies that were too 

 small for a man to mount, unless the owner happened 

 to live near some racing stable, where he could obtain 

 the services of a " feather-weight doll," and then the 

 pony often learned tricks more comic than satisfactory. 



By patiently applying the practices explained in the 

 preceding chapters, the smallest and most highly-bred 

 pony may be reduced to perfect docility without impair- 

 ing its spirit, and taught a number of amusing tricks. 



Young ladies may learn on full-sized horses quite as 

 well as on ponies, if they are provided with suitable 

 side-saddles. 



A man, or rather a boy, may learn to ride by practice 

 and imitation, and go on tumbling about until he has 

 acquired a firm and even elegant seat, but no lady can 

 ever learn to ride as a lady should ride, without a good 

 deal of instruction ; because her seat on horseback is so 

 thoroughly artificial, that without some competent per- 

 son to tell her of her faults, she is sure to fall into a 

 number of awkward ungraceful tricks. Besides, a riding- 

 school, with its enclosed walls and trained horses, 

 affords an opportunity of going through the prelimi- 

 nary lessons without any of those accidents which on 

 the road, or in a field, are very likely to occur with a 

 raw pupil on a fresh horse. For a young lad to fall 

 on the grass, is not a serious affair, but a lady should 

 never be allowed to run the chance of a fall, because 

 it is likely to destroy the nerve, without which no 

 lessons can be taught successfully. All who have 



