TWO STYLES OF HORSEMANSHIP. 12-1 



of the horse, bumps up and down, falling heavily on the 

 horse's loins, and hanging on the reins to prevent the 

 animal slipping from under him, whilst he is thrown up 

 in his seat." 



It is a curious circumstance that the English alone have 

 two styles of horsemanship. The one, natural and useful, 

 formed in the hunting-field; the other, artificial and 

 military, imported from the Continent. If you go into 

 Rotten Bow in the season you may see General the 

 Earl of Cardigan riding a trained charger in the most 

 approved military style the toes in the stirrups, long 

 stirrup-leathers, heels down, legs from the knee carefully 

 clear of the horse's side in fact, the balance seat, 

 handed down by tradition from the time when knights 

 wore complete armour and could ride in no other way, 

 for the weight of the armour rendered a fall certain if 

 once the balance was lost ; a very grand and graceful 

 style it is when performed by a master of the art of the 

 length of limb of the Earl, or his more brilliant prede- 

 cessor, the late Marquess of Anglesea. But if you go 

 into Northamptonshire in the hunting season, you may 

 see the same Earl of Cardigan in his scarlet coat, looking 

 twice as thick in the waist, sailing away in the first 

 flight, sitting down on the part intended by nature for 

 a seat, with his knees well bent, and his calves employed 

 in distributing his weight over the horse's back and 

 sides. In the one case the Earl is a real, in the other a 

 show, horseman. 



Therefore, when a riding-master tells you that you 

 must ride by balance, " with your body upright, knee 

 drawn back, and the feet in a perpendicular line with 

 the shoulder, and your legs from the knee downward 

 brought away to prevent what is called clinging" listen 

 to him, learn all you can do not argue, that would be 



