174 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



recently been treated by more than one good writer 

 and thorough horseman. 1 American horses are as a 

 rule so intelligent and well disposed that they are 

 easily taught to carry a man, though to educate any 

 horse in the niceties of the art requires a master 

 hand. The chief difficulty, especially if the animal 

 be at all nervous, is to teach him to stand still while 

 being mounted ; and this should be a long, cautious 

 process. Mount him first in the stable, with the 

 groom holding him by the head. After a time, let 

 him stand free while you mount ; and, later on, let 

 the man hold him outside, near the stable and facing 

 it, while you get on. And so by degrees accustom 

 him to be mounted in the open. 



It is a great mistake to try experiments in this 

 or in any other matter with a green horse. I re- 

 member that many years ago, riding a young un- 

 trained horse alone at night, it occurred to me that, if 

 I got off, it might be difficult to get on again. From 

 this obvious reflection, it was but a step, in my own 

 mind, to a well-grounded suspicion that I was afraid 

 to try. And this being settled, — in that awful forum 

 which we all carry about within us, — it appeared 

 absolutely necessary that I should dismount then and 

 there ; and so off I jumped. Getting back was, as 

 I anticipated, no easy task, but after much backing, 

 shifting, and circling about the road on the part of 

 the horse, I put foot in stirrup and was in the act of 

 throwing my right leg over the saddle. Just then, 



1 The reader is referred to the Badminton volume on Riding 

 and Polo ; to " Patroclus and Penelope," by Colonel T. A. Dodge ; 

 to " Modern Horsemanship," by E. L. Anderson ; and to " Horse- 

 manship for Women," by T. H. Mead. 



