MANAGEMENT OF THE REINS 327 



thus additional labour is thrown on the horse. With long stirrups in the 

 military style this is of necessity done ; but with short stirrups the 

 knees are often placed on the flaps behind the leathers, and then the 

 breech remains close to the can tie and sometimes almost overlapping it. 

 To get the length of leather adapted to most men, though there are occa- 

 sionally exceptions, the rider should sit well on his fork, and then the 

 stirrups should be taken up or let down till they just touch the ankle-bone. 

 For road riding this enables the hollow of the thigh to touch the saddle, 

 because the ball of the foot being on the stirrup, the heel is down an inch 

 and a half below it ; whilst in the hunting- field, as the stirrup is worn 

 " home," the knee is carried higher and more forward on the saddle, and 

 the weight is distributed between it, the breech, and the foot. With re- 

 gard to the carriage of the body, all the directions in the world will not 

 make it easy, and without the supervision of a master, or a friend, to point 

 out defects, no one can be sure that he is sitting in a good, much less an 

 elegant style. It is not possible even to know that the shoulders are 

 square, or that the body is not carried on one side, defects which I have 

 known persisted in for years without the slightest consciousness of them on 

 the part of the rider, who would gladly have rectified them if he had known 

 of their existence. One rule may, however, be given, namely, that no effort 

 should be made to move in any direction, and that, on the contrary, every 

 endeavour should be directed to keep the body and legs as still as the action 

 of the horse will allow, bearing in mind that the opposite extreme of stiffness 

 is almost equally bad. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE REINS 



THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT MODES of holding and managing the reins. 

 In the first, adopted by the military school, the left hand does all, without 

 any assistance from the right, which is occupied with the sword, lance, or 

 carbine. In the second, the left hand holds the reins, aided occasionally by 

 the right ; and in the third, or " two-handed method," the reins are perma- 

 nently held one in each hand. The first of these is only needed in the 

 manege, and I therefore shall not allude to it ; while the last requires no 

 description, further than to mention that it is the mode adopted by the 

 co!t-breaker, and that it gives far more control over the mouth than either 

 of the others. As single and double reins are differently placed in the hand, 

 a description of each will be necessary. 



THE SINGLE REIN is held by placing all the fingers but the first between 

 the two leathers, and then, making both turn over that one, they are firmly 

 held by pressing the thumb against it. This gives a firm grasp, and at the 

 same time allows of either being pulled tighter than the other by turning 

 the wrist. To shorten the grasp, the right hand has only to lay hold of the 

 loose part of the rein, and then the left, sliding forwards towards the neck, 

 can close wherever it may be desired. In order to be sure that the elbow 

 is held against the side, the thumb should always point towards the 

 horse's ears ; and the nearer the little finger can be carried to the pommel 

 of the saddle the better. In using the single rein, the management of the 

 mouth, if a good one, is easy enough; nevertheless, there are various 



