26 MOUNTING ON OFF SIDE 



strap-hung sword of the mediaeval cavalry soldier com- 

 pelled him to mount on the near side, and as he is the 

 pattern from which we moderns have been cast the habit 

 has survived. 



The average rider will be apt to deny that the soldier 

 is the prototype of the modern horseman ; but every rid- 

 ing-school maxim is a distinct inheritance from the caval- 

 ryman of auld lang-syne ; and only he who has learned to 

 ride, as it were, au naturel, can be free from these. Even 

 then imitation of or association with those who have rid- 

 den in a school will lend some of this color to his style. 



To revert to our text, the white man who attempts to 

 mount an Indian pony in our fashion is very apt to get a 

 nasty spill before he has reached his back, for at the unu- 

 sual attempt the half -trained beast will be apt to fly the 

 track with a quickness which the ordinary " American " 

 horse could in nowise rival. He is not so easily managed 

 either, this same pony. He is tractable and clever in his 

 way, but his way is not our way ; and he must indeed be 

 a fairly good rough-rider who, once mounted on a fresh 

 and vigorous Indian pony, does not part company with 

 him before he has covered many miles of sharpish riding 

 or hunting. 



