LXXYIII 



BUT after passing in review the Riders of Many Lands, 

 when I again set foot on shore in the United States I 

 could not but feel that this country of ours is the home 

 par excellence of horsemen. The idea is not, I think, bred 

 solely of national pride ; my readers will surely absolve me 

 from narrowness or provincialism in the matter of equita- 

 tion, or from any set scheme to rob other nations of their 

 due. I am happy to admit, for it is manifestly true, that 

 the best sportsman in the saddle is the Briton. As a cross- 

 country rider, as a polo-player, as a breeder and rider of 

 race-horses at home, in tent-pegging or pig-sticking abroad, 

 he is, on the whole, unequalled. On the other hand, the 

 German is as far and away ahead of him in military rid- 

 ing that is, in the drilling of bodies of horse as the 

 Frenchman is ahead of him in the niceties of breaking, 

 training, and manege-riding. "Where to place the Arab 

 it is hard to say. With all due respect to the man or the 

 race that produced the original strain of blood on which 

 we all rely for our speed and endurance, I do not think 

 that the best Arab is as good a rider as the best European 

 or American ; while the average Arab is, in efficiency, far 

 below our riders under parallel conditions. The Cossack 

 makes, no doubt, the best half-barbaric light cavalry in 

 the world, and in his element is hard to equal ; and the 

 Australian from all reports, though I regret to say that 

 I cannot speak from personal observation^ is a close 

 second to our plains-rider. But, after all said, it must be 



