90 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



Row, without missing one, for half a mile on end ; the 

 animal leading with near or off leg, as it inclined to 

 left or right, guided only by the inflection of the rider's 

 body, and the touch, too light to be called a pressure, 

 of his knee and leg. How seldom does one see a 

 horse ridden properly round a corner. He is usually 

 allowed to turn on his shoulders, with his hind-legs too 

 far back to be of the slightest assistance if he slips or 

 stumbles, and should the foothold be greasy, as may 

 happen in London streets, down he comes flat on his 

 side. Even at a walk, or slow trot, he should be col- 

 lected, and his outer flank pressed inwards by his rider's 

 heel, so that the motive power in hocks and thighs is 

 kept under his own body, and the weight on his back. 

 In the canter it stands to reason that he should lead 

 with the inner leg, otherwise it is very possible he may 

 cross the other over it, and fall like a lump of lead. 



I remember seeing the famous Lord Anglesey ride his 

 hack at that pace nineteen times out of Piccadilly into 

 Albemarle Street, before it turned the corner exactly to 

 his mind. The handsome old warrior who looked no 

 less distinguished than he was, had, as we know, a cork 

 leg, and its oscillation no doubt interfered with those 

 niceties of horsemanship in which he delighted. Never- 

 theless at the twentieth trial he succeeded, and a large 



