PREFACE. 



The Author of the following pages begs the 

 Eeader, who may take the trouble to peruse 

 them, to understand that he is not a writer but a 

 rider, and he trusts that the critic who may think 

 the work of sufficient interest to demand even a 

 passing notice, will bear in mind that " none but 

 horsemen can give a clear and satisfactory account 

 of horsemanship," and therefore be indulgent to 

 the language in which the Author has clothed 

 the theory of the art, if the theory itself shall 

 appear free from objection. 



The Reader, gallant or gentle, whichever he or 

 she may be, must not expect novelty, though the 

 Work if not novel, is at least an improved 

 method, without being opposed to all former 

 ones, of teaching a science which every one who 

 ventures on horseback professes to understand, 



