RULES FOR LADY RIDERS. 311 



less, and cannot afford him an asylum in which to pass the 

 remainder of his days in rest and freedom from labor, she 

 should have some merciful hand end the life that it would 

 be cruel to prolong in the hands of a hard master, simply 

 for the few dollars that might be obtained for him. To thus 

 destroy the animal may appear heartless, but, in reality, is 

 an act of mercy ; as it is much better for him to die a quick, 

 painless death, than to be sold to a life of toil, pain, and 

 cruelty, in which, perhaps, he may pass months, if not years, 

 of a living death. 



In terminating the present volume, the writer ventures to 

 express the hope that her appeal to American women to 

 seek health, beauty, and enjoyment in the saddle will not 

 be passed by with indifference, and that the lady rider, after 

 a careful perusal and due consideration of the instructions 

 herein laid down for her benefit, may be awakened to a 

 spirit of enthusiasm, and an endeavor " to well do that which 

 is worth doing at all." To gain a knowledge of horsewoman- 

 ship is by no means a mysterious matter confined to only 

 a favored few, but is, on the contrary, within the reach of all. 

 The requirements necessary to manage the horse are soon 

 learned, but, as is the case with every other accomplishment, 

 it is practice that makes perfect. Practice alone, however, 

 without study or instruction, will never produce a finished 

 rider ; and study without practice will rarely accomplish 

 anything. But when study and practice are judiciously 

 combined, they will enable one to reach the goal of suc- 

 cess, which every earnest rider will strive to attain. 



In the endeavor to render the instructions and explana- 

 tions in this work as clear and comprehensible as possible, 

 many repetitions have unavoidably occurred ; but as the 

 book was more especially designed to instruct beginners, as 

 well as those self-taught riders who have not had the 



