PREFACE 



I introduce this volume to the American public 

 with some diffidence. The most successful 

 jockeys of recent years on the English turf have 

 come from America; only two years ago (1909) 

 America beat England handsomely at polo, and 

 this year (1911) she has repeated the victory after 

 a hard-fought struggle. My justification must be 

 that quite lately there has been a renewal of interest 

 in the subject of equitation amongst the two great 

 branches of the English-speaking race, which is no 

 doubt largely due to the International Horse Shows 

 which have been held everywhere during the last 

 four or five years. These have brought home to us 

 that Continental riders are not only as much at home 

 in the saddle as ourselves, but that in the matter of 

 bringing the training of man and horse to a high 

 pitch of perfection for specific objects we have a 

 good deal to learn from them, and this in spite 

 of the fact that as yet no foreign nation could 

 hope to put up a team of polo players to 

 defeat the American winners of 1909, or any 

 four men to beat an equal number of Eng- 



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