HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP. 5 



head (to advance)." Try the second motion : you will find it 

 a very nice operation, and that you are capable of shortening 

 the right rein only in a very slight degree. You will also 

 find that, if the hand ceases to be precisely opposite the 

 centre of the body, — that the moment it is passed to the 

 right, the right rein becomes slackened, and the left rein is 

 pulled. This is still more the case when the horse's neck is 

 between the reins ; the left rein is then instantly shortened 

 across the neck. 



I will not assert that the art of riding thus is unattainable 

 and impossible, though it has ever been so to me ; and though, 

 in my own experience, I never knew a cavalry soldier, rough- 

 rider, riding-master, or any horseman whatever, who turned 

 his horse, single-handed, on the proper rein. But I may 

 assert, that it is an exceedingly nice and difficult art. It is 

 the opera-dancing of riding ; and it would be a"s absurd to 

 put the skill of its professors in requisition, in common 

 riding or across country, as to require Taglioni to chasscr over 



