104 HORSES 



My very kind and patient editor, when he asked 

 me to write this book/ said it was to be for boys, 

 but made no mention of girls. Nearly all I have 

 written here is, however, quite as applicable to the 

 one as to the other, and though I have written 

 chiefly to a boy, I hope his sister will find the hints 

 I have given are useful to her also. 



All girls ought to learn to sit astride of a horse, 

 and it would be better for them if they never rode 

 in a side-saddle until they were over fifteen. The 

 unnatural position in which a side-saddle puts a 

 woman must be bad for the adult, but it must be 

 positively injurious to the health of a growing 

 girl. 



There has been a good deal of discussion on this 

 subject, and without any satisfactory result, but 1 

 am not going to re-open it now. In all probability, 

 before we get to the end of this century the side- 

 saddle will become as out of date as a sedan chair. 

 Doctors and fathers may go on talking to the end 

 of the chapter, but unless a costume can be con- 

 trived which a woman considers is becoming, she 

 will never adopt a man's method of riding. 



However, I am here addressing myself to the 

 young girl, who is too sensible to worry about how 

 she looks. If you have plenty of brothers at home 

 and some friends in the district, you should get your 

 parents to organise a boy and girl polo club. The 



^ I certainly have never been concerned in a book written with more 

 sincerity and knowledge of the subject than these chapters by Mr. J. 

 Otho Paget.— Ed. 



