8 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



quality and, under good treatment, generous horses. I do 

 not chime in with those who maintain that a horse can 

 do no wrong, but do assert that he comes into the world 

 poisoned by a considerably less dose of original sin than 

 we, who hold dominion over him, are cursed with. 



Two-year-olds that have been tried and found lacking that 

 keen edge of speed so necessary in these degenerate days 

 of " sprinting," many of them cast in *' beauty's mould," are 

 turned out of training and are to be picked up at very 

 reasonable prices. Never having known a bit more severe 

 than that of the colt-breaker and the snaffle, the bars of 

 their mouths are not yet callous, and being rescued from 

 the clutches of the riding lads of the training-stable, before 

 they are spoiled as to temper, they may, in many instances, 

 under good tuition, be converted into admirable ladies' 

 horses — hacks or hunters. They would not be saleable till 

 four years old, but seven shillings a week would give them 

 a run at grass and a couple of feeds of oats till such time 

 as they be thoroughly taken in hand, conditioned, and 

 taught their business. The margin for profit on well bought 

 animals of this description, and their selling price as 

 perfect lady's horses, are very considerable. 



In my opinion no horse can be too good or too perfectly 

 trained for a lady. Some Amazons can ride anything, play 

 cricket, polo, golf, lawn-tennis, fence, scale the Alps, etc., 

 and I have known one or two go tiger-shooting. But all 

 are not manly women, despite fashion, trending in that 

 unnatural, unlovable direction. One of their own sex 

 describes them as " gentle, kindly, and cowardly^ That 

 all are not heroines, I admit, but no one who witnessed or 

 even read of their devoted courage during the dark days 

 of the Indian mutiny, can question their ability to face 

 terrible danger with superlative valour. The heroism of 



