FOR MOTHERS AND CHILDREN. I7 



and not on any account to pull at the bridle, a canter may 

 be indulged in, by the attendant attaching a long rein to a 

 cavesson and urging the horse to a gentle pace, making 

 him lead always with the right leg, and pulling him up 

 directly he changes to the left. The child should be most 

 carefully watched during the exercise, and any tendency 

 to hang over on one side or the other, or to lift one 

 shoulder, or poke the neck, be at once checked. 



The saddle should be level-seated — covered with buck- 

 skin, for a beginner — and should have no off-pommel. This 

 latter appendage is happily almost obsolete, except with 

 the most old-fashioned saddles, and is entirely unnecessary, 

 as well as unsightly, for it affords no additional safety to the 

 rider, and youthful learners are especially apt to lay hold 

 upon it in any imaginary danger^ — an excessively bad 

 practice to acquire. 



As the term " level seat " applied to side saddles may 

 not be generally understood, I will give a few words of 

 explanation : — The ordinary side saddle, being made with 

 the arch of the tree raised to clear the withers, is necessarily 

 much higher in front than behind, and as a consequence 

 the knee is thrown up in a cramped and fatiguing position ; 

 it is difficult thus to keep the figure erect, an aching back 

 ensues to the rider, and frequently torture to the horse. 

 The level-seated saddle has the steel front-part cut quite 

 away over the withers, and replaced by a pad of soft 

 leather, giving that horizontal shape from front to rear so 

 much desired, yet so seldom found. These saddles were 

 introduced and perfected by Messrs. Nicholls and Co., of 



C 



