94 



RIDING FOR LADIES. 



select your assistant cavalier, just as you have a right to 

 accept or reject a partner for a dance — and if nobody in 

 whom you have confidence happens to be present, have 

 recourse to the groom's assistance, if you are quite certain 

 that he knows how to render it, and, if not, lead your 

 horse to a low wall, should such a thing be near enough, or 

 take him, at all events, out of sight of the crowd, and utilise 

 any sort of stepping-stone to reach his back, rather than 

 incur the ridicule or unjust remarks of the more fortunate 

 among your sex. 



It is, of course, in some cases, quite possible for a lady to 

 let down her stirrup and mount by it, unassisted — drawing 

 it up again to the required length when seated on her 

 saddle. To little girls riding ponies I have already recom- 

 mended this plan ; but for grown equestrians it is far more 

 frequently impracticable than otherwise. A lady rider 

 may be of diminutive stature, and may yet be called upon 

 to mount a very tall horse ; or her stirrup may not be an 

 easily movable one (say, for instance, that she is accepting 

 a ride upon a borrowed mount, with trappings entirely 

 unlike her own), or her habit-bodice, despite all warnings, 

 may not be loose enough about the waist to enable her to 

 make the long stretch up to the pommel which unassisted 

 mounting always requires. Therefore, writers who say that 

 a lady can at all times be entirely independent of extra- 

 neous assistance prove to a certainty that they have not 

 studied the subject. 



The orthodox method of mounting is as follows : Take 

 the reins and whip in your right hand and lay the fingers 



