66 LADIES MOUNTING AND DISMOUNTING. 



CHAPTER XII. 



LADIES MOUNTING, SEAT, RIDING, AND DISMOUNTING. 



FIRST of all, before mounting, or anything is done 

 towards it, as soon as a lady makes up her mind to be an 

 equestrienne, I want her to understand the perfect manip- 

 ulation of her reins. I can fancy some people ridiculing 

 the idea of my proposed innovation on the rights of 

 teachers. They want to do it on horseback ; I want that 

 part understood before she is in the saddle, for the reason 

 that it is the first step to the control of her horse, and 

 having that, she can devote herself to her perfectly-bal- 

 anced seat; without it her mind is agitated and divided 

 between her hand and her seat, and it takes her a very 

 long time to perfect both in that condition. Having got 

 the latter, or her seat, she becomes a good rider in just 

 half the time. Well, I will stand the ridicule and send 

 for the bridle into the parlor; there hang it on anything 

 that will bring the bit on a level with her hands, as if it 

 were on the horse's head, she seated on a chair, the bridle 

 so arranged. Now she is to take the reins all up together, 

 and pick out the curb, that being the lower one. Put those 

 as directed in the gentlemen's case, viz., curb outside 

 of little finger and between that and next finger; then 

 the snaffle between the next two, turn her hand up and 

 lay .them all over the forefinger. The curb will come 

 uppermost and the other next. Now hold them there for 

 an understanding of the case. You know the curb when 

 you pull hurts the horse's jaw ; the snaffle only has a direct 

 effect on the lip, and does not hurt. The former is to be 



