CHAPTER XYIII. 



RIDING, 



505. — Or the arfc of equitation, canuot be learned from 

 books, nor can books render very much assistance. The nerves, 

 the muscles, the eye, and the hand, require to be early practised 

 at the work, or the rider never becomes like a natural part of the 

 horse, nor moves with him as if he could not help it. Perfect 

 riding is mainly a question of quick, easy adaptation to every 

 position a horse can assume. There is no time to think about it ; 

 the nerves must act as unconsciously as those in the fingers of a 

 pianist, or a shorthand writer. Some persons learn to ride very 

 well, and to manage their horses quite nicely, who did not begin 

 in childhood, but we have never met with a really distinguished 

 horseman who did not begin very young, and begin in some- 

 thing like the right way. The boy who takes his first lessons 

 on a cart horse, or a donkey, will spoil his bridle hand, and 

 rarely gets light and sensitive with it afterwards. A gentleman 

 has usually a better hand than his groom, though he may not get 

 half the practice, and a lady that has been early and frequently 

 on horseback can often keep a horse perfectly happy under her 

 that would fret under the hands of a gentleman. It is perhaps 

 not merely a question of hand, but of mesmeric influence — of one 

 highly strung and sensitive temperament — better understanding 

 and responding to another. 



506. — A man with long legs and short body, though weak at a 

 pull or a push, has a great advantage in the saddle, as he carries more 

 ballast and less top sail. Flat thighs are also a great advantage, 

 but we have seen high class riding where neither of these 

 advantages were possessed. 



507. — AYe cannot say much on this subject that would bo 



