THE BAEB AND THE BRIDLE. 101 



less, about breaking, and the people about them have the very 

 worst hands upon a horse I have ever seen. 



All riding in India, except in cases of absolute necessity, should 

 be done very early in the morning. The lady should be in the saddle 

 soon after gun-fire (five o'clock). By the time she arrives at the 

 galloping gTound (in a large station or cantonment generally the 

 racecourse) the sun will be up, so quickly does it rise, with scarcely 

 any twilight, in India ; but its rays are not then vertical, nor is the 

 heat either oppressive or injurious until much later in the day. 



A couple or three hours' riding is sufficient for health, and the 

 gTeat thing is to go home quite cool; the bath and breakfast are 

 then most enjoyable. Evening promenades are as a matter of 

 fashion, and indeed, of reason, usually attended by ladies in carriages. 

 There are many, however, who prefer riding on horseback again in 

 the latter part of the day ; but experience proves that evening riding 

 on horseback is not good, as a rule, for ladies. Exposure to the sun 

 on horseback, or indeed in any way, should be specially avoided, as 

 should also violent exercise of any kind, that on horseback not excepted. 

 The rattling gallop, which is not only exhilarating but healthful 

 in Leicestershire, is inadmissible in most parts of India, where 

 extremes of any kind are injurious. Finally, I would respectfully 

 impress upon every lady who is likely to go to India, those especi- 

 ally who, having been l)orn there, have been sent home for their 

 education, that they should avail themselves of every opportunity 

 in this country of becoming efficient horsewomen. To be able to ride 

 well is very, desirable for a lady who is to pass her life in Europe, 

 in India it is absolutely indispensable ; and if the lady's equitation 

 is neglected in early days at home, she will find herself sadly at a 

 loss when she arrives in India ; for although there are plenty of 

 thoroughly competent men there who could instruct her, their time 

 is taken up with teaching recruits at the early time of the day at 

 which a lady could avail herself of their services. As regards riding 

 in Australia, the Cape, New Zealand, Canada, or the West Indies, 

 briefly it may be said that again it is best to take out saddlery from 

 this country, because, although it can be procured in any of the 

 above-named colonies far cheaper than in India, it is still consider- 



