THE TEST OF HORSEMANSHIP. 4 1 



there have been visitors from nearly every country 

 of Europe, who have ridden well and boldly in the 

 hunting-fields of England. 



The man who ' takes his horse by the head,' and 

 pushes it boldly at a six-foot wall, finds himself ' at 

 sea' when mounted upon a well-bitted hack, and 

 I have heard of more than one fox-hunter who 

 could not ride the light-mouthed Spanish-American 

 horses. If the cross-country rider has a seat that 

 will permit him to ride over obstacles without the 

 support of the reins, he has one of the attributes of 

 a good horseman, that is, a firm seat. But he must 

 still prove that he has the knowledge of how to 

 control the movements of the horse before he can 

 be held accomplished in the art. If it be admitted 

 that a man can ride well across country without 

 possessing good hands and an unexceptionable seat 

 — leaving out of the question an accurate know- 

 ledge of the use of the aids — it follows that a good 

 horseman may be a good man to hounds, but not 

 that a good man to hounds is necessarily a good 

 horseman. So prejudiced are some minds against 

 anything that looks like art in horsemanship, that I 

 have known accepted authorities upon the subject 

 to say that a schooled rider would not be able to 

 ride to hounds as well as one who has learned 

 riding through his unaided efforts ; as if a man who 



