THE HORSEWOMAN 231 



was, as his riding days are past now. This 

 lady, for reasons into which it is now needless to 

 enter, took to riding on a cross saddle. She is 

 thoroughly au fait in everything connected with 

 horses and riding and it may fairly be said that 

 there is not a detail connected with horsemanship 

 on which she is not an authority. She set about 

 riding on a cross saddle with the energy and 

 resolution which characterise all her actions 

 and in due time became quite at home in it, 

 capable of holding her own with anyone. She 

 had little to say about it for a long time, evading 

 the question whenever it came up for discussion, 

 but at last she unbosomed herself to an intimate 

 friend. '' Well, if you must know what I think," 

 she said, '* when I am on a cross saddle I feel 

 that the horse is master of me ; v/hen I am on a 

 side saddle I feel that I am master of the horse." 

 I trust if my friend should read these lines she will 

 pardon me for quoting a private conversation 

 in which she took a part, to illustrate my argu- 

 ment. 



It is a generally acknowledged fact that many 

 horses which pull badly when ridden by a man 

 would scarcely ' pull a hen off her nest/ to use a 

 homely simile, when ridden by a lady, and this 

 is erroneously attributed to ladies having better 

 hands than men. Ladies certainly cannot put 

 so much weight into their bridles as men can, 

 but there are plenty — perhaps I ought to say too 

 many — of the gentler sex who have atrociously 

 bad hands. Still we see that horses very fre- 



