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CHAPTER XII. 



HORSEMANSHIP, OR THE ART OF " EQUITATION." 



HorsemansTiip came with Horses from the East — Affected still by Military Traditions — Horse-mounling on Left Side — Oriental 

 Horsemanship Wonderful — Do not understand Flying Leaps — Historical Modifications of English Horsemanship — The High 

 School of Horsemanship — Modified by the Hunting-field in the Time of James I. — English Military Horsemanship Improved 

 since 1850 — The Fashionable Style of 1835 — Count D'Orsay — The Earl of Chesterfield — Equestrian Portraits of — Steeplechase 

 Riders the Reformers of English Horsemanship — Aiken's and Herring's Horsemen compared — Horsemanship may be Self- 

 taught, with Aptitude and Nerve — Good Models for Imitation Essential — England has the Best and the Worst Equestrians 

 — Fine Horsemanship, that is, Military Horsemanship, out of England — Indian Irregulars — Circassian Cossacks — To Learn to 

 Ride, Clear your Mind of Conceit — Horsemanship for Adults — Prescribed by Physicians — Advice Easy to Give, Difficult to 

 Follow— Sailors Learn Easily, and all Gymnasts — Difficulties of Ordinary Riding Schools — With Courage, Industiy, and 

 Perseverance, a full grown Man may learn to Ride — Preliminary Preparation, that is, " Condition," Important — A Proper 

 Horse — A Proper Saddle and Bridle — Proper School — Proper Teacher — The Horse may have Faults Mentioned — Must be 

 Placid in Disposition, Safe and Pleasant in Action — Free, but not Violent or Skittish — Not too Light a Mouth — Head and 

 Neck like Illustration — Up to the Weight of the Rider — An Old Screw may be Valuable — Good Looks Desirable, not 

 Essential — Exercise Essential — Idleness the Root of all Evil — Anecdote of a Brighton Hack — The Bridle Double — Snaffle Reins 

 to Hold — Curb for Emergencies — Holding on by the Bridle Legitimate for Old Men and Raw Horsemen — The Ordinary Park 

 Saddle Unsuitable — Illustration of Gervase Markham's Saddle — Plain Hunting Saddle — Colonial Saddle — The Somerset 

 Saddle — How to Mount — From a Horse Block — Charles Simmonds' Contrivance — Illustration — Length of Stirrups — Manage- 

 ment of Reins — First Acquire Seat — Constant Practice and Short Lessons Essential — Riding Dress Important — Thick Trousers, 

 well-made, strapped-dovvn — Thin-soled Wellington Boots — Equitation for Children, a Word to Mothers — Pannier Ponies — 

 Danger of Pannier Riding — Illustration of Proper Bridle — Leading-Stick — Proper Rein — Infant's Pony Saddle, Illustration 

 — The Best Pony for a Boy — the Best Form of Pad — Stirrups — The Pro and Con — First Lessons — No Bridle — The 

 Circus System Practised with Children — The Proper Management of the Reins — Colonel Greenwood's Maxims — The 

 Walk — The Canter — Children Imitative Animals — Summary of Essentials for Child Equestrians — Irish Anecdote — Lavengro's 

 First Ride. 



There is no purely English term which expresses the art of riding on horseback by both 

 sexes hke the French " Equilatioii" Horsemanship appHed to the instruction of women sounds 

 something hke a " bull ; " and curiously enough in England, where horsewomen are more 

 numerous and more skilful than in any other country in Europe, there is no such convenient 

 word as Aniazone for describing a lady who rides — a word so descriptive and compact, that 

 it may certainly be used in the pages devoted to an explanation of the equestrian art without 

 subjecting the writer to the charge of affectation. It is also curious that the French Academy 

 dictionary condemns as obsolete the verb chevaiichcr, which our statesman William Pitt used 

 in a letter to Lady Hester Stanhope, to express riding on horseback, while the lady rode in a 

 post-chaise. 



Horsemanship caine with the horses from the East ; the first horsemen were soldiers. The 

 cavalry of Alexander the Great were of little account until he invaded and conquered Persia, 

 and embodied Persian horses and horsemen into his army. 



The art of horsemanship is to this day affected by military traditions. We are all taught 

 to mount and dismount exclusively on the left or " near side " of the horse, because the 

 military horsemen, whether Oriental or European, requires to mount and dismount with his 



