Horsemen Described. 273 



the perfect horseman, who is prepared and able to train and subdue any horse, however 

 high-couraged, if not irreclaimably and obstinately vicious, and the horseman who can fairly 

 take his own part on any horse of average training and average temper, there are many degrees 

 of skill. It is to the latter class that this chapter is specially addressed. 



Where the pupil-student desires to acquire military horsemanship — as, for instance, in 

 the case of a subaltern of volunteers preparing for promotion — there is only one course open 

 to him. He must place himself in the hands of a military riding-master, whether he has 

 learned to ride before or not. To military horsemanship the writer of this chapter has 

 nothing to say, although the precepts it contains have been approved by brilliant cavalry 

 officers who have also graduated as masters of fox-hounds. 



The first thing a rider has to learn is how to sit his horse in that form which will make 

 his seat most secure, and consequently give him the greatest command over his horse ; but a 

 " horseman, '^ in the best sense of the term, should not only be able to stick to his horse under 

 difficulties, but be able to control and direct him ; make him walk, trot, canter, gallop, leap, 

 stand, and move on at his will ; should know " how to quiet and subdue the hot-tempered, 

 and put life and action into the sluggish." 



All this is easy to say, to do is quite a different thing. It shall be assumed that the pupil 

 is a youth arrived at the age when he may be expected not only to imitate like a child the 

 examples set before him, but to be able and anxious to understand the reason why of every 

 axiom laid down by his instructor. It shall further be assumed that he is strong enough, and 

 has pluck enough, to go through the fatiguing process of adopting his limbs and muscles to 

 an entirely new set of motions. As in the case of young children, military drill or gymnastic 

 exercises are the best preparation for lessons in horsemanship. The youths who go through 

 the exercises on the horizontal bars, and other performances of a graduate of the Ttimvenein, 

 will not find any of the attitudes and motions prescribed by the riding-master difficult. 



The principles laid down by Madame Brenner, in her excellent treatise on calisthenic 

 and gymnastic exercises,* apply equally to first lessons on horsemanship for both sexes and 

 all ages. " Two grand rules," she writes, " must be constantly observed — first, the avoidance 

 of fatigue ; secondly, the recognition of amusement in connection with the lessons. The 

 exercises or lessons must be conducted according to the physical capabilities and requirements 

 of the individual." 



The greatest difficulty in carrying out a system of gymnastics (or horsemanship) is 

 " impatience." The story of a lady who declared, after seeing the first exercise, that she 

 could do it in five minutes, but who afterwards admitted that it required five days, might be 

 matched by every serious teacher of horsemanship. Another golden rule is, that " no exercise 

 should ever be carried on until the pupil is tired out." 



The first lessons of gymnastics in the book from which these quotations are made, are 

 directed towards " the vigorous healthy action of the muscles connected with the chest, arms, 

 and shoulders" — "to strengthen the lower limbs, and induce suppleness and pliability." 



Again, " the swinging dumb-bell e.xercise — the dumb-bells not being too heavy — is one of 

 best aids towards the development of the chest, from its conpiilsory detail of a firm position 

 of the lower half of the body, while the upper half is actively employed.'' 



Now that is exactly what is needful for a horseman — that his lower limbs should be attached 

 to the horse like a centaur, and his trunk should be well-balanced and flexible. 



* "Gymnastics for Ladies^" by Madame Brenner, Bruton Street. 187CX 

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