102 HACKS AND HUNTERS 



more gifted friends, but they need never have notice- 

 ably bad hands. 



To begin with, I think that the first step toward 

 good hands is to acquire a good seat. Hands and seat 

 are inextricably interrelated. Without a firm and se- 

 cure feeling in the saddle no man or woman is likely to 

 have very good hands, for unless they don't mind falls 

 at all, or in fact relish them, they will unconsciously, in 

 endeavoring to stay in the saddle, be bound either to 

 "jab" the horse in the mouth or, worse yet, exert a con- 

 stant pressure on the bit. The close connection be- 

 tween a firm seat and good hands is often illustrated 

 by the fact that women are accredited with better 

 hands than men. This may be largely due to their 

 superior lightness of touch and feminine sensibilities, 

 but it is, as already stated, as often due to the fact 

 that a woman on a side-saddle (and it is in this saddle 

 that a woman's reputation for good hands has been 

 acquired) has such a firm seat that she is absolutely 

 independent of her reins in order to maintain her seat. 

 For this reason it is perhaps not as necessary to preach 

 to women on the subject of hands as it would be to 

 men, but it is too important a subject to be omitted 

 altogether. 



The jockey, Sam Chifney, tells us to use the reins 

 as if they were silken threads, and J. H. Moore always 

 gave the advice to take a pull at the reins as though 

 you were drawing a cork from a bottle without wish- 

 ing to spill any of the contents. 



It must be remembered, however, that good hands 

 do not in any sense of the word mean weakness, gentle 

 indecision or vagueness, nor do we imply by good hands 

 the sort of thing that some people pride themselves on 

 when they ride with the reins loosely flapping in the 



