Horse and Man. 



childhood. It is quite time that these pre- 

 judices, so derogatory to the science of 

 equestrian and to the spirit and intelligence 

 of pedestrian Englishmen, should be resolutely 

 protested against. 



It is undoubtedly true that not one man in 

 a hundred ever does learn to ride well, unless 

 he has ridden early in life. But why is this ? 

 Simply because full-grown men seldom acquire 

 new tastes in amusement, and therefore do not 

 care to ride well when they have not been ac- 

 customed to ride at all. It does not follow 

 that they could not learn to ride, if good 

 riding were necessary to their safety or conve- 

 nience. Indeed the reverse is the fact. We 

 are told that shopmen and mechanics, when 

 settled upon an Australian or Californian 

 cattle-farm, soon learn to imitate the gymnas- 

 tic feats of the stockmen or vaqueros around 

 them ; and we know that if a hundred clerks 

 or apprentices are enlisted in a dragoon regi- 

 ment, ninety-nine of them will in six months 

 sit their horses quite as firmly as an ordinary 

 groom or postboy. 



This, however, is understating our case. 

 Horsemanship is in these instances acquired 



