30 Horse and Man. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE HAND. 



You are now perfectly firm and easy on your 

 horse in his regular paces, and tolerably con- 

 fident that no irregular movement which he is 

 at all likely to make will disturb you in your 

 saddle. In other words, you have acquired a 

 pretty good seat. But you are still very far 

 from being a good horseman. So far, indeed, 

 that you are likely, if you now stop short in 

 your education, to become a singularly clumsy 

 and dangerous horseman ; because you have 

 acquired strength and confidence without ac- 

 quiring skill. In fact, the only conceivable 

 objection to the plan of teaching horsemanship 

 by successive steps is the possibility, that the 

 pupil may be so perverse as to think the first 

 step sufficient. The novice who studies seat 

 and hand together is at least kept out of pre- 

 mature risks by his instinctive fear of falling 

 off ; but no man is so likely to kill his horse 



