46 How to Purchase a Horse. 



unpleasantly in the canter, which must be easy and elegant. 

 As few ladies ride more than from 10 to n St., including 

 a 19 or 20 Ib. saddle, and ease and lightness in action are 

 indispensable, the ladies' horse should be very nearly 

 thorough-bred, if not quite so. He must walk well and 

 freely, step lightly but sharply in the trot, with a rather 

 long easy canter. He must be high-couraged and free, 

 but at the same time docile and temperate. A slow, lazy 

 horse is as objectionable and disagreeable to ride as a hot, 

 irritable one. The latter will sometimes go quietly and 

 temperately in the hands of a lady, though irritable and 

 fidgety when ridden by men, owing to the easier, lighter 

 pull on their mouths. From the position of the ladies' seat 

 and from the great length and incumbrance of the habit, 

 it follows they cannot have the same power and control 

 over the horse that men have, and accidents to them are 

 more likely to be attended with dangerous results ; hence 

 greater care is necessary in selecting a horse for their use 

 free from all tricks, nervousness, and vice. 



Many are called good ladies' horses that have no other 

 recommendation than their being very quiet, which with 

 very many will cover a multitude of faults. 



A few years since ladies rode no pace but the walk and 

 canter, but lately the trot has become a favourite and 

 fashionable pace ; consequently a safe, sharp, easy trot is 

 now essential in all horses to carry a lady. 



The ladies' hunter differs in some respects from the 

 riding horse for the road or park ; he may be less showy 

 and stronger. He must be eight or nine years old, have 

 been well and regularly ridden to hounds for at least two 

 or three seasons, and thoroughly understand his business ; 

 not less than 15 hands 2 in. or more than 16 hands high, 

 well above the weight he has to carry, well-bred, and fast, 

 but thoroughly quiet and temperate among other horses 

 and at his fences, which he should take freely and cleverly, 

 go well in the bridle without pulling, and turn readily with 

 a motion of the hand. 



A hot, irritable, fretful brute, or one with a weak, loose 

 neck is uncomfortable enough for a man to ride, but it is 

 absolutely dangerous to allow any lady to ride such a one 



