IN TROD UCTION. 



17 



the second strap on the left ; and the saddle should 

 be so firm in its place that a lady may hang for a 

 moment by her hands from the first pommel on the 

 right side, or the second on the left, without causing 

 it to shift its position. The stirrup-leather should 

 pass under the horse outside the girths, and be 

 connected with another strap on the right side of 

 the saddle, in order to counterbalance the pressure 

 on the stirrup. I may as well say here that a lady's 

 saddle is well placed when there is a space, of the 

 breadth of four fingers, between the right side and 

 the upper end of the shoulder. 



I am accustomed to use for my pupils a simple 

 snaffle with double reins and martingale, as by 

 this means beginners do less harm to the mouth ; 

 and my own experience, as well as that of many 

 others who have given it a thorough trial, is that this 

 bit is preferable to any other for the riding-school, 

 the road, or perhaps even for hunting, both on ac- 

 count of the simplicity of its effects upon the horse 

 and of its mildness, so much greater than that of 

 the curb, which often irritates and exasperates a 

 spirited animal. No horses are more ready to bolt 

 than the thorough-breds on the race-track, yet jock- 

 eys never ride with anything but a snaffle. They 

 allow their horses to gain a pressure on the bit, and, 

 as the jockey pulls, the horse quickens his pace. If 

 you do not permit your horse to bear on the bit, you 

 will gain by its simple means all those " effects of 

 opposition " of which I shall speak later, and which 



