PREFACE. 7 



idly and neatly, a control more or less com- 

 plete must be established over his hind legs. 

 In no other fashion can the thing- be done. 

 To attain this, it is not necessary or even de- 

 sirable to go into all the niceties of the haute 

 ^cole. Horsemen want to arrive at certain 

 practical results for their own safety and com- 

 fort, and the problem to be solved is, how to 

 accomplish them by rational and gentle means. 



Ladies certainly do not care to passage in 

 the streets, but they do want to know how to 

 stop their horses cleverly when they take 

 fright, to turn their corners neatly at the trot 

 without danger of a fall, and to avoid instantly 

 any obstacle they may unexpectedly meet. It 

 is also well to understand something of the 

 simpler methods of regulating gaits. All 

 these things may be learned best by studying 

 the rudiments of the school system, and it is 

 with rudiments only that this treatise pretends 

 to deal. 



During the last twenty -five years many 

 hand-books on equitation have been written for 

 men, but few for women. This is the more 

 remarkable as a woman's seat is such that she 

 can not produce the same effects or use the 

 same means as a man. Instruction for him is 

 therefore largely useless for her. Men astride 



