5-2 HAND-BOOK FOR HORSEWOMEN. 



Granted that they are the parents, for instance, of 

 one or two of the pupils : to the rest they are stran- 

 gers, who cause constraint, as the teacher is obhged 

 to criticise, correct, and, in a word, instruct, in a 

 loud voice, so that the observation made to one 

 may serve as a suggestion to all. 



The difference of progress between classes and 

 individual pupils is so great that one may calculate 

 that, after one hundred private lessons, a pupil will 

 not ride so well as if she had taken fifty lessons in 

 class. In a class she is obliged to keep her horse at 

 a certain distance from the others, and in his own 

 place, and, in her turn, go through exercises directed 

 by a will other than her own, while the constant 

 repetition of principles by the teacher fixes them in 

 her memory. On the other hand, the private pupil 

 takes her time to make her horse go through a move- 

 ment; and, that movement once understood, there is 

 no reason for the repetition of the explanations which 

 can alone make the theory and principle of riding 

 familiar. I am certainly not an advocate for theory 

 without practice ', but I insist that a rider must know 

 what she ought to do before she can do it really well, 

 as all good results in riding are obtained by long 

 practice, based on a rational theory. 



The teacher should choose out of his class the 

 four most skillful pupils, whose horses are free and 

 regular in their gaits, to serve as leaders, one at the 

 head and one at the end of the two columns, which 

 should be drawn up on the long sides of the school, 



