20 HORSEMANSHIP FOR WOMEN. 



round-bellied horses. Many an owner of a trained sad- 

 dle-horse would gladly have him ridden carefully by 

 one capable of keeping him "in good form," while 

 every horse-owner, no matter how poor his nags, dreads 

 an ignorant rider as he does the epizooty. Probably 

 scores of country stable - keepers and thousands of 

 farmers, after a season's experience with ordinary city 

 riders, have vowed never to let a woman mount one of 

 their horses again. One of the former, at a popular 

 summer resort, said to the writer, "Two ladies hurt my 

 bosses more last summer than all the rest of the work. 

 They ain't no more saddles to be found in my stable !" 

 A neighboring farmer, who had at first thought to reap 

 a golden harvest from his five excellent horses at a 

 dollar a ride, hereupon remarked, " They hain't no 

 sense. They think a horse will go like a machine, and 

 all they've got to do is to turn steam on with the whip." 

 Very different would have been the verdict had the 

 riders but possessed even a slight experience in train- 

 ing, for the horses would have come from their hands 

 improved in mouth and gait, and almost certainly unin- 

 jured by bad usage. 



