48 HORSEMANSHIP FOE WOMEN. 



LESSON IX. 



MOUNTED. 



To Bend the Neck to Right and Left. — You can 

 now, if you please, substitute a stiff crop for the flexible 

 whip you have so far made use of. Having taken your 

 place in the saddle and got your horse light in hand 

 review the previous lesson ; then, having your horse 

 still carefully light in hand and light on foot — that 

 is, with hind-feet well under him — draw gently upon 

 the left snaffle- rein. When the horse's head has come 

 around to your knee, keep it in that position an instant, 

 and then put it straight again by drawing upon the 

 right rein, insisting that his face remains perpendicular 

 during the whole operation. Now go through the 

 same process with the right snaffle-rein, and then repeat 

 the whole operation with the curb. These flexions of 

 the neck may now seem to you of doubtful utility, but 

 as the education of the horse advances, your opinion 

 will change. It is as rare for horses as for people to 

 have a noble and graceful carriage; and while you 

 cannot, of course, really change the shape of your 

 mount, yet you can, by care, entirely change his appear- 



