!J HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP 



arts in the hunting field, or across country, some 

 of them do amuse themselves in this manner. 

 It is an extremely interesting pastime, but it 

 in no way alters the hard fact that they do 

 study horsemanship in a scientific manner, and 

 we do not. Our first eye-opener was when the 

 International Horse Show was started in 1907. 

 Foreigners came over and won nearly every event 

 with great ease, and continued to do so until the 

 commencement of the war. The commentaries 

 by all onlookers were couched m almost identical 

 terms. They generously admitted the graceful 

 seats of the continental horsemen, but it was 

 imanimously written off as "trick" jumping, 

 mider unnatural conditions. " Let them come 

 and take our fellows on over a natural country, 

 and then we will show^ them how to ride," was a 

 remark that must have been made hundreds of 

 times, w^hen our riders were smashing gates, break- 

 ing the ^^^ngs and making the most lamentable 

 displays, while the hitherto despised foreigner was 

 gi\dng most finished exhibitions of true horseman- 

 ship. That these opinions should have been so 

 prevalent was a clear demonstration that the 

 nation did not fully understand the principles of 

 riding, and it is the object of this small volume 

 to note some of the differences existing between 

 what may be called the British and Continental 

 principles of modern riding. 



The cradle of opinion is the hunting field. Men 

 who have hunted all their lives suppose, not un- 

 naturally, that they must know a good deal of the 



