52 HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP 



required. If he waits until it has reached its 

 limit and then hits it, a comparatively gentle tap 

 will drive it at great speed in the opposite direction, 

 but if his next blow isn't well timed, then a 

 much stronger blow will not send it so far as his 

 first effort. Or take a boy trundling a hoop. 

 Once he has got it running nicely, very gentle, 

 well-placed taps will keep the hoop rolling smoothly 

 and evenly, and the faster he goes the lighter will 

 be the taps required. So it is in riding. When 

 galloping, let us imagine the back of the saddle 

 to be the fist of the boxer punching the ball, and 

 one's own body to be the punchball. (Remember 

 our body has become absorbed in the motion of the 

 horse, and is itself in motion.) Now, as long as the 

 action of the horse's hind quarters gives us little 

 gentle pats (like the boxer who has well timed 

 his blows on the ball) then we are rightly placed 

 in the saddle, but directly we feel any bump, or 

 jar, then we know that there must be something 

 wrong. 



Remember the position I am assuming the rider 

 to be in. Not the "old gentleman's" cantering 

 seat, where the body is leaning back, and the 

 entire weight of the rider is on the seat of the 

 saddle, but when the weight is taken up on the 

 stirrup irons, and the body is poised as if about to 

 make a standing jump. It is then we shall find this 

 gentle lift imparted by the horse every stride he 

 takes, and once the principle is realized, it is a 

 simple matter to know whether the horse is patting 

 our bodies along, or whether he has to bang them 



