178 HANDS, VOICE, WHIP AND SPUR. 



which would bring the rider's weight too much to the 

 near-side, and would also render her seat insecure ; 

 because, instead of being able to get grip by the play 

 of her left ankle joint (p. 149), she would have to draw 

 back the left foot, and press the upper part of the thigh 

 against the leaping head. Her forced adoption of this 

 feeble attempt to obtain firmness of seat is due to 

 the fact that if she raised her left knee to put pressure 

 on the leaping head, her foot, in all probability, would 

 come out of the iron, owing to the long leather being 

 slack at that moment. Besides, with a leather at that 

 length, it would be impossible for her to press her leg 

 strongly against the leaping head by the action of the 

 ankle joint. A lady who rides with her stirrup leather 

 at the correct length (Fig. 79), can use the spur only 

 in a more or less parallel direction to the animal's side, 

 in which case, the spur, if it is sharp, will be almost 

 certain to tear the skin, instead of lightly pricking it. 



The entirely wrong system of handling, feeding, 

 and leading horses almost always on the near side, 

 teaches them to turn much more easily as a rule to 

 that side, which is a lady's weak side, than to the 

 right. Consequently, when they ''run out" at a 

 fence, they almost invariably swerve to the left. In 

 such a case, a man has his hands to turn the animal's 

 head and neck, and his drawn back right leg to 

 straighten the hind quarters ; but the handicapped lady 

 can supplement the action of her reins only by the 

 whip, which she cannot use very effectively, owing 

 to her perched-up position on the saddle. If she 



