172 CONFESSIONS OF A HORSE DEALEH. 



presuming to practise a profession which they do not 

 understand ; for no man, who has a spark of respect for 

 a woman, would place her on the hack of a partially- 

 broken, ill-made, or unsafe horse during her early les- 

 sons. But I regret to say, that many ladies may be 

 seen daily in Rotten-row on horses no more suitable for 

 them than a rhinoceros would be for the best rider to 

 her Majesty's stag-hounds. 



I would select the best-made horse I could find to 

 carry a lady, with a good mouth, and a good temper, 

 good sound legs and feet, which he need not lift too 

 high, if he put them flatly and evenly on the ground^ 

 without first digging in his toes. A horse from fourteen 

 to fifteen hands and a half high is quite tall enough to 

 carry a lady, providing he is a deep- odied horse, and 

 with powerful oblique -shaped shoulders. It is quite a 

 mistake to place a lady on a thorough-bred racing weed, 

 though it is of frequent occurrence ; they are too weak 

 in the shoulders to carry women, who ride heavy and 

 uneven on this part of a horse, the greater part of the 

 weight being on the near shoulder, and they ride more 

 forward than men. 



The new and prevalent fashion of ladies riding at a 

 trot, makes the selection of strong-shouldered horses of 

 increased importance, as, in the rising from the stirrup, 

 the weight bears all on one side. I like to see a womaa 

 trot if she sits neatly, although the pace is anything but 

 suitable to the side-saddle. But there is not one woman 

 in twenty who can rise properly in the saddle while 



