HORSEMANSHIP FOE GENTLEMEN. 289 



In the pupil's early lessons he may appear a little 

 stiff and awkward, but by attention and constant prac- 

 tice, this appearance gradually gives place to an elegant 

 onf. Qwy seat, enabling him to sit still, easy, confident, 

 and collected. 



Having placed my pupil in a proper position, the 

 horse must commence and continue to walk for a few- 

 lessons, and the pupil be carefully watched and patiently 

 instructed to adhere to the proper instructions, until it 

 is perceived that he can remember and practise them 

 himself. 



He must then commence to ride the horse at a " trot," 

 and if the animal be properly broken, he will answer to 

 the easing of the hands, and a gentle pressure of both 

 legs, by passing from the walk to the slow trot by the 

 application of these the proper signals when it is 

 more than probable that the pupil will commence to roll 

 about and clutch at the rug with one or both hands ; if 

 so, he is certain to draw up his heels and plant them in 

 the horse's side, to assist him in preserving his balance, 

 and become what is termed disunited. My readers will 

 therefore see the force of my remarks, as to the differ- 

 ence of a quiet, and an irritable hot-tempered horse, 

 being used for the first lessons. If the latter kind of 

 animal be used, he is sure to begin to bounce and plunge 

 at the unsteadiness of the hands, and the uneven violent 

 pressure of the heels whereby the pupil is sometimes 

 unseated and his confidence lost. If he happen to be 

 of a nervous disposition, too, he declines to remount, 



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