9 6 



the obstacle because the timidity and hesitation of the rider is strangely 

 but with never failing certainly imparted to the horse, and the latter 

 will almost invariably refuse if the riders heart does not proceed her 

 over the jump. 



The horse must be ridden quietly up to the jump at a right angle to 

 the obstacle and given perfect freedom to measure the height or width 

 of the latter. 



In high jumping the woman will lean forward with the horse during 

 the upward motion and then lean well back in the saddle. 



During my experience in America, the question has frequently been 

 put to me, whether women may not find more safety and comfort by 

 adopting a mans seat. 



Until recently I have never given the matter very serious consider- 

 ation; having had no experience whatever of my own with women riding 

 astride, I attempted to gather from men of the prof ession what informa- 

 tion I could, so as to be able to answer intelligently any future questions 

 by my pupils. 



I found great difficulty in obtaining dispassionate views on the sub- 

 ject, particularly as to the Physiological standpoint in the matter and 

 therefore issued the following circular to 500 Physicians af the City of 

 New York. 



ERNST CARL YON G1ELMANN, 



KIDIXG MASTER. 



New York City, January 10, 1895. 

 128 West 56th Street. 

 Dr . 



My purpose in taking the liberty to address you, Dear Sir, is to fin- 

 ally decide upon the merits of the question, which in ten years of my 

 experience in America, has been put to me again and again : Shall women 

 ride on horseback astride or not ; and why? 



I have inherited horsemanship ; my grandfather, Baron Ernst von 

 G-illmann was the master of the horse of H. R. H. the Grand Duke of 

 Baden, and my father, Baron Emil von Gillmann for twenty years an 

 officer of the German Cavalry, is about to celebrate the 25th anniversary 

 of his directorship of the Ecole Cantonale d'Equitation in Bale, Switzer- 

 land, an institution of the old school, known to many residents of New 

 York, -where horsemanship is cultivated as a fine art to its highest perfec- 

 tion. 



My own training from early childhood, in all branches of the art of 

 riding and by eminent masters, my experience as a teacher, both in mil- 

 itary service and in public academies, together with the reputation as a 

 conscientious master, which I enjoy among my distinguished pupils, en. 

 title me, I believe; to the modest assertion, that I am competent to form 

 an opinion, as to the practicability and advisability of a woman's strad- 

 dling her horse, except from a Physiological, point of view. 



The same question has been treated and argued, pro and contra in a 

 ■way, at various times before ; but I have never had an opportunity to 



