92 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



The instant he is the least out of balance, a muscle con- 

 tracts here or lengthens there, independently of mental 

 effort, to put his body back on its centre. See two men 

 riding at a fence, one by balance, one by grip. At the 

 last instant the horse suddenly refuses. What happens ? 

 The law of self-preservation keeps the one man in his seat, 

 while the other, riding by an effort of the mind, instantly 

 his grip is loosened, goes to grass. 



Should we never grip a horse with our legs? Yes, cer- 

 tainly if the law of self-preservation dictates it. The 

 trouble is, we are afraid in the beginning to trust ourselves 

 to this law. 



My advice to a beginner is, if he is a boy, to begin 

 riding bareback on a pony. If a man, he had better have 

 the aid of a pair of stirrups and begin practising by riding 

 at a walk, with his feet as free of the irons as possible. 

 Let him keep at this until he can trust himself bareback 

 on a quiet horse, and then, still at bareback, work away until 

 he can sit a horse at a trot, a canter, and at last jumping 

 over low obstacles. If he does enough of this he will come 

 out a finished rider. It may seem slow and laborious, but 

 it is the shortest cut to the attainment of a perfect seat. 

 If a person is a bit rusty at riding, nothing is better for 

 him than riding bareback for an hour, or, if this is not 

 convenient, riding to covert, say, with the feet out of, or 

 independently of, the stirrup-irons. 



While a self-taught rider then invariably rides by balance 

 and is thus master of the one qualification that can make 

 him perfect in all respects, he may yet have acquired bad 

 form. For instance, he may ride with his elbows as high 



