The Lady Rider 233 



of ladies. They are totally unaccountable. They do the 

 most reckless things, entirely oblivious of circumstances. 

 Look at this Amazon with loose rein and horse rushing 

 without let or hindrance through a piece of woods, her 

 hair down and streaming out behind. You expect to see 

 her skirts cling to some projecting prong of a tree, or her 

 hair catch on some limb overhead. Away she goes, happy in 

 the ecstasy of the chase. A check you think ought to find 

 her face blanched; but you reckon without your host. 

 Not she! She simply throws the reins down on the neck 

 of her horse, which is quite willing to stand, being pumped 

 to a turn, and begins with both hands to arrange her back 

 hair, having previously filled her mouth with hair-pins. 

 Her face struggles with smiles she cannot repress. And 

 as the last hair-pin is released from between her ruby lips, 

 she says to any one who may happen to be standing near, 

 " Was it not glorious, that ride through the woods ? " 



Horsemanship is not a woman's forte, yet with those 

 wonderful hands of hers she can manage many a horse 

 with ease that a man would discard as a brute for pulling. 

 Away she sails through footing good or bad, with the 

 same free hand, leaving her horse to manage for himself. 

 The lines are in her hands, it is true, but she seldom inter- 

 feres with the bit. 



Another beautiful thing about her riding is that her 

 mount seems to be in perfect harmony with her ways. A 

 sort of mystic understanding seems to exist between them ; 

 she seems to govern by some subtle power like hypnotism. 

 She never irritates or worries or punishes him in any way. 

 This, by the way, is one very important lesson to be learned 



