High School Riding. 305 



de jambes, et peu de mains. Hence, when any of the various 

 airs de manege is being performed, the spurs have to be kept 

 close to the horse's sides ; if not actually with painful effect, 

 with sufficiently vivid remembrance of ' punishment,' to make 

 him keenly anxious to avoid its reinfliction. It is evident 

 that in order to retain these ' aids ' in that position, the knee, 

 or knees (according as the rider is a lady or a man) have to 

 be kept away from the flaps of the saddle, with a correspond- 

 ing decrease of firmness in the seat. In a man's saddle, the 

 knees can be brought back in a moment to the flaps, but in a 

 side-saddle, the stirrup leather, in order to admit of the free 

 use of the spur, has to be lengthened out so much that the 

 pressure against the leaping head, which is all essential for 

 firmness of seat, and which is obtained chiefly by the play 

 of the ankle joint, has to be entirely sacrificed. No wonder 

 then that the ecuyeres whom we saw going over some very 

 small jumps in the Hippodrome at Paris, and later on in 

 Circus Renz at Hamburg looked pictures of discomfort, 

 each one clutching hold tight to her horse's head, and 

 having her left foot drawn so far back, that the sole of the 

 boot was turned upwards. When we visited the Manege 

 Pergolese, M. Auguste Raux, teacher of high school riding, 

 was kind enough to tell us that English ladies rode shockingly 

 badly ; because, so he said, their left leg did not hang down 

 by the horse's side. Although my wife could have easily 

 demonstrated that he was utterly wrong, we did not con- 

 tradict him ; for gratuitous instruction to riding masters, who 

 are the last persons to accept it kindly, was not down in our 

 programme. We saw him two or three times at the Cirque 

 d'Ete, where he used to go in order to look after a pupil of 

 his, an ecnyere who each night did a high school riding act on 

 a handsome, well-bred horse, that was brilliant and percant 

 to an extraordinary degree. His movements were so light 

 that he appeared almost to tread on air (if I may be per- 

 mitted the use of this threadbare simile) ; so much so, indeed, 

 that the first time I saw him perform I became anxious to 



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