A Show in London. 319 



ject according to an entirely novel manner. With this object, 

 we hired Ward's Riding-School, in Brompton Road, from 

 twelve to two on the required afternoons. I did the talking 

 about bridles, saddles, mounting, dismounting, seat, ' hands,' 

 length of stirrup leather, habits, etc. ; and my wife dressed in 

 a Norfolk jacket, breeches and boots illustrated the various 

 points on Gustave, who by that time was beautifully trained, 

 and was able to jump, as I said before, a bar 5 feet with ease 

 in a very small riding-school. The mention of a riding- 

 school reminds me to say that this was the first time my 

 wife had ever ridden in one. To show the most efficient 

 manner by which a lady could be taught to ride in a very 

 short time, I made, by means of the long reins, Gustave 

 circle, turn, leap, refuse, and stop ' dead ' while my wife sat 

 unmoved in the saddle, with her hands on her lap holding 

 a light cane. As she had no skirt on, we were able to show 

 in an exact manner how balance and grip could be obtained 

 in the best possible way. I am certain that we threw a 

 great deal of new light on the subject, and we won warm 

 praise from all the representatives of the press who came to 

 see us. The Queen, in an extremely kind notice, described 

 our performance as follows : — 



' We cannot but recommend all ladies interested in eques- 

 trian matters, as well as those who are in special need of 

 really useful hints on riding, to take the earliest opportunity 

 of attending these lectures. It is a real pleasure to see a lady 

 ride as Mrs Hayes does ; she combines in an unusual degree 

 an absolutely firm, strong seat with a pretty and graceful 

 one ; as much may be learnt by watching her carefully as 

 from Captain Hayes's very practical and useful instructions. 



' Mrs Hayes's wide experience qualifies her to speak with 

 authority as to the best methods of training horses ; of the 

 newest and most satisfactory kinds of saddles, stirrups, 

 bridles ; of ladies' riding costumes ; and last, but by no 

 means least, of the novel method adopted by herself and 

 Captain Hayes for teaching a lady to ride well, and especi- 



