8 LADIES ON HOESEBACK. 



of retaining her seat. She fell ! and the 

 remembrance of uplifting her, and carrying 

 her Kttle hurt form before me upon my saddle 

 to her parents' house, is not amongst the 

 brightest of my memories. 



We will assume, then, that you are a young 

 lady in your sixteenth year, possessed of the 

 desire to acquire the art of riding, and the 

 necessary amount of courage to enable you 

 to do so. This latter attribute is an absolute 

 and positive necessity, for a coward will never 

 make a horsewoman. If you are a coward, 

 your horse will soon find it out, and will laugh 

 at you ; for horses can and do laugh when 

 they what is usually termed ** gammon " their 

 riders. Nobody who does not possess un- 

 limited confidence and a determination to 

 know no fear, has any business aspiring to 

 the art. Courage is indispensable, and must 

 be there from the outset. All other difficulties 

 may be got over, but a natural timidity is an 

 insurmountable obstacle. 



A cowardly rider labours under a two-fold 

 disadvantage, for she not only suffers from 

 her own cowardice, but actually imparts 



