PARK AND ROAD RIDING. 75 



experience prompts me to warn others against 

 a practice which is frequently fraught with 

 danger to a lady. A horse knows quite well 

 when a strange or timid rider gets upon his 

 back, and if he does not kill you outright, he 

 will probably make such a ^^hare" of you as 

 will not be at all agreeable, either for yourself 

 or for the lookers-on. 



Whenever you take a young horse upon 

 grass, whether he be a stranger to you or 

 otherwise, be prepared for a certain show of 

 friskiness which he does not usually exhibit 

 upon the road. The soft springy turf beneath 

 his feet imbues him with feehngs of hilarity 

 which he finds himself powerless to resist, 

 and so you, his rider, must prepare for his 

 little vagaries. He will, most probably, in 

 the first place try a succession of bucks, and 

 for these you must prepare by sitting very 

 close to your saddle, your knee well pressed 

 against the leaping-head, ^ and your figure 

 erect, but not thrown back, as the shock, or 

 shocks to your spine would in such a case be 

 not only painful but positively dangerous, and 

 should therefore be carefully avoided. He 



