208 LADIES ON HOESEBACK. 



allowed to ride day after day on the same side 

 of their pony, but I have understood that this 

 danger is obviated by changing their position 

 to the other side on alternate days, and I 

 should be glad to learn what are the objections 

 to this. It seems to me rather desirable that 

 ladies should have equal facility in riding on 

 either side, but there may be reasons against 

 it of which I am ignorant. This lady says 

 that the nicest bridle for a beginner is a plain 

 ring- snaffle, but states further that few horses 

 will go in it ; the latter remark, if correct, 

 (which I should venture to doubt), raises a 

 fatal objection to the ring-snaffle, as I fear 

 that not one young lady in twenty, under 

 amateur teaching, would be put upon a 

 perfectly trained nag, desirable as this must 

 be ; and thus an ordinary stout mouth plain 

 snaffle, or plain bar with single rein, would 

 surely be preferable. I fancy it would be 

 found of much advantage if riding was taught 

 in the first instance without the use of reins 

 at all, the horse simply being led by an 

 attendant ; the learner thus gets a proper 

 balance, without depending on the bridle for 



