Applying Scientific Principles 23 



Truer words on the subject were seldom penned, 

 and all that Lord Pembroke advises for Army In- 

 structors applies equally well to teachers and to 

 many horse-trainers outside the Army. The Briton 

 and the American have, as a rule, better legs for the 

 saddle than any Continental European, and should 

 settle into it more easily than he, and therefore excel 

 in every branch of equitation. Some of the best 

 horses in the world are bred in the British Isles and 

 in America, and the only pity of it is that so many 

 of the former are allowed to go abroad, though de- 

 fenders of the practice no doubt rightly urge that 

 this is an incentive to breeding valuable stock. 



Lord Pembroke's advice, which presumably was 

 that a scientific school of equitation should be estab- 

 lished for the Army, similar to those now found in 

 Vienna, Pinerolo, Hanover, Ypres, and Saumur, all 

 of which I have seen, was not followed for over a 

 hundred years, and history shows us the result so 

 far as the Army is concerned. In 1802 a Hanover- 

 ian named Captain Quist was appointed to command 

 the Riding House at Woolwich, with a view to 

 teaching the Artillery to ride. In 181 5 a Prussian 

 riding master was sent over to instruct our Cavalry. 



