172 MOUNTING AND DISMOUNTING. 



he is of very short stature, he may not be able to reach 

 the cantle, in which case he will probably be obliged to steady 

 himself by catching hold of the flap of the saddle. If tall 

 enough, he should spring smartly up into an erect position, 

 with his foot in the stirrup, his left hand on the mane, and his 

 right hand on the off side of the cantle. He should then 

 swing his right leg over, with the knee nearly if not quite 

 straight, and at the same moment he should let go the cantle. 

 The act of mounting, from the time the right foot quits the 

 ground, till the rider " drops " lightly into the saddle, should 

 be done in one easy and graceful motion, or with only a very 

 slight pause before swinging the right leg over. The left 

 hand now quits the mane, and the right foot takes the stirrup. 

 If the horse is fidgety, the rider may have to steady the off 

 stirrup with his right hand, while the foot is being put into the 

 iron. 



It looks very slovenly for a man in the act of mounting, to 

 throw his right leg over with a bent knee, or to " climb " into 

 the saddle in a laboured manner. When preparing to mount, 

 it is a bad practice to try to put the left foot in the stirrup 

 without holding the iron with the right hand at the same time, 

 so as to avoid touching the horse with the toe, which would be 

 likely to make him unsteady to mount. In fact, merely 

 poking the toe at him, has sometimes that effect. For the 

 same reason, we should avoid touching the horse with the 

 right foot when taking up the off stirrup. 



If the animal is difficult to mount, the rider when trying to 

 get on his back, may find it helpful to shorten the near rein 

 (Fig. 172), so as to prevent him from getting away. The 

 horse will then be forced, unless he be very headstrong, to go 

 round and round the man, instead of moving forward. If, on 

 the contrary, the off rein be shortened, the man will lose 

 control as soon as the animal begins to revolve, for he will 

 then be on the outside, instead of the inside of the circum- 



