DRIVING, RIDING, HUNTING, RACE-RIDING 391 



can be assured. How painfully badly most people ride is 

 easily seen at the meet of any pack of hounds, or in Rotten 

 Row itself. Through the innate goodness and long-suffering 

 of their steeds many riders manage to get along somehow 

 after hounds, but they are thrown high into the air at the 

 leaps, as any photograph of hounds running will disclose ; 

 and most of them seem to think that the reins are intended 

 to hold themselves on by. Those of the field who sit with 

 grace and ease, and are really capable of teaching their 

 animals their business, are very few indeed. Yet most of 

 this indifferent horsemanship is the result of not having 

 had, in their earliest years, the rudiments of riding imparted 

 by a skilled instructor. Instead, they probably have been 

 put upon a pony or horse, and left to find out everything for 

 themselves. As to being taught the right length of the 

 stirrups, the position of the feet and legs, or the length of 

 the reins, the ordinary groom probably does not know him- 

 self — nor possibly the parents either — and therefore it is a 

 matter of chance what kind of a beginning is made. The 

 limbs of a child also grow quickly, and this is apt to be 

 forgotten, and the stirrup-leathers are kept to the same 

 length after they ought to have been dropped another hole. 

 A little boy must be put on a narrow pony, as a risk of 

 grave and permanent injury is incurred if the pony's back is 

 too broad. It is most advisable that there should be a frequent 

 change of mounts, for after a time very slow improvement 

 is made, when the sole experience is restricted to riding the 

 same animal every time. But care should be taken that 

 each pony is quiet, and without tricks, until the youthful 

 rider has acquired complete confidence in himself ; if he 

 finds the pony is his master he is likely to lose all enjoyment 

 in his ride, even if he does not take a positive dislike to the 

 exercise itself. Should this occur— and in these days it seems 

 to happen oftener with little boys than with their sisters — it 

 is far better to fall in at once with the child's wishes, and let 

 him defer riding until he wishes to try again on his own 

 initiative. As he approaches adolescence he will probably 

 have more confidence in his own powers, the spirit of 

 rivalry will arise in him, and he will become envious of his 



