8o PINK AND SCARLET 



are all easier than they seem to look, and any active 

 man can easily learn them. 



To vault on to a horse standing still, a lock of the 

 mane is seized with the left hand, much as in mount- 

 ing, and the fingers of the right hand are placed 

 under the pommel of the saddle, the tips towards 

 the horse's tail. Keeping a good grip with both 

 hands, a spring is made off the feet as in vaulting a 

 gate, and the right leg is at the same time thrown 

 up so as to clear the horse's hind-quarters and the 

 cantle of the saddle. 



With a horse on the move, at any pace, the pro- 

 cedure is the same, and the process is easier, the 

 motion of vaulting being very much aided by one 

 or two giant stride-like steps made alongside the 

 horse. 



The usefulness of this easily learnt accomplish- 

 ment both in the Real and in the Image (of war) 

 need scarcely be expatiated on. In the former it 

 has saved many lives ; possibly it might have saved 

 a young imperial one.^ In the latter it has made 

 many a man able to keep his place in a run owing 

 to the saving of time in remounting after a " toss." 



In jumping off, the mane and saddle are grasped 

 in the same way, the right leg is swung clear of the 

 horse, and the feet allowed to come lightly to the 

 ground, the run or walk, according to the pace the 

 horse is going, being taken up at once. 



Two other useful things may also be practised in 

 the summer — riding without stirrups and without 

 ^ Vide p. 30. 



