INTRODUCTION. 



15 



for any use ; and a rider who has a seat 

 that permits him to apply the aids in the 

 vigorous movements of the mandge is pre- 

 pared for any emergency, upon the road or 

 in the field. 



There are those who hold the opinion 

 that no one can learn to ride from the rules 

 laid down in books. How is one to learn 

 to ride ? From the first there is little that 

 the beginner must not learn, from rule or 

 from example, and, according to his apti- 

 tude for the exercise, he improves in skill 

 by practicing that which he has acquired 

 by observation or through instruction. 

 The general rules of the art are the results 

 of ages of experiment, and it is doubtful 

 whether a man would ever, by his unaided 

 efforts, reach any great proficiency in rid- 

 ing. One may consider himself to be self- 



