The Test of Horsemanship. 



An Englishman usually has a contempt for the 

 horsemanship of any other country, because it is 

 popularly supposed that it is only the men of 

 Great Britain who can ride to hounds, and the 

 ability to keep in the first flight is taken as the 

 test of skill in riding. But to shine in the hunting- 

 field requires other conditions than mere skill in 

 riding, such as strong nerves and muscles, a know- 

 ledge of the country, and long practice in the sport, 

 and these are so essential that there are many in- 

 stances where men have excelled in riding across 

 country who had neither good hands nor good 

 seats, and some even where riders who never 

 took a jump were enabled, by their acquaintance 

 with the face of the country and the nature of the 

 chase, to be in at the death with the regularity of 

 the 'bruisers.' 



To ride a horse in the gallop or to sit it over an 

 obstacle does not imply the highest form of horse- 

 manship ; and even were these tests of good riding, 



