MANAGEMENT OF THE REINS. 233 



the knees are often placed on the flaps behind the leathers, and 

 then the breech remains close to the cantle and sometimes almost 

 overlapping it. To get the length of leather adapted to most men, 

 though there arc occasionally exceptions, the rider should sit well 

 on his fork, and then the stirrups should be taken up or let down 

 till they just touch the ankle bone. For road riding this enables 

 the hollow of the thigh to touch the saddle, because the ball of the 

 foot being on the stirrup, the heel is down an inch and a half below 

 it; whilst, in the hunting-field, as the stirrup is worn "home," the 

 knee is carried higher and more forward on the saddle, and the 

 weight is distributed between it, the breech, and the foot. With 

 regard to the carriage of the body, all the directions in the world 

 will not make it easy, and without the supervision of a master, or 

 a friend, to point out defects, no one can be sure that he is sitting 

 in a good, much less an elegant style. It is not possible even to 

 know that the shoulders are square, or that the body is not carried 

 on one side, defects which I have known persisted in for years 

 without the slightest consciousness of them on the part of the 

 rider, who would gladly have rectified them if he had known of 

 their existence. One rule may,, however, be given, namely, that 

 no effort should be made to move in any direction, and that, on 

 the contrary, every endeavor should be directed to keep the body 

 and legs as still as the action of the horse will allow, bearing in 

 mind that the opposite extreme of stiffness is almost equally bad. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE REINS. 



There are three distinct modes of holding and managing 

 the reins. In the first, adopted by the military school, the left 

 hand does all, without any assistance from the right, which is occu- 

 pied with the sword, lance, or carbine. In the second, the left 

 hand holds the reins, aided occasionally by the right; and in the 

 third, or "two-handed method," the reins are permanently held 

 one in each hand. The first of these is only needed in the manege, 

 and I therefore shall not allude to it ; while the last requires no 

 description, further than to mention that it is the mode adopted 

 by the colt-breaker, and that it gives far more control over the 

 mouth than either of the others. As single and double reins 

 are differently placed in the hand, a description of each will be 

 necessary. 



The single rein is held by placing all the fingers but the first 

 between the two leathers, and then, making both turn over that 

 one, they are firmly held by pressing the thumb against it. This 

 gives a firm grasp, and at the same time allows of either being- 

 pulled tighter than the other by turning the wrist. To shorten 

 the grasp, the right hand has only to lay hold of the loose part of 

 the rein, and then the left, sliding forwards towards the neck, can 

 20* 



