RIDING AND DRIVING 245 



walk his horse at first. Indeed I should not rec- 

 ommend anything faster than a walk in the first 

 lesson. The object of that first lesson is to familiar- 

 ize a novice to a novel position, and enable him 

 to know something of the sensation of being 

 astride a horse. If he go faster at first he is sure to 

 bump around and tug on the reins, the latter be- 

 ing about the greatest sin against horsemanship. 

 After this he can go in a very slow trot, and still 

 later in a hand gallop. Having acquired the ca- 

 pacity to keep his seat in these gaits with his feet 

 parallel to the horse and his knees well in and 

 without tugging on the reins to keep his balance, 

 he has reached the point when he may be in- 

 structed to ride with both reins, snaffle, and curb. 

 There are some riders who never use other than 

 the snaffle, indeed it was quite a fad in the neigh- 

 borhood of New York a few years ago. But I do 

 not believe that the very best results can be ob- 

 tained without the curb. The curb enables a rider 

 to keep his horse better in hand, and a horse not 

 in hand under the saddle is apt to do several dis- 

 agreeable things — sprawl or be slouchy in his 

 gaits, for instance, or worse than all tumble down. 



