How Women Should Ride

Part 1

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HOW WOMEN SHOULD RIDE

"C. DE HURST"

Illustrated

New York Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square 1892

Copyright, 1892, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All rights reserved.

TO E. E. F.

TO WHOM I OWE THE EXPERIENCE WHICH HAS ENABLED ME TO WRITE OF RIDING

THIS BOOK

IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

INTRODUCTION

It has not been the intention of the author of this little volume to present the reader with elaborate chapters of technical essays.

Entire libraries have been written on the care and management of the horse from the date of its foaling; book upon book has been compiled on the best and proper method of acquiring some degree of skill in the saddle. The author has scarcely hoped, therefore, to exhaust in 248 pages a subject which, after having been handled on the presses of nearly every publisher in this country and England, yet contains unsettled points for the discussion of argumentative horse-men and horse-women.

But it happens with riding--as, indeed, it does with almost every other subject--that we ignore the simpler side for the more intricate. We delve into a masterpiece, suitable for a professional, on the training of a horse, when the chances are we do not know how to saddle him. We stumble through heavy articles on bitting, the technical terms of which we do not understand, when if our own horse picked up a stone we probably would be utterly at a loss what to do.

We, both men and women, are too much inclined to gallop over the fundamental lessons, which should be conned over again and again until thoroughly mastered. We are restive in our novitiate period, impatient to pose as past-masters in an art before we have acquired its first principles.

Beginning with a bit of advice to parents, of which they stand sorely in need, it is the purpose of this book to carry the girl along the bridle-path, from the time she puts on a habit for the first attempt, to that when she joins the Hunt for a run across country after the hounds.

There is no intention of wearying and confusing her by a formidable array of purely technical instruction.

The crying fault with nearly all those who have handled this subject at length has been that of distracting the uninformed reader by the most elaborate dissertation on all points down to the smallest details.

This author, on the contrary, has shorn the instruction of all hazy intricacies, with which the equestrienne has so often been asked to burden herself, and brought out instead only those points essential to safety, skill, and grace in the saddle.

No space has been wasted on unnecessary technicalities which the woman is not likely to either understand or care to digest, but everything has been written with a view of aiding her in obtaining a sound, practical knowledge of the horse, under the saddle and in harness.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

A WORD TO PARENTS Page 3

Dangers of Early Riding, 4.--Vanity, 9.

CHAPTER II

GIRLS ON HORSEBACK 13

Hints to Mothers, 13.--The Beginner's Horse, 14.--Costuming, 16.--Preparatory Lessons, 16.--Instructors, 20.--Balance, 21.--Hands, 23.--Position, 25.--Management, 26.

CHAPTER III

Part 2

BEGINNING TO RIDE 31

Form, 32.--Insufficient Training, 33.--Mounting, 34.--Dismounting, 37.--Stirrup, 38.

CHAPTER IV

IN THE SADDLE 43

Below the Waist, 44.--Above the Waist, 48.--Hands and Wrists, 49.--Reins, 53.

CHAPTER V

EMERGENCIES 63

Eagerness to Start, 63.--Shyers, 65.--Stumblers, 66.--Rearers, 66.--Plungers, 67.--Buckers, 68.--Pullers, 70.--Runaways, 72.--Punishment, 76.

CHAPTER VI

CHOOSING A MOUNT 83

An Adviser, 83.--Park Hack, 87.--Measurement, 88.--Conformation, 90.--Hunter, 94.--Gait and Manners, 95.

CHAPTER VII

DRESS 99

Skirt, 100.--Safety Skirt, 100.--Divided Skirt, 102.--Bodice, 103.--Waistcoat, 104.--Corsets, 105.--Boots, Breeches, Tights, 106.--Collars and Cuffs, 110.--Gloves, 111.--Hair and Hat, 112.--Veil, 113.--Whip or Crop, 113.--Spur, 114.

CHAPTER VIII

LEAPING 121

Requirements, 121.--In the Ring, 122.--Approaching Jump, 122.--Taking off, 124.--Landing, 125.--Lifting, 126.--Out-of-Doors, 127.--Pilot, 128.--Selecting a Panel, 128.--Stone Wall, 130.--In Hand, 131.--Trappy Ground and Drops, 131.--In and Out, 133.--Picket and Slat Fences, 134.--Wire, 135.--Combined Obstacles, 136.--Refusing, 136.--Timidity, 137.--Temper, 138.--Rider at Fault, 139.

CHAPTER IX

LEAPING (continued) 145

Rushers, 145.--Balkers, 147.--Sluggards, 149.--Falls, 150.

CHAPTER X

RIDING TO HOUNDS 159

Courtesy, 159.--The Novice, 161.--Hard Riding, 162.--Jealous Riding, 163.--Desirable Qualities, 164.--Getting Away, 165.--Indecision, 166.--Right of Way, 167.--Funk, 168.--Excitable and Sluggish Horses, 169.--Proximity to Hounds, 170.--Choosing a Line, 172.

CHAPTER XI

SYMPATHY BETWEEN HORSE AND WOMAN 179

Talking to Horse, 180.--In the Stall, 183.--On the Road, 185.--Cautions, 187.

CHAPTER XII

PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE STABLE 193

Part 3

Stabling, 193.--Picking up Feet, 194.--Grooming, 197.--Bitting, 197.--Clipping, 199.--Bridling, 200.--Noseband, 202.--Martingale, 203.--Breast-plate, 204.--The Saddle, 205.--Stirrup, 208.--Girths, 209.--Saddling, 210.

CHAPTER XIII

SOMETHING ON DRIVING 215

Desirability of Instruction, 215.--Vulgar Display, 218.--Bad Form, 219.--Costume, 220.--Cockade, 221.--Confidence, 222.--The Family-Horse Fallacy, 222.--On the Box, 223.--Position of Reins, 224.--Handling Reins, 225.--A Pair, 226.

CHAPTER XIV

SOMETHING MORE ON DRIVING 231

Management, 231.--Stumbling, 232.--Backing, 232.--Rearing and Kicking, 234.--Rein under Tail, 236.--Bolting and Running, 238.--Crowded Driveways, 239.--Road Courtesy, 241.--Tandems and Teams, 243.--Reins, 244.--Unruly Leader, 245.--Turning, 246.

Illustrations

CORRECT POSITION Facing p. 24

INCORRECT POSITION " 26

INCORRECT LEFT LEG AND HEEL 43

CORRECT LEFT LEG AND HEEL 44

INCORRECT RIGHT THIGH AND KNEE 46

CORRECT RIGHT THIGH AND KNEE 47

CORRECT KNUCKLES, SIDE VIEW 50

INCORRECT POSITION OF HANDS 51

HANDS IN GOOD FORM, FRONT VIEW 52

SNAFFLE OUTSIDE, CURB INSIDE, FRONT VIEW 54

SNAFFLE OUTSIDE, CURB INSIDE, SIDE VIEW 55

REINS IN TWO HANDS, SNAFFLE OUTSIDE, CURB INSIDE Facing p. 56

POSITION OF REINS AND HANDS IN JUMPING, CURB OUTSIDE, SNAFFLE INSIDE 57

REINS IN TWO HANDS, CURB OUTSIDE, SNAFFLE INSIDE, SIDE VIEW 58

HANDS AND SEAT IN REARING Facing p. 66

CROP 114

A GOOD SPUR 115

TAKING OFF Facing p. 124

ABOUT TO LAND " 126

DOUBLE BRIDLE FOR GENERAL USE " 202

Part 4

CORRECT SADDLE 205

UNDESIRABLE SADDLE 206

SAFETY STIRRUP, CLOSED 209

SAFETY STIRRUP, OPEN 210

A WELL-BALANCED CART Facing p. 220

POSITION IN TANDEM DRIVING " 244

A WORD TO PARENTS

Riding has been taken up so generally in recent years by the mature members of society that its espousal by the younger element is quite in the natural order of events. We can look upon the declaration of Young America for sport with supreme gratification, as it argues well for the generation to come, but we should not lose sight of the fact that its benefits may be more than counterbalanced by injudiciously forcing these tastes. That there is danger of this is shown by the tendency to put girls on horseback at an age much too tender to have other than harmful results.

It is marvellous that a mother who is usually most careful in guarding her child's safety should allow her little one to incur the risks attendant upon riding (which are great enough for a person endowed with strength, judgment, and decision) without proper consideration of the dangers she is exposed to at the time, or a realization of the possible evil effects in the future.

Surely parents do not appreciate what the results may be, or they would never trust a girl of eight years or thereabouts to the mercy of a horse, and at his mercy she is bound to be. No child of that age, or several years older, has strength sufficient to manage even an unruly pony, which, having once discovered his power, is pretty sure to take advantage of it at every opportunity; and no woman is worthy the responsibilities of motherhood who will permit her child to make the experiment.

Even if no accident occurs, the knowledge of her helplessness may so frighten the child that she will never recover from her timidity. It is nonsense to say she will outgrow it; early impressions are never entirely eradicated; and should she in after-life appear to regain her courage, it is almost certain at a critical moment to desert her, and early recollections reassert themselves.

The vagaries of her own mount are not the only dangers to which the unfortunate child is exposed.

Many accidents come from collisions caused by some one else's horse bolting; and it is not to be expected, when their elders often lose their wits completely, that shoulders so young should carry a head cool enough to make escape possible in such an emergency.

It is a common occurrence to hear parents inquiring for a "perfectly safe horse for a child."

Such a thing does not exist, and the idea that it does often betrays one into trusting implicitly an animal which needs perhaps constant watching. If fresh or startled, the capers of the most gentle horse will not infrequently create apprehension, because totally unexpected. On the other hand, if he is too sluggish to indulge in any expressions of liveliness, he is almost sure to require skilful handling and constant urging to prevent his acquiring a slouching gait to which it is difficult to rise.

A slouching horse means a stumbling one, and, with the inability of childish hands to help him recover his balance, he is likely to fall.

Supposing the perfect horse to be a possibility--a girl under sixteen has not the physique to endure without injury to her health such violent exercise as riding. From the side position she is forced to assume, there is danger of an injured spine, either from the unequal strain on it or from the constant concussion, or both.

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