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MO^DERN RIDING

AND

ORSE EDUCATION

MAJOR NC

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BIRCH

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TUFTS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

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Mabtler Family Library of Veterinary Modioli^

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MODERN RIDING

AND

HORSE EDUCATION

BY

MAJOR NOEL BIRCH

ROYAL HORSE ARTILLF.RY OF GREAT BRITAIN

New York

WILLIAM R. JENKINS CO.

PUBLISHERS

851-853 Sixth Avenue

(Cor. 48th street)

THE RlDlR AriD DRIVER,
-'•23 BROADWAY, N, Y. C,

Copyright, 1912, by William R. JE^'KI^'s Co.
^ZZ Rights Regerved

Printed by the
Press of William R. Jekkins Co.

NEW YORK

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

PAGE

Introduction i

By Major General Sir A. N. Rochfort, K. C B., C. M. G.

Preface 5

PART I— ON TEACHING RIDING.
Section.

I. On the Necessity for Applying Scientific

Principles to the Teaching of Riding and

THE Training of Horses 13

II. Seats 27

III. Balance 47

IV. Knee and Thigh Grip 59

V. Getting Down in the Saddle 69

VI. The One Aid and the Indications 75

VII. Distribution of the Rider's Weight 81

VIIL The Use and Misuse of the Hands 89

IX. The Use of the Lower Part of the Leg 107

X. The Voice and the Whip 113

XI. Spurs 119

XII. Riding Schools v. the Open 125

Index of Subjects

Section page

XIII. Saddle with Stirrups v. Numnah 131

XIV. Reins v. No Reins 143

XV. An Improved Method 151

Preliminary Exercises 152

The Strap 152

Jumping 156

Hints to Instructors 167

XVI. Instrumental Exercises 177

PART II— ON TRAINING HORSES.

XVII. What to Teach 193

XVIII. The Horse's Mind 205

XIX. Appliances for Horse Training 219

XX. Early Days 245

XXI. Further Training 253

XXII. Jumping 271

XXIII. Refusers 285

Index 293

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate

I. The " Cabriole " Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

II. The Flat Racing Seat 40

III. Circling at a Canter 49

IV. Good Balance Rising: Pace, a Canter.
V. Good Balance at the Top of the Jump: Pace,

a Canter ( 50

AND

VI. Good Balance at the Top of the Jump: Pace, a/ cj

Gallop

VII. Balance Lost: Pace, a Canter.

VIII. Good Balance Landing at a Slow Pace 52

IX. Leaning Forward on Landing at Racing Pace.... 53

X. A Professional Show- Jumping Seat 54

XI. The Rocking-Horse for Instructional Exercises.. 64

XII. The Rocking-Horse for Instructional Exercises:

Another View 65

XIII. Opening the Shoulders 96

XIV. Method of Holding the Reins: In One Hand 102

XV. Method of Holding the Reins : With Both Hands 103

List of Illustrations.

Plate Facing page

XVI. The Position of the Beginner's Leg When He

Tires • • • , I3S

XVII. A Question of " Hands " 143

XVIII. Giving Extra Head-Room by taking the Right

Hand off the Reins 165

XIX. American Overdraw Check-Rein (increased

Shoulder-Action) 198

XX. English Bearing-Rein (increased Knee-Action).- 199

XXI. The "Courbette" 230

XXII. The "Croupade" 231

XXIII. A Jumping Lane 249

XXIV. Training a High Jumper 278

XXV. Interference With the Mouth on Landing 286

Fig. page

I. Contrivance for Curing Rider's Strain 66

2 Holding on by the Leaping Pad 137

3. The Stirrups tied Together 153

4. The Strap 157

5. The Beginner's Arms Correctly Placed for Riding at a

Fence 161

6. The Beginner's Arms Correctly Placed when Landing 162

7. The Beginner Holding his Reins too Short 164

8. Result of Holding the Reins too Short 165

INTRODUCTION

By MAJOR-GEN. SIR A. N. ROCHFORT, K.C.B., C.M.G.

Late Inspector Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery, Great
Britain.

^T^HE scientific treatment of the art of teaching
riding is no novelty, as the works in many
languages which have been consulted by Major
Birch bear ample testimony, but the variety of views
expressed therein by the authors is confusing, and it
is apparent that the methods which have from time
to time been adopted and then abandoned, only to
be rediscovered as something new, partake rather of
the nature of haphazard expedients than of princi-
ples established on a well-thought-out foundation.
That a similar divergence of views and prac-
tice now exists amongst authorities on the subject
is equally true.

Under these circumstances I venture to think
that the present work will be found most valu-
able; the author has by exhaustive research

2 introduction

rescued from books no longer generally available
much that is good, while his reasons for not
agreeing with some of the views expressed by
these writers are convincing; and, last but not
least, he has shown clearly in Sections XV and
XVI Vv'hat the aim of the instructor in riding
should be, and the best means to that end.

There is, I think, no portion of the book more
interesting than Section II, where he deals with
the evolution of the present-day seat on a horse,
and shows how the pendulum, after oscillating
between the extrem.e of the '' Haute Ecole," or
straight-legged seat, and its opposite as practised
by Tod Sloan and his imitators, both of which are
unsuited to general purposes, has finally come to
rest at the hunting seat. We ought therefore to
hear no more of the military seat as such; — there
never have been any good reasons for such a
distinction, and it would be particularly un-
desirable at present, when the military net is
spread to catch many that can never be trained
under purely military auspices.

During the time I held the appointment of In-
spector of Royal Horse and Field Artillery, I had

Introduction 3

exceptional opportunities of observing the results
of the instructional methods initiated by Major
Birch and carried out under his direction; and al-
though it is not contended that his method offers
the only means of teaching a man to ride, the
system is certainly a very efficient one.

At a time when science, by adapting the means of
mechanical locomotion to road transport, has al-
ready done so much to emancipate horses from some
of the drudgery of which they have hitherto been
the victims, it is opportune to further enlist its aid
in training them for the higher functions for which
in the future they will be more generally used. The
art of horse-training in this country has been too
long neglected, as a result of which the w^aste in
prematurely broken-down and vicious animals is
probably greater than is generally realized.

Natural aptitude and the sporting instincts heredi-
tary in our race have done much to minimize the
necessity of scientifically training the man, but it is
not so with the horse; it is to be hoped that Part
II of this work will therefore appeal the more
forcibly to that large section of the public which is
interested in the production and training of young

4 Introduction

horses, and that those who peruse its pages will con-
clude that there is no short cut to horse-training, but
that, on the contrary, the intellectual and physical
training of the horse must commence when young
and be progressive.

PREFACE

I introduce this volume to the American public
with some diffidence. The most successful
jockeys of recent years on the English turf have
come from America; only two years ago (1909)
America beat England handsomely at polo, and
this year (1911) she has repeated the victory after
a hard-fought struggle. My justification must be
that quite lately there has been a renewal of interest
in the subject of equitation amongst the two great
branches of the English-speaking race, which is no
doubt largely due to the International Horse Shows
which have been held everywhere during the last
four or five years. These have brought home to us
that Continental riders are not only as much at home
in the saddle as ourselves, but that in the matter of
bringing the training of man and horse to a high
pitch of perfection for specific objects we have a
good deal to learn from them, and this in spite
of the fact that as yet no foreign nation could
hope to put up a team of polo players to
defeat the American winners of 1909, or any
four men to beat an equal number of Eng-

S

6 Preface

land's hardest riders across the Leicestershire pas-
tures.

In an article on " The New Army School of
Horsemanship " (Scribner's Magazine, July, 1909),
by Major T. Bentley Mott, U. S. A., the following-
passages occur : — " The fact is, the United States
have long ceased to be a nation of horsemen whose
boys learn to ride as a matter of course, just as they
learn to walk ; and yet, with considerable blindness,
the public and the press have continued to assume
that for military purposes all Americans are born

with a knowledge of horsemanship On

the other hand, England has never had a school
of horsemanship such as Saumur, Hanover, or
Pinerolo.

*' England and Ireland still remain par excellence
the land of horses and horsemen, and the number
of men who ride and handle horses constitute in
those countries a fair proportion of the population,
and the mounted services are recruited in officers
and men considerably from people who have always

ridden Nevertheless, the British are

now awakening to the fact that in the matter of
army horsemanship— certainly in its refinements —

Preface 7

they are being left behind by nations far less favored
in the way of raw material."

This book, which I trust will also interest the ac-
complished horseman, is especially addressed to the
pupil, whether boy or man, and to his instructors,
and may possibly prove useful to the lady who
wishes to adopt the cross-legged seat. Though
many of the illustrations show men in uniform, I
must impress upon the reader that this is no military
text-book ; soldier and civilian now sit and ride alike
in England, and there is every reason why they
should, as I trust the following pages will show. I
feel it necessary to emphasize this point, as there ap-
pears to have been much comment at the New York
National Horse Show of 1909 on the different
styles of riding of the American and English
officers ; the former being said to have the military
and the latter the hunting seat.

In the year 1905 I was appointed to command the
Riding Establishment at Woolwich, and found my-
self responsible for the training of instructors in
equitation for the Royal Regiment of Artillery and
of the Cadets at the Royal Military Academy, who
pass into the Artillery and Engineers.

8 Preface

Few men can have had the exceptional oppor-
tunities I enjoyed of putting every know^n method,
EngHsh and foreign, of teaching riding and training
horses to a practical test ; there w^ere rarely less than
two hundred budding horsemen under instruction
at a time, who were replaced as they became efficient,
and at least sixty young horses passed through the
Establishment yearly.

Since leaving Woolwich I have visited all the
principal Cavalry Schools of Germany, Austria-
Hungary, Italy, France, and Belgium, and have
seen many fine riders and well trained horses.

There are so very many books on equitation that
it has of course been necessary to cover old ground,
but I believe that some features of the science — for
science it is — have been treated in a new way. No
book, as far as I am aware, recommends the system
of teaching riding advocated in these pages, which I,
and others who have tried it, have proved to ensure
quickness and safety, with the minimum of discom-
fort to both horse and rider during the process.

In Part II, devoted to horse-training, I have en-
deavored to impress on the reader the value of

Preface 9

early handling and development of the horse's mind,
and have gone fully into the subject of permanent
horse-balance and its extreme importance, a thing
which is not very generally understood.

I have dealt with both riding and training from a
more or less historical point of view, not only to
give instructors some idea of bygone ways of riding
and of teaching equitation and to point out why they
fell into disuse, but also to prevent the possible rein-
troduction of obsolete methods which time and ex-
perience have proved to be faulty. I have freely
quoted from equine literature where I have thought
it to be desirable, but it must not be inferred that
the authors mentioned are the only ones I have
studied. As this book is intended to be little more
than a handbook, I have not burdened it with a
bibliography of all the works I have consulted.

Without the assistance of my successor. Major the
Hon. W. Sclater Booth, R. H. A., and his kindness
in continuing experiments in the Riding Establish-
ment in proof of various theories we both wished to
advance, several parts of this book could never have
been written. To the staff of the Riding Establish-
ment, who have been every ready to try new de-

10 Preface

partures, my thanks are also due ; as also to Briga-
dier General H. de la P. Gough, commanding 3rd
Cavalry Brigade, Ireland, the Messrs. Miller of polo
fame, Mr. R. Donaldson-Hudson, and to Mr. C. S.
Jackson, M. A., Instructor of Mathematics and
Mechanics at the Royal Military Academy, Wool-
wich; also to Major G. H. A. White, R. H. A., for
some of the illustrations.

I am much indebted to the Editors of the Royal
Artillery Journal and the Cavalry Journal for their
very kind permission to reproduce a portion of some
articles I published in these periodicals, and in the
case of the former to use some of the plates which
illustrated them. I am also much indebted to the
proprietor of the Field newspaper for a similar
permission.

Noel Birch,

Naval and Military Club,
Piccadilly,

London.
izth June, 1911.

PART I
ON TEACHING RIDING

ON THE NECESSITY FOR APPLYING SCIENTIFIC
PRINCIPLES TO THE TEACHING OF RIDING
AND THE TRAINING OF HORSES

ON THE NECESSITY FOR APPLYING SCIENTIFIC
PRINCIPLES TO THE TEACHING OF RIDING
AND THE TRAINING OF HORSES

" The most exalted seat in the world is the saddle of a swift
horse, and the best companion for all time is a book."

Arab Poetry.

T-p NGLAND has long been behind other
"^ European nations in certain branches of the
equestrian art, and rather despises foreigners for the
time and trouble they bestow on riding instruction
and on the higher education of the horse. General
von Bernhardi says that " Anglo-maniacs and fad-
dists still seek to exercise an influence the reverse of
favorable in this respect." France and Germany,
to quote only two countries, aim at making both
the horse's and the man's training as perfect and
as comprehensive as possible.

Riding for spectacular purposes, whether in the
riding school or the show-ring, is unlikely ever

«3

14 Modern Riding and Horse Education

to appeal to the average Englishman and American
who hunts and plays polo; and we can take it that
what in old days w^as called the " Great Saddle," and
now " advanced Haute Ecole " work, is of no practi-
cal value, nor do we meet such jumps as the
" piano," and three rails of progressive heights, so
placed that they must be jumped as one obstacle, out-
side the show ring. We learn, however, from the
foreigner the value of training both man and horse
systematically for a particular object, as against
our happy-go-lucky methods ; w^hatever success these
may meet with being really in advance of their de-
serts.

The Messrs. Miller, at Rugby, train ponies as well
as, if not better than, anybody else in the w^orld, and
in some other individual cases excellent results are
obtained; but speaking generally, the farmer's son
handles the colt with but little idea of how to set
about it, and the dealer's lad wall probably complete
the breaking — for education it can hardly be called
— the horse being then sold as a finished hunter or
hack. If he is properly balanced and has a good
mouth the purchaser is exceptionally lucky, and if
the animal answers to the leg he is luckier still. An

On Teaching Riding 15

Irish dealer at the Dubhn Horse Show once told me
that he had a wonderful horse to sell me ; the remark
caused no surprise, but I had the curiosity to ask
why the animal was wonderful. " Your honor,"
was the reply, " he can walk, trot, and gallop, and
there are very few horses in the show that can
do that." If we take the brains and time that are
put into horse-training abroad as a guide, it is really
surprising that so many horses at home should be
able to walk, trot, and gallop in proper form.
Many so-called trained animals which are sold out of
England or Ireland to go abroad are treated as un-
broken on their arrival unless over six years old, and
are trained from the beginning.

As far as the teaching of riding is concerned, our
boys are generally taught by the family coachman,
often a poor horseman and with no theoretical
knowledge; a typical case of the blind leading the
blind.

I recently visited the French Cavalry School at
Saumur, amongst others, which is the largest estab-
lishment of its kind in the world, not excepting Han-
over, and witnessed a performance given in the
riding school by the Ecuyers (picked riding instruc-

i6 Modern Riding and Horse Education

tors). They rode in buckskin saddles, having rolls
in front of the flap, and a large roll behind the seat;
the lower part of the leg was drawn back, and in
many cases the knee was not touching the saddle.
The make of the saddle and the grip below the knee
maintained the rider's seat when the horse did vio-
lent and extravagant exercises such as the *' cour-
bette " (rearing) " croupade " (kicking out behind),
and the "cabriole" (Plate I) (jumping off the
ground and extending the fore and hind legs). The
French claim that this seat is necessary in order that
the " aids " may be applied delicately, but lady expo-
nents of the Haute Ecole perform the work just as
well on trained horses, although they cannot apply
the leg as a man does.

I was not at all struck with the seat, and although
I was privileged to see no jumping, a careful exam-
ination of many photographs taken on the spot
proved that it is abandoned in favor of our hunting
seat for more practical work, and a very firm " as-
siette " they seem to have attained.

This riding-school performance is frequently
carried out with the object of demonstrating to
embryo instructors to what a high pitch horse-train-

On Teaching Riding 17

ing can be carried, and of its kind it is perfectly ex-
cellent. The horses are first of all taught their work
tied between two pillars, and without men on their
backs. Some of the aids employed can hardly be
called delicate, even when the education is complete ;
for example, to make the horse kick up behind, the
riders gives him a severe cut with the whip just
above his hocks. Doubtless these exercises develop
useful muscles in the horse and ensure his balance
at slow paces, as no unbalanced horse could perform
them, but we need not copy either this training or
what is considered the necessary seat for it; the
muscles of the horse can be devolped by far simpler
means, and balancing is part of the animal's ordi-
nary education. It is only fair, however, to add that
these same horses are said to be able to travel over
four miles of stiffish made-up country, the highest
practical test possible in France, where natural
fences of any sort are the exception.

The only Haute Ecole exercise I have ever heard
of with a specific object peculiar to itself is the Span-
ish trot, which is said to cure stumbling; but as Mr.
Swire has recently told us that horses possessing this
accomplishment are apt to do it unasked when wait-

i8 Modern Riding and Horse Education

ing their turn at a fence out hunting and to strike
other horses, its all-round value is doubtful. Im-
agine one's feelings at the covert side if one's horse
did the " courbette " spontaneously, and the lan-
guage of one's friends if he began the " croupade "
in a narrow gate-way ! I think plain people and
ordinary horsemen will agree with me that it is
better to have an animal whom no power could in-
duce either to rear or kick, than one trained to these
evil practices.

From a recent conversation with a Spanish and
a French officer concerning " show jumping," I
learn that the thirst for extremely fancy obstacles
is the outcome of some years' training in this par-
ticular sphere abroad. Fresh jumps are invented
directly horses become clever at those in use ; let us
hope that the limit of the animal's powers will
shortly be reached. I was, however, informed by
the Commandant of Saumur that the progressive
training of horses and riders for jumping had al-
most entirely eliminated accidents.

What we in England should aim at now is the ap-
plication of scientific principles to the ordinary
teaching of riding and the training of horses, and

Applying Scientific Principles 19

in this we can take a lesson from abroad without
going into any extravagances. After the Interna-
tional Horse Show at Olympia (London) in 1909
the following interesting comments appeared in a
French official journal, after many encomiums on
English practical horsemanship : — " They (English-
men) fail in that nothing (ce rien) which may be so
easily learnt in the school .... (and which) consists
in those principles of equitation by which a horse
may be taught to go pleasantly wherever, whenever,
and however one wishes, and at whatever pace is
desired." Let us be satisfied w^hen we have arrived
at this and go no further; it is not necessary, nor
can it be advantageous, to teach a horse for example
to " canter false," one of the tests exacted at the
Brussels International Horse Show of 1910.

Towards the end of the reign of James I serious
efforts appear to have been made to improve horse
training and riding in England. Lord Mostyn
possesses an MS. bearing date 1618, in which the
Lord President of the Council of the Marches urges
the Deputy-Lieutenants of Flint to found a Riding
Academy out of the rates, where horsemanship, " a
necessary and useful part of every gentleman's

20 Modern Riding and Horse Education

breeding, and a thing of high estimation throughout
the most flourishing and best governed part of the
world," could be properly taught and horses trained.
It is fair to assume that this movement was not
confined to one county. The Deputy-Lieutenants,
however, strongly objected on the score of expense,
and history tells us that it was the custom at that
time, and later on in the same century, for young
gentlemen of England to go to France and there
perfect themselves in riding.

In 1 76 1 Henry Earl of Pembroke published a
book entitled " Military Equitation, or a Method
of Breaking Horses and Teaching Soldiers to
Ride " ; it ran through four editions if not more,
and on October i, 1793, was accepted by the Adju-
tant-General of the British Army and issued as the
first text-book on the subject. The work is of ab-
sorbing interest, and contains many hits at the equi-
tation of that time, especially from a military point
of view, some of which apply in a minor degree to
the present day. On the necessity for study his
lordship writes as follows:

" I must urge the necessity of forming by read-
ing, and serious study, as well as by much constant

Applying Scientific Principles 21

practice, proper riding-masters for the Army;
though I am thoroughly apprized, as the celebrated
Mr. Bourgelat observes, that an ill-founded pre-
judice partially directs the judgment of the greater
part of those people, who call themselves connois-
seurs. I know full well that they suppose that
practice alone can insure perfection, and that in their
arguments in favor of this their deplorable system,
they reject with scorn all books, and all authors :
but Equitation is confessedly a science; every science
is founded upon principles, and they must indispen-
sably be necessary, because what is truly just and
beautiful cannot depend upon chance. What indeed
is to be expected from a man, who has no other
guide than a long-continued practice, and who must
of necessity labor under very great uncertainties?
Incapable of accounting rationally for what he does,
it must be impossible for him to enlighten me, or
communicate to me the knowledge which he fancies
himself possessed of. How then can I look upon
such a man as a master ? On the other hand, what
advantages may I not obtain from the instructions
of a person whom theory enables to comprehend
and feel the effects of his slightest operations, and

22 Modern Riding and Horse Education

who can explain to me such principles as an age of
constant practice only could never put me into a way
of acquiring? Equitation does, to be sure, require
also a constant, and an assiduous exercise. Habit,
and a continual practice will go a great way in all
exercises, which depend on the mechanics of the
body, but, unless this mechanism is properly fixed,
and supported on the solid basis of theory, errors
will be the inevitable consequence. The knowledge
of a horse is vulgarly thought so familiar, and the
means of dressing him so general and so common,
that you can hardly meet with a man who does not
flatter himself that he has succeeded in both points,
and while masters, who sacrifice every hour of their
life to attain knowledge, still find themselves im-
merged in darkness and obscurity, men the most un-
informed imagine that they have attained the sum-
mit of perfection, and in consequence thereof sup-
press the least inclination of learning even the first
elements, a blind, and a boundless presumption is the
characteristic of ignorance ; the fruits of long study,
and application amount to a discovery of fresh
difficulties, at the sight of which a diligent man,
very far from over-rating his own merit, redoubles
his efforts in pursuit of fresh knowledge.'^

Applying Scientific Principles 23

Truer words on the subject were seldom penned,
and all that Lord Pembroke advises for Army In-
structors applies equally well to teachers and to
many horse-trainers outside the Army. The Briton
and the American have, as a rule, better legs for the
saddle than any Continental European, and should
settle into it more easily than he, and therefore excel
in every branch of equitation. Some of the best
horses in the world are bred in the British Isles and
in America, and the only pity of it is that so many
of the former are allowed to go abroad, though de-
fenders of the practice no doubt rightly urge that
this is an incentive to breeding valuable stock.

Lord Pembroke's advice, which presumably was
that a scientific school of equitation should be estab-
lished for the Army, similar to those now found in
Vienna, Pinerolo, Hanover, Ypres, and Saumur, all
of which I have seen, was not followed for over a
hundred years, and history shows us the result so
far as the Army is concerned. In 1802 a Hanover-
ian named Captain Quist was appointed to command
the Riding House at Woolwich, with a view to
teaching the Artillery to ride. In 181 5 a Prussian
riding master was stnt over to instruct our Cavalry.

24 Modern Riding and Horse Education

and in 1904 a deputation of English officers visited
Saumur and found plenty to learn there. Two
cavalry officers were lately sent to Saumur in order
to qualify as instructors for our Cavalry School at
Netheravon, which came into existence after the
Boer War. Let us hope that in 201 1 we shall be
in a position to take pupils from other nations.

The professional civilian teacher of riding is very
often a retired soldier, so those outside the Army
should eventually profit from Government money
judiciously spent at Netheravon or the Riding Estab-
lishment. As in James Vs time, the formation of
scientific civilian schools in different parts of the
country is out of the question at present from a
financial point of view, as there is no demand for
them ; but I have great hopes that in course of time
the British riding public will become alive to the fact
that well-made horses are uncommon, and that no
hunting man, breeder, or horse dealer can go any-
where to learn how to train them and at the same
time improve his owm riding ; or to have his children
taught equitation in a thorough and practical
manner.

II

SEATS

II

SEATS

" He grew unto his seat ;
And to such wond'rous doing brought his horse,
As he had been incorps'd and demy-natured
With the brave beast."

Hamlet, Act iv., Scene 7.

T>EFORE putting the pupil on the horse, it will
be as well to consider firstly what he has to
be taught, and secondly the easiest way of doing it;
when these two problems have been solved the work
can be undertaken with confidence and with a knowl-
edge of what to look for and what to avoid during
the process of teaching a man to ride.

Although differing considerably as to the best
method of instruction, experts nearly all agree that
the first three things to go for are balance, knee and
thigh grip, and getting the pupil split up and well
down into his saddle. The use of the hand and of
the lower part of the leg may well be left until the

pupil has a more or less firm and balanced seat.

27

28 Modern Riding and Horse Education

Although balance and grip are both component
parts of a man's seat on horseback, yet " seat " it-
self is so distinct a subject, from the point of view
of the various styles in use in historical and modern
times, with the reasons governing their adoption,
as to merit separate consideration, and instructors
of riding should have some knowledge of how the
evolution of the present-day seat on a horse was ac-
complished. Many of the well-known writers on
horsemanship have alluded more or less fully to the
subject, but in so discursive a manner as not to
bring clearly before the reader the gradual changes
which have taken place in the accepted manner of
sitting a horse, all of which have had their justifica-
tion in the conditions obtaining at the time.

Four varieties of seat are mentioned in the
standard works on riding — the Haute Ecole seat,
with the leg straight ; the military seat, with the leg
slightly bent; the hunting seat, with the leg rather
higher; and what is variously described by old
authors as the Turkish, Eastern, or ancient Spanish
seat, which now figures in a more exaggerated form
as the American flat-racing seat, with the thigh
practically horizontal. It is a mistake to suppose

Seats 29

that the bent knee came in with the stirrups : stirrups
were not invented until the fifth century, and were
not common till the twelfth, yet history proves
clearly that the ancient Eastern nations rode with
the leg bent. Bas-reliefs in the Assyrian section of
the British Museum show the seats in vogue in the
eighth and ninth centuries b. c, and further evi-
dence is furnished by the Parthenon frieze, tempo
440 B. c. In the relief which represents horsemen
flying before the Assyrians, the rider's knee is nearl}'
as high as it would be in the present-day racing seat.
Set a man who has never ridden before on to a
horse which is standing still, and you will find that
he sits in practically the same way as the warrior
in another of the bas-reliefs, of about 750 b. c. ;
which goes to prove that this position, which is
neither more nor less than the present-day hunting
seat, is a natural one, and that all others are ac-
quired. The early riders probably adopted it as be-
ing the most comfortable for both man and horse on
long-distance journeys, and when crossing rough
country. From an anatomical point of view they
were correct, that is to say, if the reader agrees
with me in thinking that a man should sit in his

30 Modern Riding and Horse Education

saddle and not ride on his fork. The two " sitting
bones " in front, and the sacrum behind the pelvis,
form the triangular base of the seat, as Sidney so
graphically explains, and the angle of the thighs
depends on their make and shape and on the width
of the pelvis. The Eastern nations have persisted
in this seat, and I will endeavor to show why Euro-
peans adopted the straight-legged seat for a period,
and why they have now returned to riding shorter.

War has always influenced the art of horseman-
ship, especially in the West. It is, therefore, not
surprising to find the great warrior and student of
equitation Xenophon, who was born 430 B. c, writ-
ing as follows in his treatise on riding:

" Whether he uses a cloth ^ or rides upon the bare
back we should not have him sit as one who drives
a chariot, but as if he were standing erect with his
legs somewhat astride, for thus his thighs will cling
closer to his horse, and being upright, he will be
better able to wield his lance and shield with more
force."

This " war seat " did not become common in
Europe for some time. A statue of Caligula on

1 The Greeks used " clothes " or housings, and not saddles.

Seats 31

horseback, date about 37 a. d., which is in the
British Museum, shows him riding with a bent knee,
and I am of opinion that the seat never entirely
superseded the old one for road work and the
chase.

The straight-legged seat was undoubtedly general
on the Continent in the early Middle Ages, when
knights wore heavy armor and rode in massive
high-peaked and deeply-curved saddles (Tozer),
which, indeed, allowed of no other posture. It has
been freely stated that the straight-legged seat was the
outcome of the high-peaked saddle, which became
popular as giving a good support to the rider if he
were struck, Xenophon's treatise proves the fallacy
of this theory, because he recommended the position
at a time when only a cloth was used for a saddle.
The Normans in the Bayeux tapestry are repre-
sented as riding with a perfectly straight leg, and
probably introduced the practice into England; as
although some historians aver that the Saxons were
in the habit of riding, they undoubtedly fought on
foot at Hastings, to which fact King William may
have owed his victory (Tozer). The reason why
the mediaeval knights all used this seat in battle and

32 Modern Riding and Horse Education

in the lists was probably that not only did it enable
them to put more weight into the thrust, but they
were less liable to overbalance backwards after the
collision than if their knees had been bent and used
as the pivot.

On the experience of the knights in armor
(Sidney) the "High School of Horsemanship"
was founded, and carried to fantastic perfection in
England and on the Continent during the period
when armor had been reduced to a breast-plate and
back-plate. Exercises much resembling those of the
more florid Haute Ecole school were, however, com-
mon amongst the Arab nations from the earliest
times, and may be witnessed to-day at what are
known as Arab " fantasias," and these were and are
carried out with the knee very much bent. It is pos-
sible that, during the long intercourse between the
Easterns and the knighthood of Europe at the time
of the Crusades, the Europeans may have adopted
some of the methods of their antagonists and sought
to rival their feats of horsemanship, though without
imitating their manner of sitting a horse.

The Cavalier of a later date rode straight-legged
to war, and, according to contemporary writers,

Seats 33

found it " most elegant and graceful " in peace.
Manege riding of a high order formed one of the
principal recreations of the gentlemen of the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries, who were encour-
aged to excel by the interest of the fair sex. In
this they closely resembled the young Romans, who
were accustomed to ride before the ladies merely to
display their equestrian skill and address, in the
hopes of thereby winning their favor.

There can be no doubt that, with the improve-
ment in English agriculture and the consequent en-
closing of the country, a more natural school of
riders arose amongst gentlemen sportsmen and yeo-
men, who discovered the difficulties of negotiating
fences if they rode with a straight leg, the principal
one being that, unless the knee is farther to the front
than the body, the latter will pitch forward when the
horse lands. Not only was the seat less secure when
jumping with long stirrups, but if the horse pecked
the rider was liable to injury, as he could not clear
the pommel. Xenophon's directions for jumping are
interesting in this connection. He advocates catch-
ing hold of the mane to avoid giving the horse a job
in the mouth, which goes to prove that his method

34 Modern Riding and Horse Educatioii

of riding was unsuitable for jumping; and New-
castle remarks : '' Nothing disorders a Horse's
Mouth more than Leaps."

Until fox-hunting became general, towards the
close of the eighteenth century/ it was not con-
sidered correct to ride with a bent knee. Writing
in 1805, Adams says that " although gentlemen may
give their horses a breathing in this style of riding
in the park, or occasionally over a piece of common
by the roadside, yet it is not becoming or genteel
to practise it much on the road."

Baucher (circa 1850), and every other past mas-
ter of Haute Ecole — excepting Fillis, if we are to
judge by his illustrations — rode with a compara-
tively speaking straight leg, and claimed that this
seat alone gave that nice equilibrium, light hand, and
power of leg so indispensable in working the horse
in advanced manege riding.

Although Haute Ecole training never seems to
have been generally popular after hunting com-
menced over enclosed countries, and is practically

1 In " Sports and Pursuits of the English," we read that hounds
were never entered solely to fox till 1750 ; but in his " Encyclopaedia
of Rural Sports," Elaine says that the first real steady pack of fox-
hounds was established in the Western part of England about 1730.

Seats 3S

unknown in England to-day, up to about 1850 the
majority of writers on the subject of equitation were
agreed that the straight-legged seat was the best,
and the only one to be recommended. These
authors were not generally hunting men; the latter
gentlemen, with few exceptions, thought school rid-
ing and scientific horse-training unworthy of their
serious consideration.

The reader may well ask the pertinent ques-
tion, how came this seat to be the general one in
America ? and why does the cow-puncher still retain
it ? I will endeavor to supply answers to both ques-
tions. Horses became extinct in America before the
beginning of the historic period (von Zittel) and
were first reintroduced by the Spaniards in 1537;
some of these escaped and ran wild, and by 1580
their descendants had spread over the continent.

It seems only natural to infer that with the horse
came the seat of the period, and it has been retained
to this day by the riders of the plains. It is well
suited to the horse and to the work of the cow-
puncher. He has to cross no fences, trotting is un-
known to him, and as he pivots on his fork he can
bend and turn at will to throw his rope. Excepting

36 Modern Riding and Horse Education

for jumping, the balance of the body must be more
perfect in this position than it is in the hunting seat,
as the pivot is higher.

The straight-legged seat is one to grow into and
not to acquire after manhood is reached.

In Tyndale's book on military riding (1797) the
soldier is shown astride his horse with a perfectly
straight leg, and the writer states that the plate is
perfectly true to life ; but I am led to infer that this
position was only retained in the riding school and
in peace training under the eye of the Riding Mas-
ter. Lord Pembroke, in the manual issued by the
War Office four years before this date, recom-
mended a seat between the Haute Ecole and the
hunting with the idea of combining the advantages
of both, but apparently this had not had any appre-
ciable effect on the soldier's seat. This will be
readily understood by those who have been brought
up in the Army and recognize the conservatism of
Riding Instructors. During the Napoleonic wars,
when nearly every soldier became a campaigner, the
straight-legged seat, and also Lord Pembroke's,
seem to have been abandoned for the hunting seat,
as we find that in 181 5, after the declaration of

Seats 37

peace, a Prussian riding master was employed under
the patronage of the Prince Regent to drill our
Cavalry to ride with a perfectly straight leg again.
This must have been carried to an extreme, as many
men were ruptured in the process. Gibbon, a mili-
tary writer (1825), tells us that every man's thigh
should lie at an angle of 20 degrees from the per-
pendicular (as if we were all built precisely alike!),
and says that any deviation from this position ex-
poses the rider to some danger or other.

And now ensued a long period during which there
was little or no change in the soldier's seat on a
horse in peace time, although some regiments appear
to have ridden with shorter stirrups than others ; and
the outbreak of the South African War in 1899
found our mounted troops sitting on their forks, the
exception being the Mounted Infantry, first raised
some thirty years ago, who were taught their equita-
tion by combatant officers, and rode with the knee
bent. Men who went through the Riding Master's
course at the Cavalry Depot at Canterbury just be-
fore this war have told me that they were ordered
to have their spur-rests fitted low on a high heel in
order to give their leg an even straighter appear-

3^ Modern JRiding and Horse Education

ance. It may surprise some of my readers to be
told that the Cavalry Schools of France, Italy, and
Austria had already adopted the hunting seat.

The campaign in South Africa again proved, as
the Peninsular War appeared to have done, that the
straight-legged seat was most wearing to both man
and horse on the march, and quite unsuitable for
crossing obstacles.

Mobility, i. e., getting on to the battle-field, is
and must be in the future of far more importance
than greater efficiency for possible shock action on
arrival. This latter advantage was not acknowl-
edged by the Eastern nations, who have never been
heavy men on heavy horses and charged knee to
knee. Circling independently on the plain, they
claim that shortened stirrups give the striker a
longer reach. Berenger, writing when the straight-
legged seat was most fashionable in Western Eu-
rope, said that the Turks rode with their stirrups
so short that their knees were almost as much bent
as when sitting on their hams on a sofa, in order to
" collect themselves better, and to be able to rise up,
as it were, when they were going to attack an enemy,
and strike a blow."

Seats 39

A further disadvantage of the straight-legged
seat, as far as it concerned the Army, was that it
demanded a higher standard of horsemanship.
True balance on the fork is difficult to attain, and
more often than not it was on his reins that the
soldier relied for support in riding. The " firm
hand and light seat " had long been a by-word in
the service. Optimists will no doubt remark with
Cesaresco that horses with insensible mouths have
the advantage of making it possible for many people
to ride who could not otherwise do so. The modern
English regulation seat, which is the hunting one,
should, however, put an end to the above state of
affairs; and the remark of a famous master of
hounds, made but a few years ago, that his son rode
very well until he entered the Army and passed
through a cavalry riding school, should not hold
good nowadays. The old-pattern military saddle,
which is only suited to the seat advocated by Xeno-
phon, has unfortunately been retained ; the big man
has the greatest difficulty in getting into it, and is
most uncomfortable when he gets there. Big and
small are farther from the horse than need be.

A good judge and a close follower of racing for

40 Modern Riding and Horse Education

the last thirty years or so tells me that before Tod
Sloan's appearance on the English turf in 1897 the
flat-racing seat had got into a ridiculous extreme,
most of the jockeys riding as if they had pokers
down their backs, which had by no means been the
case in the days of Tom Cannon, Archer, and Ford-
ham, the last named having indeed often been
spoken of as looking like a monkey on a horse.
The first exponent of the American flat-racing seat
(Plate II) in England was Sims, who rode Eau
Gallic in the Crawford Plate at Newmarket in 1895,
but it was left to Tod Sloan two years later to reap
historic successes. He was a marvelous horseman,
and for a time at least had few rivals in the new art,
which is eminently one either to excel in or to let
alone. Good judges will tell you that there are only
half a dozen jockeys on the English turf who are
first-class riders in the new style, and that the re-
mainder would do very much better to go back to
the old methods, but this they are hardly likely to do,
and even steeplechase jockeys are shortening their
stirrups, two notable examples being Parfrement
(the French jockey), and Newry, both winners of
the Grand National at Liverpool.

Seats 41

According to Dodge, author of " Riders in Many
Lands," the crouching seat was the old Red Indian
one, but I have been told that its value for flat-rac-
ing was discovered in the following manner.

A racing man went out West to try and pick up
something useful at " outside " meetings, where he
found that horses were generally ridden by black
men, who sat very much after the manner of mon-
keys at a circus, with a firm hold of the mane, and
with their thighs horizontal. The visitor bought
one of the successful horses, thinking that it would
be a gold mine when properly ridden by a white
jockey, but to his great surprise it was always
beaten, until he bethought him of putting up the
negro again. The return of his purchase to its
proper form now gave the owner food for thought,
and he was intelligent enough to hit upon the true
reason for the colored man's success, which was
soon emulated by most of the white riders in the
country.

The advantage of the American seat, briefly, is
that it allows of the rider's weight being carried in
the right place for speed — /. e., well over the
withers, which is very much farther forward than

42 Modern Riding and Horse Education

is possible with even the straight-legged seat. This
gives the horse increased power of propulsion, and
the crouching attitude adopted by the rider reduces
wind-pressure to a minimum. I have been told by
a well-known owner that rogues go better if ridden
in this manner, which would seem to point to the
fact that it is more comfortable for the horse for a
short distance.

This is the bright side of the picture, but no one
can say that the American seat is an easy one; the
only part of the rider's body to touch the saddle is
his leg from the knee downwards, and all his grip-
ping must be done with this surface alone. Balance
is rendered extremely difficult, and the same may be
said of the use of the lower part of the leg. A few
jockeys can spur their horses, but the majority
merely punish the flaps, and it is not uncommon
after a race to find spur-marks in front of the
saddle. It is obvious that with no support to either
the thighs or the seat, all but the very best riders
must depend largely on the reins for maintaining
their balance, and must lose the greater part of tlicir
control over shifty, uncertain, or awkward horses.
It is much harder to use the whip when this seat

Seats 43

is adopted — in fact, jockeys have been known to
miss their mounts altogether ; as far as the horse is
concerned, his forelegs would tire and eventually
wear out if he habitually carried too much weight
on them. It is certain that the American seat will
never be adopted for all-round riding.

As Mr. Jorrocks said, the seat a man finds easiest
to himself " will in all humane probability be the
easiest to his 'oss."

The loosely-named hunting seat is certainly the
one for all-round work; whatever power of pro-
pulsion the horse loses from having to carry the
weight farther back is amply compensated for by
the pain and fatigue he escapes when ridden over
fences, or with his rider bumping to the trot along
a hard road in the straight-legged seat.

No fixed rule can be laid down as to the correct
height of a man's knee in the hunting seat; every-
thing depends upon his make and shape. The fat-
thighed man must naturally ride shorter than he
who is built for the saddle, but if the stirrups are
too short, balance is sacrificed; on the other hand,
if the leg is too straight the inside of the knee and
thigh becomes round, which makes gripping mor^

44 Modern Riding and Horse Education

difficult (Hayes). It will also be found that, owing
to their diversity of action, different horses require
to be ridden with longer or shorter stirrups. In
1909 at the Military Tournament the Rough-Riders
from the Royal Artillery Riding Establishment,
using the hunting seat, sat perfectly without either
reins or stirrups over a 5 ft. 5 in. rail — one horse
jumping 6 ft. — besides other formidable obstacles,
which proves that no better seat could be wanted for
practical work.

It must be understood that all my future remarks
on instruction in riding will refer to the attainment
of the hunting seat alone.

Ill

BALANCE

Ill

BALANCE

" It is from the loins that he must really ride when all is said and
done." Whyte Melville.

" He that would venture nothing must not get on a horse."

Spanish Proverb.

T> ALANCE, 2. e., the mechanical adjustment of
the body to the movements of the horse, is
the foundation of all good riding. It is the most
difficult of all things to teach, and is more quickly
acquired by men with pluck and nerve than by those
who lack self-confidence. The secret of its attain-
ment is suppleness of the body from the hips up-
wards ; Pembroke righly remarks that ^' good riding
is incompatible with stififness." The heavily-topped
man with short legs is theoretically at a disadvantage
as a horseman, because his center of gravity is
higher, and therefore farther from the saddle. Nor-
mally it is at about the height of an imaginary line
running horizontally through the hips. Once learnt,

balance is quite instinctive.

47

48 Modern Riding and Horse Education

Some devotees of the straight-legged seat have
v^ritten that man should ride by balance, and I have
met Boers who used no girths, but this practice
and the other comfortable theory v^^ould break dov^n
were jumping to be undertaken, or the riding of
anything but a well-trained horse on the flat, who
would be sure not to make what some writers term
" reactions." Under any more strenuous conditions
the rider cannot poise his body to balance it unless
the knees are firm on the saddle.

For instructional purposes the principle of bal-
ance on horseback should be considered under three
aspects : the first when the horse is advancing in a
straight line; the second when he inclines his body
inwards in the act of turning — the degree of inclina-
tion being determined by the pace at which he is
traveling ; and the third when the horse is jumping.

In the first case, all the rider has to be taught to
do in the initial stages is to sit in an easy position
with his seat well under him in the center of the sad-
dle, and to look between the horse's ears. In this and
in the third aspects the security of the rider's seat
depends on the application of his weight with refer-
ence to the perpendicular; at very fast paces the

u

be

1j
u

'0

Balance 49

man's body is of course inclined forward to coun-
teract the forces acting against it. A different rea-
son dictates to the rider that he should lean forward
to rise at the trot. He does this to shift his center
of gravity farther forward and therefore more over
the fulcrum : i. e., the knees, thus making the body
easier to lift.

In the second case, when the horse leans inwards
to turn, the rider's body must be in the same plane
— that is to say, at the same angle as the horse's
(Plate III). If it remains perpendicular with the
ground, as when riding straight forward, the pupil
will have a tendency to fall off outwards ; if he leans
more inwards than the horse, he will conversely fall
off inwards. Therefore when turns are first prac-
tised the instructor must center his attention on
persuading the pupil to incline his body with that of
the horse, exactly as he would on a bicycle ; centri-
fugal force alters the plane of the horse's body, and
the rider must conform.

In teaching a man how to poise his body in order
to maintain its balance when jumping, the directions
given in many books should be disregarded, includ-
ing the text-book ( 1907) of the British Army. The

50 Modern Riding and Horse Education

child on the rocking-horse keeps his body practically
perpendicular to the ground whilst the horse rocks,
if he is not bearing on the reins; he appears to lean
backwards and forwards, but this is an ocular de-
ception caused by the rocking movements. When
the boy learns to ride on leaving the nursery he is
often told to sit well back when going at any fence
but a bank, and the true balance he may have ac-
quired as an infant is sacrificed. The position he is
now taught to assume in the saddle makes holding
on by the reins a necessity if he is not to tumble back-
wards off his pony when it rises.

The rocking-horse does not, however, move for-
ward, and if the reader stands on an advancing plat-
form he will find that to maintain his equilibrium he
must lean more or less forward, according to the
pace at which the platform is traveling.

Plates IV and V show the correct balance of the
body when the horse rises and when he is in the mid-
dle of his jump, the pace being a slow canter in both
cases ; it will be seen that the preponderance of the
rider's weight in either picture is on the forward
side of a line passing through the man's hips and
perpendicular with the ground. In Plate VI, as

c

Balance 51

the horse shown is moving much faster and as the
pace must regulate the degree of incHnation, the
rider's body is in this case inchned more forward, in
order to preserve true balance.

Plate VII illustrates the evil effect of letting the
body get behind the perpendicular at either of these
phases of the jump ; the rider depicted in it had, to
my certain knowledge, excellent gripping power, but
grip alone was not enough on this occasion ; the man
had no reins to hold on by, and he therefore fell off
backwards. I have witnessed many falls from the
same cause, and the skeptic can at once prove the
correctness of the statement by dropping his reins
at a fence.

Let us now consider the poise of the body when
the horse is in the act of descending. If the reader
will stand up on the car of a switch-back in motion
he will find that to maintain his equilibrium he will
have to lean forward when going downhill, and the
difference between this movement and that of land-
ing over a fence is that at slow paces the horse gener-
ally dwells when he lands, whereas the switchback
makes no pause at the bottom of the incline. Care-
ful observation extending over a lengthened period,

52 Modern Riding and Horse Education

and assisted by photographic experiments, has led
me to the conclusion that in landing over a fence at a
canter the rider depicted in Plate VIII has got his
body as far back as possible with due regard to
safety, and that this poise can only be assumed at a
slow pace and on a horse which dwells on landing.
If the animal is very quick away after jumping at a
canter the rider is apt to be left if his body is not
slightly on the forward side of the perpendicular
with the ground. I must here impress upon the
reader that for the rider to get behind the perpen-
dicular when landing over a big fence he must lean
hack to a considerable degree from his hips. The
Italians say that the body should be in front of the
perpendicular to the horse on the downward plane
and when landing; this is a necessary corollary to
their method of riding, and they hold their reins
shorter than we do in England. The objections to
this practice, excepting perhaps for steeplechasing,
will be referred to later on in the section on the
" Use and Misuse of the Hands."

Any amateur who has ridden a gallop at a
trainer*s will have experienced to his discomfiture
how quickly a well-schooled horse gets away on

Balance S3

landing-, and how the reins alone have saved him if
he has been leaning back. Go to any steeplechase
meeting in England and observe the poise of the
jockey's bodies as the horse is on the dov^nv^ard
plane; you will find that about sixty per cent, are
sitting more or less as depicted in Plate IX, and the
remaining forty per cent, are leaning back — some
even behind the perpendicular. In a kindly review
of this book in an English magazine, the writer
asserts that the jockey in the above-mentioned plate
does not bear out my argument, as he has been
jerked forward by the shock of landing. I would
ask the reader to study the position of the rider's
arms and the length of his reins ; if he had been lean-
ing back before his horse's fore-legs touched the
ground, the animal's head would have been pulled
up into an impossible position.

This statement concerning steeplechase jockeys is
not perhaps easy to believe, and a well-known rider
who has won the National affirms that it is ridic-
ulous, particularly over that course. I was, how-
ever, enabled to verify it by the kindness of the
" Warwick Trading Company," who gave me a
private exhibition on the bioscope of the best pro-

54 Modern Riding and Horse Education

fessional and amateur jockeys negotiating every
class of fence on practically every steeplechase
course.

It seems to me that if we hold to the instructions
of our fathers and throw the body behind the per-
pendicular on landing, we are acting as if a blunder
and not a clean jump were the rule in steeplechasing
and hunting. It may be argued that by doing so we
lighten the horse's forehand and thus help to save a
fall if he pecks, but on the other hand it reduces his
pace and makes interference with his head and neck
at a critical moment almost a certainty. This last
point will be fully discussed in the " Use and Mis-
use of the Hands." When the horse does blunder,
the body should be thrown back if possible, and the
same thing applies to stumbling.

We now come to the case when leaning forward
is overdone for practical riding, which is at *' show
jumping." It is a common thing at a horse show to
see the English professional rider landing with his
chest touching the horse's neck (see Plate X), and
this is done to take the weight off the animal's quar-
ters and make him less likely to strike the obstacle
with his hind-legs. The practice is mechanically

Balance 55

correct as far as the horse's jumping is concerned,
but the rider will in all probability fall off if the
animal makes a mistake. Even if he were going at
top speed, so much deviation from the perpendicular
would make balance impossible ; the rider can, how-
ever, maintain his seat by firm grip if all goes wdl,
as his body is poised in the direction in which the
horse's body is being propelled, and not as in Plate
VII. Another disadvantage of this show jumping
posture is, that increased weight comes on the fore-
hand on landing.

Hayes, in " Points of the Horse," and in his arti-
cle on riding in the " Encyclopaedia of Sport," says
that the body should be leant back when the horse
rises at a fence in order to lighten the forehand and
assist the horse in the rearing up which is his first
movement in jumping; he can never have experi-
mented without reins, or he would have found out
the evils of the practice. Mechanically, with refer-
ence to the horse only, his statement is open to seri-
ous argument, as apparently he had neglected the
force of propulsion, and the angle of its application.
In negotiating a " drop," the force of gravity makes
the angle of descent of the horse steeper, and the

56 Modern Riding and Horse Education

rider's head will naturally come nearer to the horse's
croup.

To the reader who is interested in this subject,
I would suggest the experiment of placing himself
near a small fence or hurdle the next time he is out
hunting, and watching the field jump it. He will
then see how many people retain their balance by
means of the reins.

IV

KNEE AND THIOH GKIP

IV

KNEE AND THIGH GRIP

" When fastened like glue to the saddle
We gallop astern of the pack."

Tarporley Hunting Song, 1855.

^TT^HE man who has never been on a horse prob-
ably has very little development of the partic-
ular muscles used in riding ; and however strong- he
may be naturally, he cannot have much confidence in
himself when asked to apply them for the first time
on an animal he most likely regards with awe. Two
sets of muscles, the flexor at the groin, which keeps
the knee up, and the adductor grip muscles, have to
be developed before a satisfactory seat can be at-
tained. The process by which this may be done is a
branch of the art of training athletes which does not
always receive the attention it deserves. Before a
man learns to drive four horses it is necessary that
he should strengthen the muscles of his shoulders,
arms, and fingers by manipulating dummy reins with

weights attached to them, if quick results are to be

59

6o Modern Riding and Horse Education

obtained when he gets on to the box, and the same
principle must apply to the thigh muscles of the man
who is to be taught riding. The polo player not
only uses the dummy pony to get his eye in, but also
to strengthen his arm and wrist, and incidentally
his thighs.

The fact that grip can only be obtained by mus-
cular contraction renders its constant application im-
possible on the score of fatigue; its early acquire-
ment is nevertheless most important to give the pupil
confidence. If a man feels he has sufficient grip
power to help him he will more quickly learn bal-
ance.

Certain exercises will develop the flexor and ad-
ductor muscles ; they may be gone through either on
a horse or on a dummy horse, and should be in-
creased gradually. If possible, the pupil should be
put through them once a day for about ten days
before his instruction in riding commences. They
should be continued during the first part of the
course, and not in the hours allotted to riding. The
instructor must bear in mind that it is useless to
exercise a tired muscle, and he will find that the man
can accomplish but little during the first few days.

Knee and Thigh Grip 6l

Where there is a constant flow of pupils, a small
number of dummy horses will well repay their initial
cost. They can be made from a short piece of the
trunk of a tree, having approximately the same girth
as a horse, or a small barrel standing on four props.
The top of the trunk or barrel should be fitted to
take a saddle, and should be about four feet from the
ground. The place where the knee lies may be hol-
lowed out and stuffed with hay to give a softer
grip. The wood below the level of the knee should
be cut away to prevent the rider from obtaining any
assistance from the lower part of the leg. Supervi-
sion is simpler if a dummy horse is used, as the in-
structor is more on a level with his pupil ; the latter
will not be preoccupied with the management of
his horse, and will learn from the first to be entirely
independent of his reins as far as his seat is con-
cerned.

Dummy horses are also useful for teaching
mounting and saddling, besides bridling and hold-
ing the reins if there is a head; their employment
for instructional purposes is not a new idea : Vege-
tius wTote that wooden horses were used in early
times to teach vaulting on to the horse (Berenger).

62 Modern Riding and Horse Education

Early in 1907 three of these horses were set up in
the gallery of one of the Riding Establishment's
riding schools at Woolwich, and the exercises given
below practised on them.

It is important that the pupil should be placed
well down in the saddle before commencing.

I wish to lay stress on this point, which is often
neglected by instructors. The exercises lose half
their value if the pupil sits on the back of the
saddle.

The following are the exercises, the first two
being the most important : —

1. Rising from the knee with stirrups.

2. Rising from the knee without stirrups (at a
later stage).

3. Touching the foot with the hand on each side,
with and without stirrups.

4. Leaning forw^ards and backwards in the sad-
dle, with and without stirrups.

5. Swinging the lower part of the leg to the rear,
and towards the horse's side, so that it describes
a circular motion.

In all the foregoing exercises the knee should be

Knee and Thigh Grip 63

kept firm on the saddle, and no assistance derived
from the lower part of the leg.

6. Relaxing and tightening the knee and thigh
grip.

The first four exercises make the body supple
from the hips; 3 and 4, which are taken out of the
British Cavalry Training Manual, make excellent
balancing exercises at a trot and canter when the
pupil's instruction in riding is some way advanced,
and No. 5 is a modification of an exercise recom-
mended by Baucher. I have given them a long and
thorough trial, and am convinced of their great
value; the beginner who has not undergone them
and is allowed to ride with reins will always raise
himself out of the saddle when rising at the trot
by pulling on the reins, instead of by using his knee.

The reader who wishes to teach a child to ride
may or may not decide to follow this procedure, hav-
ing plenty of time at his disposal : I can only say
that I have tried it with youths of between thirteen
and fifteen years of age with the most excellent re-
sults, and that it would seem obviously safer with
very young children to lessen the risk of danger-
ous falls, which must frequently occur where, as is

64 Modern Riding and Horse Education

usually the case, a little boy rides entirely by balance
and by the help of the reins for months and even
years after his first riding lesson.

My successor at the Riding Establishment, Major
the Hon. W. D. Sclater Booth, R.H.A., has im-
proved and enlarged upon the idea of the dummiy
horse (Plates XI and XII), by mounting it on
rockers and converting it into a full-sized child's
" rocking-horse," for the purpose of teaching the ele-
ments of fore-and-aft balance, and the movements of
the shoulders, elbows, and wrists in jumping. The
horse's throat works on a hinge and is connected
with the nose by pulleys and weights, so that when
the dummy is in motion the action of the bending
and stretching of a horse's neck is represented. The
pulley and weights are not shown in the illustration.

This elaboration of the dummy horse permits of
exercises which have more life and movement, and
relieves the tyro of all fear of monotony. In addi-
tion to the exercises already given, for which the
horse should be fixed, the following may be prac-
tised : —

I. An instructor rocking the horse, the pupil
swings his body backwards and forwards.

Knee and Thigh Grip 65

2. The same as No. i, the pupil holding the
reins and shooting out his arms from the shoulder
as the horse descends.

3. Sitting with arms folded, and rocking the
horse by swinging the upper part of the body. This
exercise especially develops the thigh muscles.

It is obvious that much better results are obtained
from preliminary exercises on this rocking-horse
than on the fixed dummy horse.

Rider's strain is by no means uncommon, and is
most painful and tiresome. Major Philip G. levers.
Royal Army Medical Corps (retired), tells me that
he has cured many cases by the use of the following
contrivance. —

(Fig. i). A pulley, which can be purchased with
a screw attached to it, may be fastened to a beam or
any wooden structure in the ceiling. The weight
should be of seven or eight pounds to commence
with, gradually increased to twelve pounds; it
should be from two to three feet from the ground
when the foot-loop rests on the ground, thus allow-
ing sufficient play for the motion of the foot to be of
a semi-rotatory character. The exercise should be

66 Modern Riding and Horse Education

practised daily for from five to ten minutes at first,
and later on for fifteen minutes or more. A fort-
night or three weeks generally makes the muscle
quite strong.

Fig. I.

V

GETTING DOWN INTO THE SADDLE

V

GETTING DOWN INTO THE SADDLE

" As he rammed down his hat, and got home in his seat,
This rum one to follow, this bad one to beat,"

Whyte Melville.

N Other words, this simply means being part
and parcel with your horse ; sitting in the sad-
dle and not on it.

The pupil will take some time to attain this de-
sirable end unless he does a certain amount of rid-
ing without stirrups during his course, and when
he is using them they should not be fitted too short.
There is a general tendency nowadays in this direc-
tion, and it is not, in my opinion, to be encouraged
for beginners. For an exaggerated example of this
we have only to go to the flat-racing stable. Here
boys practically commence riding with their thighs
horizontal, with the result that we have such good
judges as Messrs. Richard Marsh, Tom Cannon

Senior, and S. Darling deploring the deterioration

69

70 Modern Riding and Horse Education

of the flat-race jockeys of to-day. As previously
mentioned, the balance of the body with short stir-
rups is difficult even for the finished horseman ; how
much more so for the beginner. The heavier lads
in an English racing stable who are selected to
" make " the yearlings use stirrups of the usual
length, and they are the conspicuously better horse-
men for ordinary riding.

Baucher was a believer in the following exercise
for getting the pupil well split up : " He will remove
one of his thighs as far as possible from the quar-
ters of the saddle, and afterwards replace it with a
rotatory movement from without inwards, in order
to make it adhere to the saddle by as many points
of contact as possible."

To cure round thighs, another experienced
teacher, who was for some time responsible for
equitation in our Army, claimed that good results
came from putting the hand under the fleshy part of
the thigh when in the saddle, and pulling it out-
wards. I do not consider that in either case the re-
sults would justify the expenditure of time and trou-
ble. If the instructor has placed the pupil well into
his saddle on the dummy horse, his labors in this

Getting Down into the Saddle 71

respect will be lightened when riding proper com-
mences.

The round, fat-thighed man is physically pre-
vented from getting well down into the saddle, and
is therefore not so favorably placed for retaining
his seat as his longer-legged and more flat-thighed
brother.

VI

THE ONE AID AND THE INDICATIONS

VI

THE ONE AID AND THE INDICATIONS

** Any fool can learn to ride a horse, but it takes an accomplished
man to be a horseman." Old French Saying.

" Man and horse should be one perfect whole ; . . . when it is not,
there is no meaning between man and horse, they talk different
languages and all is confusion." Berenger.

"IT /"HEN the pupil has acquired a firm and well-
balanced seat, the instructor's next aim
must be to teach the use to which the movement of
the body from the hips upwards can be put for alter-
ing the distribution of the weight; as also the use
of the hand, the lower part of the leg, the voice, the
whip, and the spur, experts having very different
opinions on all these points. They are referred
to in nearly all books as the " aids," and to the
average Englishman who has not been through a
military riding school the word is shrouded in mys-
tery, and usually associated with Haute Ecole work ;
yet every time he rides he makes use of one aid
and several indications to make his horse do what he

wants.

75

76 Modern Riding and Horse Education

Generally speaking, the word '' aids " is a mis-
nomer; there is only one hona-fide aid — the move-
ment of the body from the hips upv/ards. Of the
others, Greenwood writes : " Common sense tells
us that a horse receives no aid from a pull in the
mouth w'ith a piece of iron, or a blow from a whip
or kick in the side from an armed heel." The hands
can regulate a horse's pace to keep him from floun-
dering in a plough ; the legs can indicate to him what
we wish him to do with his hind-quarters, and can
put him into his bridle, but they are no mechanical
aid to his movements. The voice may encourage
him, but, again, it cannot aid.

I have before m.e as I write the so-called *' aids "
recommended in the English, French, German,
Italian, and Austo-Hungarian cavalry drill-books, to
make a horse strike off at a canter with whichever
leg the rider desires. They do not all agree, and
in matters of detail are often diametrically different,
whilst many of the directions given are very in-
volved. The '' aids " in the British military text-
book have been changed more than once.

A combined use of the aid and the indications, of
the simplest possible character, and violating no

The One Aid and the Indications 77

principle of elementary mechanics, will be given later
in the section devoted to instructional exercises, and
I will there deal with each one separately, but must
insist on the sound principle that their use can only
be properly taught when the pupil has acquired a
firm seat, although he should be shown from the first
how to start his horse at a walk, etc., and how to
turn him — this much he can accomplish.

When the pupil is receiving instruction in the use
of the aid and the indications, he should be mounted
on a horse that will obey them properly when ap-
plied. It is not an uncommon practice to mount the
beginner on a horse with an iron mouth, and a flank
with about as much feeling in it as a brick wall —
or perhaps it would be more correct to say, a flank
that is totally unresponsive to the rider's signals ; the
instructor is then very much annoyed when neither
horse nor man w411 do what is required of him.

VII

DISTRIBUTION OF THE RIDER'S WEIGHT

VII

DISTRIBUTION OF THE RIDER'S WEIGHT

" The Tartars have in all ages been famous under different names
for their love of horses, and skill in riding. It is a practice with
them, says an author, ... to tye the reins of their bridles to their
girdles, and by the motions of their bodies alone to govern and direct
their horses; putting them into different attitudes, and making them
perform a variety of evolutions." Berenger.

'T^HE rider can help, hinder, or assume a neutral
attitude towards the movements of his horse,
by poising the upper part of the body so as to bring
more weight to bear on a particular leg or legs, or
by taking the weight of it off them. This is an aid
which is not very generally understood, and is ex-
tremely valuable, as it is not dependent on the sensi-
tiveness of the horse's mouth or sides.

When there is no weight on the horse's back he
can be taught to move in any particular way through
the medium of signs given by the reins, or by the
whip and voice. It does not at all follow that the

same indications will make different horses do the

8i

82 Modern Riding and Horse Education

same things ; for instance, a horse can be taught to
come to the whip, that is to say, to come to you when
struck, or to fly from you at the same signal ; to go
faster as the pressure of the reins gets stronger,
like an American trotter, or to pull up under similar
treatment; the whole thing is a matter of training.
Put a man on a horse's back and he can teach the
animal to do various things when certain indications
of the hands and legs are applied, but he can make
it physically difficult for the horse to obey him by a
false distribution of the weight of his own body.
Lean over and towards a horse's fore-leg when he is
standing still, and he will not move it comfortably;
you have so weighted it as to make it easier for him
to get the other off the ground. The simplest practi-
cal demonstration of the soundness of this principle
is to place yourself on all fours on the ground, let
somebody get on to your back and lean towards
your right hand, and then try to move it. Or with
no one on your back you can make up your mind to
move one particular hand, and you will find that be-
fore doing so you must lighten it by shifting the
weight of the upper part of your body on to the
other arm.

Distribution of the Rider's Weight 83

In the light of the above paragraph it is easy to
understand how the horse is helped in turning if
the rider poises his body so as to weight the leg the
horse uses as a pivot. For example, in turning on
the quarters to the right, the body should be leant
back and to the right. Conversely, it helps the horse
if we lighten the leg he wishes to strike off with at
a canter. The French, Austrians, and Italians do so
in the following manner : for commencing the canter
on a straight line with, say, the off fore-leg leading,
the man rests his weight on his left buttock, at the
same time leaning slightly back, thus making it
easier for the horse to move the desired leg.

When cantering on a small circle the horse
naturally moves with his inward leg leading, either
with or without a man on his back. If he is being
longed with a single rein and cavesson and is going
unwillingly — that is to say with a pull on the rein —
his head will be brought in and his outward shoulder
will be forward; this may make him lead with the
outward leg, but it cannot be taken as a test, as his
hind-legs will be working on a larger circumference
than his fore-legs : in fact, the horse is not moving
on a true circle at all.

84 Modern Riding and Horse Education

The theory has often been advanced that the
horse leads with his inward leg to support the weight
of the rider as he inclines his body towards the
center of the circle in obedience to centrifugal force,
but as the animal does just the same thing when
riderless we must look for another explanation.
This seems to me to lie in the fact that it is mechani-
cally easier for the horse, because the inward leg is
moving on a smaller circle than the outer one; it
would be very awkward for the animal to lead with
the latter, and would also expose him to the danger
of crossing his fore-legs and falling.

Centrifugal force is accountable for the fact
that the rider's weight is about evenly distributed
chough he and the horse lean inwards. A vehicle
always upsets outwards when driven too fast round
a corner, which shows that the weight is on the outer
wheels : the carriage cannot lean inwards like a liv-
ing body to adjust the distribution of the weight.

Centrifugal force is also responsible for the swing
of the body not being a " false " aid when teaching
the young horse to change his legs in a figure-of-
eight ; on a trained horse it should, when necessary,
make him do so at once.

Distribution of the Rider's Weight 85

The correct attitude of the body when jumping,
and the evil results of leaning either too far back or
unduly far forward have already been dealt with
under the heading of Balance.

VIII

THE USB AND MISUSE OF THE HANDS

VIII

THE USE AND MISUSE OF THE HANDS

" The Writers of Books, and the Horse-Men now living, that think
themselves Wise, and great masters, by the diversity of Bitts, shew
themselves full of Ignorance, and Simple People, to imagine. That
apiece of Iron in a Horse's Mouth can bring him Knowledge; no
more than a Book in a Boyes Hand can, at first, make him Read."

Newcastle.

" The hand, which by giving and taking properly, gains its point
with the least force, is the best." Pembroke.

^T^HE man who can control his horse in all man-
ner of situations and over all classes of coun-
try with the minimum of discomfort to the aminal
and therefore to himself may be said to have good
hands. There are men of exceptional disposition
who have that inborn influence over horses which it
is impossible to explain, and they will always stand
out in a class of their own as regards hands; but
I can see no reason why most other riders should
have bad ones, providing they have a firm seat in-
dependent of the reins and know how to use them,

and ride properly balanced horses.

89

90 Modern Riding and Horse Education

The importance of horse-balance will be dealt with
fully in the section on horse-training, but some men-
tion of it is necessary here, as the rider of an ill-
balanced horse must perforce use his hands very
much more than would otherwise be the case, and
thus run the chance of upsetting the animal by dis-
turbing his mouth. The power of the hand is also
to a great extent regulated by the balance of the
horse. Adams puts this very graphically, and sug-
gests the experiment of standing in an upright posi-
tion and letting some one place a tape round your
forehead and hold the ends. If he pulls you can
offer no resistance: you are similarly placed to a
well-balanced horse. Now lower your head, bend
your body, and place one foot out behind, and in this
position you will be able to resist the man with the
tape.

More pain can be given to a horse by the bridle
than by the whip or the spurs. The mucous mem-
brane lining the mouth is naturally more sensitive
than the outer hide, and the bones of the head are
more thinly covered with flesh. A tired horse in a
cart will move into a trot if jobbed severely in the
mouth, long after the whip has failed to stimulate

The Use and Misuse of the Hands 91

him. It is well, therefore, thoroughly to understand
the mechanical laws which apply to the movements
of the animal's head and neck in order to avoid
giving him unnecessary pain by misuse of the hand.
There is no doubt that these parts of his anatomy
help him to preserve his equilibrium. Watch a
horse careering about a field at liberty. Before he
sets off at either a trot or a canter he throws up his
head and neck to raise his forehand and free his
forelegs. When he wishes to stop he lowers his
head ^ and neck, and at full gallop he always carries
them out. When making sudden turns and starts he
uses his head in a variety of ways to get his balance
in the right place.

Most students of Haute Ecole would have us more
or less rob a horse of this free movement, and teach
him to perform the various evolutions required of
him without altering the position of his head and
neck. But while admitting that he should not be
allowed to what might be called " sprawl," I find it
difficult to see eye to eye with these gentlemen. I
admit that freedom is not essential in the riding-
school, where the ground is soft and even and the
pace cannot be great ; but in the open, where we have

^When properly trained and mounted he pulls up on his hocks,
and keeps his head up to get the weight back.

92 Modern Riding and Horse Education

to deal with roug^h ground, fences, and partial ex-
haustion, it seems wrong to deprive the horse of
the use of his balancing-pole. Freedom is ab-
solutely necessary for a supreme effort of any
sort : give a prize at a horse show for a wide jump
and the horse that has never been allowed to use his
neck will be useless. We have recently had illustra-
tions of this at the Horse Shows at Buenos Ayres
1908 and San Sebastian (Spain) 1909, where the
horses that won the wide jump had not been taught
to carry their heads in and their necks more or less
permanently arched, but had on the contrary always
been given full liberty of head in their work after
once being trained.

I happened to know two of the winning horses at
the above shows well; one was trained at the Rid-
ing Establishment at Woolwich during my term of
office, and the other belonged to an officer who was
for some time in the same battery with me. The
former, "Biddy," winner of the ist prize at San
Sebastian and of the 2nd at New York (1909) for
the long jump, is depicted in Plate VI.

Speaking generally, bad hands interfere with
the free movement of the head and neck when once

The Use and Misuse of the Hands 93

the horse is trained. In support of this contention
Marchese Orario Pucci, writing on the training of
ItaHan Cavalry Officers, says : — *' Little by little the
conviction has been arrived at that the horse should
be as free as possible and that the rider should only
suggest what he is to do, and help him to do it in
the way that is most natural to him."

The law of self-preservation dictates to the man
that he should tighten his reins when the horse stum-
bles, and some writers advocate it. It may be found
useful to give a horse a job in the mouth as a severe
punishment for carelessness, but from a mechan-
ical point of view it is wrong; the reins should be
allowed to slip through the fingers, and the body
should be leant back.

This may seem to be a contradiction of my state-
ments on page 93, but when examined, I trust
I can prove that it is not so. The two cases in-
volve entirely different problems. In the first case,
the horse is balanced and moving along ; but before
he increases his pace he lifts his head and neck, be-
cause it is easier to strike off at a trot or canter after
he has done so. In the second case, he cannot raise
his head high because he has lost his balance, and

94 Modern Riding and Horse Education

his only means of recovering it is to momentarily
take the weight off his shoulders by dropping his
head very low, thus affording a practical example
of an important principle in mechanics. This
science also tells us that action and reaction are
equal in opposite directions, so that the power em-
ployed to raise the head through the reins will react
through the seat and sink the horse's knees. Green-
w^ood puts this well, and Whyte Melville says that
" interference with a horse's head often converts
a severe blunder into a fall> "

Before quitting the subject of mechanics it will be
relevant to discuss a not altogether exploded fallacy
— namely, that the rider can assist the horse at a
fence by '' lifting " him. If he forces the animal to
throw up his head and neck he not only prevents
him from seeing where to take off at the fence, but
also disturbs a poise of the forequarters which is
purposely assumed by the horse to facilitate the
making of his best effort. We can but steady him,
we cannot lift him — it is an obvious impossibility.
He must do the lifting for both of us, so that the less

1 The Italians claim to have proved the truth of this by instantane-
ous photography.

The Use and Misuse of the Hands 95

we interfere with him the better in jumping; nor
should we do so in going over rough ground.
Should the reader have ever, like me, had the de-
lightful experience of galloping after a mob of
horses in Australia, over ground like a rabbit-war-
ren, and come through it in perfect safety, he will
know how well a horse can look after himself under
the circumstances. Very little guidance is necessary,
picking your ground is impossible, and the Austral-
ian takes care to warn you about non-interference
with the animal's head. I am told that the ranch-
men of Western U. S. A. and the Argentine when
galloping believe in the maxim " the rougher the
ground the slacker the rein."

Unless the rider has shoulder-joints, elbows, and
wrists which can move in unison like well-oiled
machinery, and unless he can preserve an even and
gentle pressure on the horse's mouth when neces-
sary, he cannot have good hands. The upper arms
should hang easily down from the shoulders: this
not only gives more power to the rider than if the
elbows were raised and to the front, but allows
of more head-room being given to the horse if he
needs it, as it enables the rider to '' open his

96 Modern Riding and Horse Education

(a good example of this is seen in Plate XIII),
shoulders " and shoot out his arms to their full
extent, which is indispensable when landing over
a fence, unless the rider leans very much forward.
The wrists should be rounded and the knuckles
turned towards the horse's head to ensure the
maximum of play, and the reins should be held
as long as possible without sacrificing control:
on these points the instructor must focus his
attention. If the pupil has it in him, the rest will
come by practice in riding all sorts and conditions
of horses, provided they are bitted to suit their
work and temperament.

One of the best judges of riding in Eng-
land recently told me that he always knew
a horseman by the length of his reins, and
doubtless the novice, from nervousness among
other causes, is apt to hold them too short;
if the habit of riding w^ith short reins is once
learnt it is not easy to eradicate, and the in-
structor should bear this in mind. The Italians
perhaps ride with the shortest reins in Europe. It
is in my opinion wrong, as it stultifies the move-
ment of the body from the hips upwards, thus

The Use and Misuse ot the Hands 97

making the distribution of the rider's weight more
difficult.

Many writers would have us never to cease from
maintaining the gentlest feeling on the horse's
mouth, but this does not hold good for all-round
work. For polo, as the Messrs. Miller rightly ob-
serve, the pony must gallop with no pressure on the
reins. Slight pressure at the beginning of a chucker
generally means marked pressure at the end of it.
During a gallop to hounds the firmness of hold
must be regulated by the weight of the rider and
the nature of the ground; it should never be con-
stant, the horse may lose his good mouth and his
true balance if we teach him to '' hang." In racing
and in steeplechasing parlance the horse is " driven
into his bridle," and a certain leaning is necessary,
but when man and horse are going at their ease
there should be no pressure at all.

Phillipps's maxim on hands is worthy of note.
He says that the hand of the horseman should
resemble the temper of a commander — ^pleasant
while obeyed, formidable if disobeyed.

Raise the hands and you raise the horse's head^
lower them and he should lower his. A great deal

98 Modern Riding and Horse Education

has been said and written about always keeping the
hands low, but there can be no fixed rule on the
subject; everything depends not only on the horse
and the defences his conformation and idiosyn-
crasies lead him most readily to employ, but also on
the pace at which he is traveling. Jim Mason al-
ways rode with his hands high, and yet according to
Whyte Melville he had fewer falls than most people.
This may possibly be accounted for by the fact that
some men undoubtedly do not get full value out of
their hands unless they ride with them at a particu-
lar height on every horse, either from ineradicable
early habit, or from some peculiarity which prevents
their exerting their full strength and gentleness in
any other position. These men are less likely to ex-
cel than those who can adapt themselves readily to
any horse's requirements.

Ladies perforce ride with their hands higher than
men, and no one can accuse them of having bad
hands as a sex.

I do not consider it altogether fair to quote the
well-worn saying: "If you do not pull at him he
will not pull at you " to the unfortunate man whose
horse is going a great deal faster than he likes.

The Use and Misuse of the Hands 99

Were he to comply with your advice, he would
probably be run away with on the spot. If his bad
hands have upset the animal and made him pull,
there is no remedy; the man does not possess the
power of " playing " the horse delicately until he
submits, and if the fault lies with the horse's mouth
— or rather with the riders who have spoilt it — a
sudden slackening of the reins will be rather an in-
dication that he is to go faster, than the reverse.
For the moment the man must " do the best he can "
by main strength, though he will be well advised to
get a better trained or more temperate horse for his
future riding. That " do not pull at him and he
will not pull at you " has before now driven a rider
in difficulties to exclaim, and with much reason:
" If only he had not pulled at me, I should never
have pulled at him." The man with ordinary hands
and knowledge will take a pull, and a good hard
one, but he will be careful to do so for a short time
only — perhaps but for a few strides — and will relax
the pressure the instant the animal gives to his hand,
were it only a little, and will repeat this over and
over again, gradually replacing force with gentle-
ness, until an understanding has been arrived at.

ioo Modern Riding and Morse Ediicatibri

Cesaresco says that under certain circumstances
the strength the horse can employ against the pull of
the hands is twenty times greater than the force
the man can exert ; whether this be true or not it is
safe to say that if the horse intends to run away he
can do so, in spite of any bit, and the more severe
this may be, the more likely is trouble to ensue.
Head tells us of a runaway horse having stopped
gradually of his own accord, in consequence of the
rupture of the curb-chain, which, having infuriated
him by the agony it had inflicted, had actually
caused the very danger it had been created to avert.
This story goes to corroborate the Duke of New-
castle, who says : " . . . for, certainly sharp Cave-
zones, and cruel Bits hard Curb'd, made horses run
away heretofore, making them desperate."

It should not be necessary to have both hands on
the reins for ordinary riding if the horse is going
pleasantly and is well trained, but riding with what
in military parlance is called the " right hand free "
is needful whenever it is required for holding a
weapon, rope, or polo stick, and before jumping
became general at home and abroad it was the ac-
cepted custom in peace and war, excepting perhaps

The Use and Misuse of the Hands lol

for racing. The cowboy and the polo player, who
are obliged to follow this practice, rely to a great
extent when turning on shifting the balance of the
body, and on the knowledge which their animals
possess of the game that is going forward. It is not
easy for the polo player to apply pressure to a horse's
mouth on the side to which he intends to turn, if the
desired movement is more than can be communicated
by turning the wrist. The indication applied is gen-
erally a pressure of the rein on the opposite side of
the neck. This means pressure on the wrong side
of the mouth as well, and is apt, if too sharply ap-
plied, to bend the animal's head away from the di-
rection he is to take — an unsound situation, but diffi-
cult of remedy. I have been told that in some parts
of America cowpunchers frequently ride young
horses with the reins crossed behind the bit, so that
when they are pressed against the neck the pull
comes on the correct side of the mouth. This of
course means that if the horse is ever to be ridden
with two hands, he must be trained again.

There is not sufficient justification for the stress
some writers lay on the manner in which the reins
should be held in the hand. Go out hunting, and

102 Modern Riding and Horse Education

you will see half a dozen riders holding their reins
in half a dozen different ways; most of them being
self-taught, they will pick them up without thinking
why they do so in any particular manner, but some
ways certainly have advantages over others. In
the British Army there must be one method for the
sake of uniformity, and this method has changed
twice in the last eight years. As held at present, in
one hand, the reins pass upwards through the hand
and form a cascade of leather between the fore-
finger and thumb: when held in two hands the
thumb holds the reins in position.

The road coachman has to have the strongest
possible hold on the reins for obvious reasons, and
how does he do it? He grasps the edge of the reins,
and his main hold is with the third and little fingers,
in which practice can develop the maximum gripping
power, because owing to their having shorter joints
than the other fingers there is no room for the reins
to get turned on the flat, and the thumb is left free.
Many steeplechase jockeys cross their reins, and
claim that it saves them from a fall if the horse
pecks, as the portion of the reins between their hands
meets the withers and prevents their shooting for-
ward.

The Use and Misuse of the Hands 103

A method of holding the reins shown me by Mr.
R. Donaldson-Hudson is a good one. I recommend
it for beginners, and will here give a description of
it (Plates XIV and XV).

In one hand (the left). — Place the Httle
finger of the left hand between the two left reins,
the snaffle rein being uppermost and outermost.
Turn the buckle end of these two reins towards the
horse's head between the second and third fingers.
Place the forefinger of the left hand between the
two right reins, the snaffle being again uppermost
and outermost-

The buckle end of these reins will naturally pass
through the palm of the hand and join the other
reins just above the left thigh.

For the right hand, as above, substituting
" right " for " left," and vice versa.

To divide the reins, holding two in each
hand. — Place the little finger of the unoccupied
hand between the reins, which are divided by the
forefinger of the occupied hand, and separate the
hands as far as required : the " bight," or buckle
ends of the reins, passing, in either hand, towards
the horse's head between the second and third

104 Modern Riding and Horse Education

fingers, and thus hanging over to one side or the
other of the withers.

Whether held in one or both hands, the reins
are always on edge — as in coaching — between the
palm of the hand and the second and third fingers.
When held in one hand only there is the further
advantage that although all four reins are held by
two fingers, the pull on either pair is in opposite
directions through the hand. Lastly, it leaves the
hand free to grasp anything placed between it and
the forefinger without relaxing the grasp on the
reins.

IX

THE USE OF THE LOWER PART OF THE LEO

IX

THE USE OP THE LOWER PART OP THE LEO

" Nothing is more detrimental to a man's seat, or more destructive
of the sensibility of an horse's sides, than a continual wriggling un-
jettledness in an horseman's legs. . , ." Pembroke.

FT is in the use of this indication that the ex-
ponent of Haute Ecole and the ordinary rider
come to the parting of the ways. The former con-
stantly employs the lower part of his legs, whereas
the latter on a properly trained and balanced horse
only resorts to them occasionally. The horse trainer,
on the contrary, comes more into line with the
Haute Ecole rider; to him the correct and frequent
use of the leg is everything. We often hear the
remark that a horse is a perfect ride and suitable
for a lady; what does this mean? Simply that the
animal is well trained and balanced, temperate yet
willing, and therefore does not require a pair of
legs to keep him in his bridle and control his quar-
ters when he turns.

The leg should be used with the same understand-
107

I08 Modern Riding and Horse Education

ing as the hand, and the well-trained horse's side
should be as sensitive to its application as is his
mouth to the bridle. He should answer to the touch
and firm pressure of the leg as he should to the
touch and firm pressure of the reins. Practice in
the first five exercises already enumerated for devel-
oping the gripping muscles teaches the pupil from
the commencement that the knee should be im-
movable in riding, and that the lower part of the
leg must be used, generally speaking, as an indica-
tion. I qualify this latter statement, as when a
horse jumps or bucks the rider holds on to a certain
extent with the fiat of the lower part of the leg as
well as with the knee and thigh, according to the
length of the limb. The small, fat-thighed man
must perforce use this hold a good deal. When cir-
cumstances, adverse or otherwise, dictate that ad-
ditional hold in this way is necessary, the pressure
should be applied without shifting the lower part
of the leg to the rear.

The indications of the leg are briefly as follows :
A pressure of both legs to make the horse move
forward, the amount of pressure being regulated
by the pace desired. One leg drawn back in con-

The Use of the Lower Part of the Leg 109

junction with the other indications either to make a
horse move his quarters in a requisite direction or
prevent them from flying out ; to make him bend, or
passage sideways. The pressure of the leg also
assists in making the horse strike off on the desired
leg at a canter, or change the leading leg at the same
pace. The collecting and the correct circling of the
untrained horse can also only be ensured by the
proper use of the leg.

Undoubtedly a horse can be made to take off
when going at a fence by the combined use of the
hand and leg; a blindfolded horse at the Netheravon
Cavalry School was recently taught to jump by the
pressure of the legs, and " Thormanby " tells us
that a Dr. Minster, of Cheltenham, had a stone-
blind horse who used to jump stiles on the w^ay to
the doctor's patients ; but once the horse is properly
trained the less he is interfered with the better when
jumping. If he requires rousing it should be done at
some distance from the obstacle. Fillis would have
us support the horse in the air, but he cannot have
been a student of mechanics, or he would have rec-
ognized the impossibility of this without at the same
time solving the problem of flight.

no Modern Riding and Horse Education

The self-taught rider very generally straightens
his leg and lets the lower part go right out to the
front when landing over a fence; as already men-
tioned in the section on seats, the most important
reason why this should not be done is that straight-
ening the leg causes the gripping muscles to become
round instead of flat; another disadvantage is that
it makes the rider liable to spur the horse on the
shoulder as he lands. A third and most cogent ar-
gument against the practice, from the rider's point
of view, is that (unless his leathers are very long)
if he happens to arrive over the fence with his
v/hole weight on the stirrups, the shock of landing
will be transmitted from his feet to his body, and
he will be liable to fall off.

The question of stumbling has been dealt with
already, and the evil effects of interference with the
horse's mouth explained, but I can see no reason
w^hy a sharp application of the legs can do anything
but good to a tripper. Mr. Charles Thompson
gives this as the only course to pursue. He was
the author of a treatise entitled " Rules for Bad
Horsemen" (1775), and naively complained, in
the " Advertisement of the Fourth Edition," that
the title had spoiled the sale of the work.

X

THE VOICE AND THE WHIP

X

THE VOICE AND THE WHIP

" The voice is Used three Manner of Ways : Either as a Correction^
by Threatening, or as a Help to Incourage the Horse ; or as a Court-
ship to him by Flattering of him." Newcastle.
" Formed with rod alone
its aids they know
And stop, and turn, obedient to the blow."

From Berenger.

^np^HE earliest riders, who made use of little or no
gear, found the voice and whip indispensable
in guiding their steeds. According to Berenger, the
Carthaginians chiefly used the whip for this pur-
pose, giving a blow on the near side of the head
to make a horse turn to the right and vice versa,
and one " full upon the gristle of the nose " when
he was required to stop. Other nations, as before
stated, directed their horses by the voice, a much
more humane method; and it is a pity, not only
from the point of view of the progressive develop-
ment of the horse's mind, but also from that of its

being a valuable indication from the rider, that the

"3

114 Modern Riding and Horse Education

perfecting of bridles and of every form of adjunct
to riding threw the voice into disuse as far as
Europe was concerned. Like the movement of the
man's body, the voice is an indication independent
of the sensitiveness of the horse's mouth and sides,
and the animal who is trained to come to you, to
stop, etc., by word of mouth is generally more useful
than his uneducated brother. How far he can be
made to understand the voice is dealt with in the
section on the horse's mind.

It was " correct " in the seventeenth century for
Haute Ecole riders to carry a whip in the full of
the right hand, point uppermost ; in this position it
was always ready for immediate use, and doubtless
helped to keep the horse up to the cruel bit of the
day. A whip should be quite unnecessary on a
trained animal unless he is by nature a slug; but the
beginner on a quiet mount should generally carry
a whip or stick of sorts, not so much for use as to
save him the hard labor of trying to increase the
horse's pace, to which the mere sight of it will often
contribute.

If the animal is inclined to " run out " on a par-
ticular side, showing him the whip on that side will

The Voice and the Whip 115

often make him jump straight. To punish a horse
is by no means easy, and will often betray the
amateur ; the whip must be held as the Haute Ecole
riders of the eighteenth century held it — in the full
of the hand and point uppermost — and the rider
must avoid moving in the saddle when he strikes.
As in the ordinary way it is carried point down-
wards, both the rider's hands should be well
practised in getting it up from that position, which
Is done by a manipulation of the fingers.

The riding whip, or preferably a thick smooth
cane, is very useful in educating a horse, for teach-
ing him to bend, turn and change at a canter, and
stand still in a collected manner. The subject will
be referred to again in the sections on horse-training.

The cane is better than a cutting-whip, as it is
shorter, hits a horse in the right place — the side —
and does not alarm him by making a swishing noise
in the air.

XI

BFURS

XI

SPURS

"I was up in half a minute, but he never seemed to stir,
Though I scored him with my rowels in the fall,"

Whyte Melville.

T> UXTORFF, in describing the horsemen of an-
cient Egypt, says that the word " Parash," or
rider, is derived from the Hebrew root to prick or
spur (Head) ; and Xenophon in his treatise makes
mention of spurs, but no frieze or statue of about
that period shows any rider wearing them. A draw-
ing of a spur used in the fifth century, which is given
in Berenger's book, depicts a milder instrument than
those in use at the time of the Conquest, which were
at that period, and for some time afterwards, most
murderous-looking implements. They were of three
kinds : one of them, the " pryck," having only a sin-
gle long point, another several points of considerable
size, and a third three necks. Happily, nowadays

the use and not the abuse of spurs is more generally

119

120 Modern Riding and Horse Education

understood. At polo rowels are not allowed, and,
speaking generally, at most sports and games that
horses love, the rider is better without them. For
the slug and for the horse that wants his mind made
up for him, sharp spurs are necessary, but they en-
tail this disadvantage — that when hunting the rider
is apt to punish his mount unintentionally, either
in falling or by getting his foot caught in a fence.

Devotees of Haute Ecole seem all, or nearly all,
to have been very fond of the spur, and doubtless
for riding of this character it is useful. Baucher,
who is recorded never to have ridden outside a
school, wrote that whether a horse was a slug or hot
tempered, he was three parts broken if he had been
taught to endure the spurs. Fillis said that they
were a " valuable aid," and Nolan and Anderson
were two English writers who laid down that the
young horse should be taught to receive the attack
of the spur with calmness ! Three at least of these
authors were masters of the " great saddle," and
their opinion excites every respect. Whyte Melville,
a writer of a different school, would have most of us
do without spurs, and he is right as long as we ride
nothing but well-balanced and willing horses.

Spurs 121

As far as training is concerned, when the heel
fails try the spur without rowels, then the blunt one,
and finally the sharp spur; the common-bred slug
requires the blunt one very soon. By following this
procedure the horse gets to learn what is required
of him when he feels the rowel, otherwise he does
not, and he may stand still and cow-kick as if bitten
by a fly when the spur is applied.

XII

RIDINO SCHOOLS v. THE OPEN

XII

RIDING SCHOOLS v. THE OPEN

" Both are good at proper seasons, and either will do very well if
the Riding Master is good." Pembroke.

TTAVING briefly discussed what is to be taught,
we may now consider how best to teach it.
Shall the instruction be commenced in a riding
school if one is available, or shall it be in the open?
Shall the pupil be given a saddle with stirrups, or a
numnah without them? Shall he begin his lessons
without reins? In answering these questions we
must remember to aim, above all things, at establish-
ing confidence in the beginner as quickly as possible.
Outside the Army, riding schools in England are
few and far between, but an open-air manege can
soon be made, and if it be only an oblong marked
out with flags or stones, horses soon learn to follow
the track. The school offers great advantages in the
early stages ; the pupil can at once be treated as what
he IS — a mere passenger — and the fact that he is

125

126 Modern Riding and Horse Education

within four walls gives him confidence, whilst the
horse in his turn is quieter and more amenable to
discipline. In a minor degree the same advantages
attach to the open manege. The riding school is
also better suited for lessons in jumping without
reins, because, firstly, the tan is softer landing for
the horse, and therefore more comfortable for the
man, whether he remains in the saddle or falls off;
and secondly, the animal is under better control in
the school if he happens to be of a very excitable
temperament. Otherwise the performance can be
carried out in any field : I have experimented with
all kinds of horses in the open, and found slugs the
only tiresome ones, though showing them the whip
will generally make them energetic.

The use and abuse of riding schools has been well
illustrated in the British Army. Up to recent years
instruction was rarely carried out in the open, and
the whole standard of riding and horse-training was
judged by the performance of one or two exercises
called single and double rides. These consisted in
a monotonous sequence of turns and circles, which,
owing to constant weekly practice, the horses per-
formed mechanically, without the volition of the

Riding Schools v. the Open 127

rider. As a test of equitation they were useless. In
1902 orders were issued practically forbidding the
use of the schools for Instruction, presumably to
make it impossible for a man to be considered a
horseman or a troop-horse a trained animal if they
could only perform a single ride within four walls,
and in company with other men and horses. A more
reasonable state of affairs now obtains.

Collective exercises in the school are doubtless
useful for trained men, but they should be of a
varied character, so that the error of the past shall
not be repeated.

As soon as a man has a firm seat he must go out
of doors, or he will make but little further prog-
ress. Within four walls he cannot learn the real
meaning of the word " hands ; " for this freedom for
man and horse is required. One of the secrets of
training both of themi being continuous instruction,
a school is valuable to ensure it, as it makes the in-
structor independent of the weather. But whilst the
man's early lessons will all take place in the school,
the young horse should only remain in it until he
will move forward quietly. He can return to it
later to be " collected."

128 Modern Riding and Horse Education

The ordinary English riding school is too nar-
row, and therefore ill fitted for the instruction of the
beginner, whether horse or man, a portion of whose
early lesons should consist of moving on large cir-
cles. Riding schools abroad are very much larger.

The rudiments of postillion and artillery driving
can be taught better in school than anywhere else.

XIII

BADDLB WITH STIRRUPS T. NUMNAH

XIII

SADDLE WITH STIRRUPS v. NUMNAH

"They (the stirrups) are a great easement to the rider, by support-
ing the toe, and prevent the dangling of the legs. They are an
assistance, because the rider can preserve his balance with less
attention." Adams.

^Tp^HERE are two distinct schools of thought on
this subject. Up to 1820 none of the best
authorities, as far as I can gather, ever advocated
that the beginner should have stirrups, though the
practice was common amongst civilian riding mas-
ters. The lad who was taught with a view to going
to hounds probably commenced his lessons with stir-
rups, but he learnt under no recognized teacher of
what was then called " riding," a term which no ex-
ponent of Haute Ecole would have applied to the
performance of the hunting man proper. It was, in
fact, the distrust and contempt so long subsisting
between the two schools which stultified the riding
of the British nation in the last century.

Fillis and Baucher (circa 1850) shared the old-
J31

132 Modern Riding and Horse Education

time view on the subject, whilst Hayes and Dwyer,
all-round riders and authors whom no man can
ignore, would both have us commence with stirrups.
Hayes says : " In order to give the grown-up be-
ginner confidence I would strongly advocate that
... he should have a broad-seated saddle covered
with buckskin and that he should be allowed to ride
at first with stirrups."

Dwyer, of the Austrian Imperial Service, who
turned out many fine horsemen, writes : — " The ad-
vocates of beginning without stirrups say you must
first give a pupil a seat, and then, when he has ac-
quired balance and a hold on his horse, you can give
him the additional assistance of stirrups. Now, the
most dif^cult thing to attain is balance, and the stir-
rup was devised for the purpose of assisting in ac-
quiring and maintaining it ; and it is, therefore, just
as reasonable to act in this manner as it would be to
set a boy to learn swimming without corks and blad-
ders, and when he learnt to support himself to give
him artificial aids."

When Hayes wrote the passage previously quoted
he no doubt had it in his mind that a fall would not
be such a set-back to a boy as to a man, his lighter

Saddle with Stirrups v. Numnah 133

weight and softer bones making the unpleasant ex-
perience of less consequence, and the effects, as far
as nerve and confidence were concerned, of little
or no duration. Figure-skating is notoriously more
quickly learned by boys than by men for the same
reason. It may also have struck Hayes that the
anxious parent would not look forward with equa-
nimity to the likelihood of his young hopeful being
dragged.

No European nation now adheres to the rigid rule
of not allowing a man stirrups until he has acquired
a firm seat. In the British Army official opinion has
changed twice on the subject within the last ten
years, and the instructor is now allowed to do as he
likes. The German recruit has a few lessons on a
blanket, but when serious instruction commences he
is given a saddle with stirrups.

Doubtless one of the reasons why early writers
did not favor stirrups was that they followed the
sound rule of placing the man in the saddle as they
eventually wished him to appear when a finished
horseman, and to do this the stirrups would have to
have been fitted so long as to be practically useless to
the novice. Fillis admits this, and goes so far as to

134 Modern Riding and Horse Education

say that no beginner can keep his stirrups. The ad*
vent of, or rather the return to, the hunting seat, has
done away with the necessity for straightening the
leg, and the retention of stirrups is now a matter of
no difficulty. Another reason given by the non-
stirrup school was that the leg never straightened
sufficiently if the pupil was allowed stirrups. At the
risk of beating a dead horse I must again say that I
think their anxiety was unfounded; many officers
and men who had ridden before joining the Service
learned the old straight-legged seat quickly enough
in the riding school, and it cannot be doubted that
most of them — and I include myself — had been
taught at home with stirrups.

Hayes and Dwyer advise stirrups to prevent
the leg from straightening; they evidently had not
studied the reliefs in the British Museum represent-
ing horsemen on Assyrian battlefields, or this view
of the matter would not have caused them any
anxiety, as there were no irons in those days. The
make and shape of the rider and the way he is taught
have more to do with the ultimate height of his knee
in the saddle than any stirrup.

Quite lately I was discussing the subject of stir-

a;
C

c
'So

K
1)

Saddle with Stirrups v. Numnah 135

rups z'. no stirrups with a Riding Master who was
brought up in the no-stirrup school. He told me
that when he gave private lessons he always allowed
them, as he found that his pupils left him if he did
not. This brings out the human side of the question.

If the irons are dispensed with it is much better
to carry out the instruction on a numnah : I have ex-
perimented with both. The pupil is nearer to his
horse and the friction from contact with the num-
nah is very much greater than is obtainable on a
stripped saddle ; which has, however, one advantage
over the numnah in that it gives a firmer hold to
the hands of the beginner who is in difficulties.

If he is on a numnah, the beginner, who naturally
has no idea of balance, always keeps himself from
falling off by grip and by the aid of the reins if he
has them: the former very soon tires him to the
extent of his having to be dismounted for a rest, be-
cause he has no stirrups to reheve the strain. Those
pupils who have not been previously strengthened by
a course of gripping exercises are unable to main-
tain the correct position of the leg for any length of
time, and it soon relapses into the attitude shown in
Plate XVI, when muscles which are almost useless

X36 Modern Riding and Horse Education

to the good horseman are being brought into play.
Those who have done the exercise before beginning
to ride will tire less quickly, but even they are very
far from comfortable with so little idea of balance.
I have tried to give the beginner confidence and les-
sen his fatigue by the use of a roller-pad with han-
dles, placed over the numnah, but it does not answer
for the following reasons. The rider works for-
ward on to the pad and is liable to become galled.
If the horse checks, and he grasps the handles, the
upper part of the body pitches forward, as illustrated
in Fig. 2, and when jumping begins he is apt to rely
on his hands alone and instinctively to loosen the
grip on his legs. I would by no means recommend
holding on at all with the arms, but if it must be
done let the hold be at the back of the seat for any-
thing but jumping,^ which will more or less preserve
the balance of the bodyy, the forward movement of
the shoulders being at once checked. It will also be
found easier to pull than to push in this particular

1 In jumping the body must always be on the forward side of
the perpendicular, therefore it is best to hold on by the mane if
at all. The Italians recommend this. The system of teaching
I shall advocate makes holding on by the hands absolutely un-
necessary.

Saddle with Stirrups v. Numnah 237

instance; let the reader sit loosely on a horse and
try it.

The advantages derived from beginning with stir-
rups are as follows. The comparative comfort and

Fig. 2. — Holding on by the leaping-pad.

security of the pupil are assured from the first, and
fatigue much reduced ; if he is riding with reins he
is not so likely to depend on them when in difficulties.

138 Modern Riding and Horse Education

and acquires the valuable habit of leaning inwards
without risk of a fall when the horse turns. Fur-
thermore, the beginner can rise to the trot, and thus
avoid the discomfort of continual bumping. Later
on, riding without stirrups can be given in gradu-
ally increased doses. I have never experienced the
slightest difficulty in getting a pupil well down into
his seat with this system of instruction, even when
the saddle has been a high arched one. Falls, how-
ever, cannot be avoided when side-balance is lost
beyond a certain point : when this occurs, the man's
leg flies out and he comes off. What might, on the
other hand, be called fore-and-aft balance, or the
balance applied by the rider in jumping, receives but
little assistance from the stirrups, which are free to
swing backwards and forwards. With a careful in-
structor the risk of dragging is so small as to be
hardly w^orth considering, but safety stirrups are, of
course, a good thing if available.

Some of the early-pattern irons had a swivel at
the top of the arch, on which they revolved, making
them always handy to the rider's foot. This form of
stirrup was doubtless given up as unsuitable for rid-
ing with the foot home, as when in use the flat of

Saddle with Stirrups v. Numnah 139

the leather did not necessarily come against the
rider's boot, and it gradually went out in the begin-
ning of the eighteenth century. Some writers place
but little value on the stirrup as a help under adverse
circumstances, Adams going so far as to say it is
useless. Few experienced riders will agree with
this ; on a bad puller, for example, the action of the
arms must be weaker without stirrups, as the base is
weaker. This point is clearly brought out by
Cesaresco.

XIV

REINS V. NO REINS

c.:r

XIV

REINS V. NO REINS

" All riders think they hold their horses, but most hold them-
selves." Count E. Martinengo Cesaresco.

" Bad riders use the reins as a means of balancing themselves in
the saddle, and this is especially done in the hunting field."

Walsh.

"\'X T'HEN it was that reins came into use is not

very clear; some recent researches of M.

Edouard Piette's amongst prehistoric remains in

France have brought to hght carvings on bone of

the Glyptic Age, which undoubtedly represent

bridled horses, although the rudeness of the design

leaves us in some doubt as to whether the rein^ were

attached to a nose-band, or if what was probably a

leather thong passed through the horse's mouth, and

formed a make-shift bridle. Be this as it may, when

we come to historical times we have proof that it

was comparatively late before the use of reins

became general; the inhabitants of Numidia and

Mauritania, and, according to Berenger, of " Nasa-

143

144 Modern Riding and Horse Education

monia, Massilia, and other adjacent tracts of the
same region," rode without reins in peace and war.
Livy the historian (born 59 b. c.) divides cavalry
into those with and those without the bridle, the
former being heavy horsemen.

Bridles are now used with more understanding
than they have ever been. The " lupus " snaffle of
the Romans, made in imitation of the teeth of a wolf,
and the long-cheeked cruel bit of a later date, are
things of the past; they necessitated barbarous meth-
ods of horse training and riding. The introduc-
tion of reins is, however, responsible for the want of
perfect balance in many horsemen who have never
ridden without them. As Mr. Tozer has recently
told us, some of the early instructors deliberately
advised novices to catch hold of the reins tightly in
order to keep their seat with greater ease. I think
these gentlemen performed a work of supererogation
in doing so, as the novice needs no telling to hold on
by the reins the moment he gets into difficulties ; the
most elementary laws of self-preservation direct
that he should.

All teachers advocate quitting stirrups at some
stage, at least, of the course, in order to hasten the

Reins v. No Reins 145

acquisition of a firm seat, and those who do not re-
commend that reins should also be dispensed with
forget the obvious fact that they are nearly as much
support to the pupil as the stirrup, perhaps more so,
and that if they are retained throughout the course
the instructor is defeating his own ends. It would
be just as reasonable to deprive the man of his reins
and allow him to keep his stirrups the whole time;
the results would — all things being equal — be
superior.

Balance is harder to learn if a convulsive grasp
of the reins prevents a man's body from following
the movements of his mount, besides which it is un-
fair on a beginner to expect him to control a horse
before he has a firm seat : it is asking him to attempt
too much. In the initial stages of jumping the reins
may save a fall, but they often produce one by pull-
ing the rider out of the saddle. In experienced
hands they encourage the horse to jump ; in bad and
inexperienced ones they make rushers and refusers.
Again, purely from the animal's side of the question,
he is put to considerable pain in having his mouth
pulled about; he becomes an uncertain jumper, and
useless for the purpose of teaching a future rider

146 Modern Riding and Horse Education

the meaning of " hands." A horse will last longer
and be a better stayer if he has not to use his head
to support his rider; he wants it for other things,
and comfort and peace are as necessary to him as to
a man.

I do not wish to imply that correct balance is im-
possible unless a man has learnt to ride without
reins; there are many fine horsemen to-day who
have never ridden without either reins or stirrups
in their lives, but they are exceptional men, and
would have attained perfection all the sooner had
their early training been without reins. I have seen
other men, reputed to be good riders, who fell off
when asked to jump a small hurdle without them,
thereby showing that they had never acquired cor-
rect balance. I have no hesitation in saying that in
making an all-round horseman it is very much
quicker to begin without reins at once than to wait
until the rider's education is almost complete.
Hayes rightly says that holding on by them is a most
difficult fault to eradicate if once learnt.

At the French Horse Show of 1865 at the
Champs Elysees, the Saumur pupils gave a wonder-
ful display of Haute Ecole riding and other feats,

Reins v. No Reins 147

the least successful of which was jumping a low
hurdle (Thormanby). Later on, officers on the
Continent began organizing jumping competitions
and steeplechases, and as the outcome of their ex-
perience declared that the best and most scientific
method of instruction in riding was to commence
without reins. Jumping had taught them that more
freedom of movement for horse and man was neces-
sary, and that this was the way to attain it. We
Englishmen alone lagged behind, though since 1907
the custom has been gradually gaining ground.
In our Army, instead of following the advice and
benefiting by the experience of our own writers on
the subject, we have waited for Europe to show us
the best way.

M. Bourgelat, writing in 1744, remarked that
riding with the end of the rein in the right hand
might be practised with great caution on a well
" dressed " horse, and that it gave '' prodigious
grace to the horseman " ; but care should be taken
to " counterbalance " by leaning the body back !
Berenger reccmm.ended instruction without reins,
Pembroke also, but only for " unfeeling fellows,"
and Adams prescribed it for those who did not

148 Modern Riding and Horse Education

benefit from repeated " explanation and admoni-
tion." At a later date we have writers with more
decided opinions ; Whyte Melville, Walsh ( for some
time editor of the Field), Rarey, Hayes, and Dwyer:
all are strong on the point of allowing no man to
jump a horse with reins unless he can do so without.
Whyte Melville says that " the boy should never be
trusted w4th a bridle until it is perfectly immaterial
to him whether he has hold of it or not."

To carry out the practice in Austria they kept
the pupil on the longe, but this is quite un-
necessary where there is more than one rider, as
horses will always follow a leader in the riding
school or manege; it is only needful that the first
horse should be ridden with reins. If the horses are
at all unruly, first the odd numbers of the ride can
drop their reins and then the even numbers. If the
child beginner is nervous at first, he can go on the
leading-rein, and he may with advantage be given
a pair of ladies' safety irons to ride in.

It is very hard on the beginner to deprive him of
all means of support when first mounted, and I con-
sider it unsound even if time is no object. I there-
fore strongly advocate commencing with stirrups,
and only very occasionally allowing the pupil reins.

XV

AN IMPROVED METHOD

XV

AN IMPROVED METHOD

" All that our fathers taught us of old pleases us now no more."

Kipling.

T PROPOSE in this chapter to describe all that my
experience has led me to consider essential in
teaching a man the elements of riding, with special
attention to those points which are most often mis-
understood by instructors. Without claiming that
the following system as a whole is an original one, I
submit that in three important particulars, viz., the
preliminary gripping exercises, the successful use
of the strap joining the stirrups, and the early and
constant jumping without reins, it introduces new
features of great value to teachers of equitation.
It aims at inspiring confidence in the pupil by
making falling off as difficult as possible; at the
rapid acquisition of that bedrock of good horse-
manship— a firm and well-balanced seat, which is the
only foundation of good hands; and at the easy
suppleness of body which marks the proficient.

152 Modern Riding and Horse Education

Preliminary Exercises.

" In all labor there is profit." Proverbs xiv. v. 23.

The gripping exercises for beginning to de-
velop those muscles which are used in riding have
already received mention : I will merely state here
that they are invaluable as a preparation for riding
proper and save a good deal of time, as the novice
who has undergone them is physically able to apply
his legs to his horse to keep his seat, and is fitted
to undergo the fatigue of his lessons.

The Strap ^

" Press not the falling man too far ! " — Shakespeare {Henry VIII.)

If rapid progress is to be made the pupil must
feel as comfortable as possible under the circum-
stances, and be given confidence by avoidance of
falls. A saddle covered with buckskin increases the
friction between the leg and the flap, and if such a
saddle is available the instructor should make use
of it. The French have a saddle not unlike the
Australian buck-jumping one, into which they force

* This appliance was suggested to me by Colonel Charles Long,
late R.H.A.

An Improved Method

153

the man without any reference to his make and
shape, in order to get his leg into the correct posi-
tion. In a minor degree, tying
the stirrups together (Figs. 3
and 4), has a similar effect, but
this is the smallest of the bene-
fits derived from the use of this
contrivance, which is of the
greatest value. Its chief ad-
vantage is that it makes fall-
ing off under ordinary circum-
stances extremely difficult; the
leg cannot fly out very far from
the saddle in any direction, so
that if balance is lost it can be
regained at once without a fall,
whilst if the pupil flies up into
the air his feet meet the arch of
the stirrup-iron and he drops
back into his seat. fig. 3 — the stirrups

Now, when a man falls his (With along-legged man
' the strap can be passed

frame becomes rigid, and that through a runner on the

. girth.)

is why he so easily breaks his

bones : it therefore follows that, when he thinks he is

154 Modern Riding and Horse Education

going to fall, he stiffens himself all over, and thereby
loses all chance of keeping his balance. With a
short experience of the strap comes confidence, and
the pupil allows his muscles to relax. The impor-
tance of this result cannot be exaggerated. Asshe-
ton Smith's famous maxim that no m.an can be
called a horseman until he knows how to fall is
hardly one for a beginner.

During instruction in jumping this strap is more
than useful, as the confidence it gives the pupil
enables him to center his attention on the instructor
and attend to his directions. After his first few
jumps he loses his nervousness and begins to take
pleasure in the exercise. It is now possible to give
him early and continual practice in jumping low
obstacles without danger of over-fatigue, which is
the real secret of getting a man quickly settled into
his saddle, and is the best of lessons in balance.

In France they train horses to rear and kick at
the bidding of the instructor. The horse, who is
called a " sauteur," is tied by the head between two
padded '' pihers," and the pupils mount, in turn, at
the end of the lesson. The object of this is to teach
the man to adjust his body to the fore-and-aft move-
ment of the horse : side-balance does not, of course,
come into play because of the horse not advancing.

An Improved Method 155

Constant jumping, which is impossible in the earlier
stages without the strap, will answer the purpose
and is of greater benefit to the pupil : it is more
practical and does not require a specially trained
animal. The sauteur is, however, doubtless most
useful to the " Ecuyer," for practising the " cour-
bettes," " cabrioles," and ** croupades," he has to
perform daily on his own horse. At the Fort Riley
Mounted Service School (Kansas) the sauteur is
used for the practical purpose of teaching the pupil
how to sit a buck-jumper.

The strap further makes it difficult for the novice
to lose his stirrups, besides enabling him to retake
them quickly after he has been riding without them
by order of the instructor.

During over five years' experience of this con-
trivance with all sorts and conditions of men and
horses, I have never seen a case of dragging. On
one occasion, indeed, I caused an officer's foot to be
made fast in the stirrup and had him dragged for
experimental purposes, and it did not appear that
the strap joining the stirrups increased the danger.
As a matter of fact, with stirrups tied together it is
impossible to get dragged if hung up in the stirrup
on the opposite side to which the fall occurs — a
common cause of accidents. Care must, however,

156 Modern Riding and Horse Education

be taken that the strap is properly fitted. If
too tight, the man's knee is brought away from
the saddle and its purpose is defeated. If too loose,
it of course does not come into play as soon as it
might and there is a danger of the horse getting his
hind-legs through it when jumping.

This contrivance should not be used after the
initial stages of jumping. If the fence is big the
animal is more liable to fall, when the pupil may
share the fate which sometimes befalls the accom-
plished horseman and get mixed up with his horse
on the ground.

It is incidentally worth noting that the strap is
useful to anyone who has the misfortune to have
to ride a bad buck- jumper, and I have been informed
that it is not unknown to the cowboy. In our
Colonies a rope is sometimes placed round the
saddle and made fast over the rider's thighs in
order to secure his seat.

Jumping

" I told him, If you will but Sit Still, I warrant you the Horse will
go Well with you, But a Man (said he, with a great Oath) cannot Sit
Still. Which was said Knowingly, and like a Horse-Matt ; for, to
Sit Still belongs only to a Great Master'' Newcastle,

" Do not be sure that you have a firm seat until you have tried the
experiment of sitting a leap with nothing to hold on by."

Whyte Melville.

Jumping without reins for the comparative begin-

An Improved Method

157

ner is almost a new practice as far as England is
concerned. I will therefore enter somewhat fully
into the best method of carrying it out.

It is quite possible to allow your pupils to begin
jumping low obstacles at their eighth or ninth
lesson, provided they have been
through the preliminary gripping ex-
ercises and are riding with the strap
joining the stirrups (Fig. 4).

A small log of wood or a hurdle
laid flat will do to commence with,
after which three or four movable
hurdles similar to those shown in Fig.
5 will be required: they have the ad-
vantage of upsetting if the horse
strikes them. They should be about
two feet high when topped with gorse
or brushwood; the double rails allow
of the furze being replaced when
worn, and as these fences are not
fixtures they can be taken out of the
training ground when not in use. They may be
raised w^hen necessary by means of wooden blocks ;
but for obvious reasons it is essential to have them

FIG. 4.

THE STRAP.

158 Modern Riding and Horse Education

low at first. If the jump is fairly long the in-
structor will soon find wings unnecessary: I shall
have more to say on this subject in the section
devoted to horse-training. It will, however, not
be out of place here to mention that there is very
little refusing where horses are jumped without
reins. Animals that have been accustomed to sup-
porting their riders by the reins will rush a little
at first, but on recovering from their astonishment
at finding that the exercise no longer involves a
severe jerk in the mouth, they will — unless they
are very stale — neither refuse nor rush, especially
if they are fed after the first fence or two.

If only one pupil is under instruction, let him be
longed over on a single rein, when a man on either
side should run along with the horse after the jump,
to avoid bringing him round on the curve after land-
ing, which would increase the rider's difficulties.

With a ride of several pupils, and with fairly
handy horses, a jump can be put at each side of the
school, and the horses allowed to go round over
them in single file at suitable intervals; but in an
out-door manege, where the restraining effect of
the four walls is absent, it is easier to put the jumps

An Improved Method 159

in the center and send the horses over them one by
one. If the leader pulls up when he gets to the other
side, it will be found that the other horses will go to
him and stop of their own accord. An even better
plan, if a spare horse is available, is to hobble him
a little way from the fence on the landing side, and
allow the other horses to collect round him. Al-
though at this stage of the course the actual jump-
ing is to take place without reins, it will be neces-
sary that the pupil should pick them up both before
and after jumping; dropping them as soon as the
horse has got his head straight at the fence, and
taking them up again after landing in order to
steady the animal.

When riding at the log or the hurdle laid flat the
trot will be a fast enough pace, but when the pupil
is able to jump higher obstacles a steady canter will
be easiest for both man and horse.

There is some difference of opinion as to whether
it is sufficient for the pupil to hold the end of the
rein in the palm of the hand, let out to the full ex-
tent, or if he should drop it altogether and fold his
arms. The first method certainly removes the pos-
sibility of the rein coming over the horse's head on

i6o Modern Riding and Horse Educatibri

landing, and it is not so unnerving to the novice, but '
it does not afford the same lesson in balance, as it
gives some support to the rider. As a rule any
horse will pull up when he gets his foot through
the reins, and if not he can be trained to do so.
The advantages of folding the arms in front of
the body are, that it is left perfectly free to conform
to the movements of the horse, and that the arms
cannot be used to maintain balance. It Incidentally
develops the pupil's nerve and teaches him to keep
his arms and hands quiet. It is therefore best to be-
gin with the end of the rein held in the full of the
hand, and to pass on quickly to practice with arms
folded.

As to what instructions the pupil should be given,
let him be told to grip tightly with his knees and
thighs, and to lean forward when going at the
fence; if he is successful in this the body will
soon swing in harmony with the horse. It will be
found that most beginners are inclined to lean back
when the horse takes off.

When the pupil can sit over a small obstacle
without reins and stirrups he should be made to
jump the same thing with the reins before being

bO

I

3-

c
'3)

H
I

d

i6i

i62 Modern Riding and Horse Education

asked to negotiate anything higher. This takes
longer than any inexperienced person would sup-
pose, thereby showing how difficult it is to regulate
the actions of the arms, shoulders, and hands, even

Fig. 6. — The beginner's arms correctly placed when landing.

when the seat is comparatively firm. To make sure
that the horse will have as much room as possible

on landing, and that his rider will not be pulled

out of the saddle, his arms and hands should be

An Improved Method 163

correctly placed as in Fig. 5 each time he is about
to ride at the fence. The importance of this precau-
tion cannot be exaggerated, and never seems to be
properly recognized by the pupil. The evils arising
from its neglect are illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8.
The position of the body is not quite forward
enough in Figs. 5 and 6, which are only intended to
illustrate the position of the arms.

It will also be found that when he is jumping, the
novice's shoulders do not open, nor his hands drop
downwards and forwards as they should do when
the horse is descending. Experience has taught
me that the quickest and best way to put this right
is to tell the pupil to let the reins slip through his
fingers as he extends his arms when the horse is in
the air, however small the obstacle. By doing this,
his seat will not be interfered with, and those
wooden movements of the arms and wrists which
are so easily acquired and so hard to lose willl be
avoided. I am told that the Ecuyers at Saumur
very generally follow this custom of letting the
reins slip when the horse is on the downward plane.
Some of those jockeys w^ho do not land over a fence
leaning forward, give extra head-room to the horse

I

6

164

An Improved Method

16S

by taking one hand off the reins and slewing the
free shoulder backwards (Plate XVIII), thus allow*
ing the other shoulder and arm to advance consid-

FiG. 8. — Result of holding the reins too short.

erably farther to the front than would be possible

with the shoulders square. It would not surprise
me to be told that some of these gentlemen were

l66 Modern Riding and JHorse Education

unaware that this was their practice, but the on-
looker sees most of the game, especially when ac-
companied by a camera.

Some horses undoubtedly require more head-
room, if the jump is a high one, than a man can give
them without leaning too far forward on landing,
and some men are so short in the arms that they are
physically incapable of giving a horse enough free-
dom without letting the reins slip, or by taking one
hand off the reins and bringing the opposite shoulder
forward.

After a certain amount of practice over one jump,
a second one should be placed at a distance of about
five yards from it, and the man taught to negotiate
this in-and-out. Phillips mentions this as being an
admirable lesson for the purpose of securing a firm
seat for riding kickers, but his directions as to how
to poise the body during the process w^ould lead
to disaster. He recommends that the single jump
should be a standing one — the hardest of all for
beginners — and advises the man to lean back as the
horse takes off.

Half an hour's jumping a day will not be too
much for the novice after his tenth lesson; it is but
a small effort to the horse over low obstacles.

An Improved Method 167

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS

" He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly."

Proverbs xiv, v. 17.
" He that regardeth reproof is prudent."

Proverbs xv, v. 5.

To make any system of teaching riding a success,
we require a trained horse of a temperate disposi-
tion. If he is riding a slug, the pupil should carry
a whip; remember that he does not know how, and
therefore cannot use his legs, and will only tire him-
self in the attempt to do so. The accepted meaning
of the word " trained " will be given later. I do not
wish to imply that such a horse is absolutely neces-
sary ; a man can learn to sit on any animal that will
not run away.

The instructor should first of all be a horseman
himself, although there is no greater fallacy than the
common idea, prevalent only in England and her
colonies, that because a man can ride he can teach
others to do so. He should know what he is at, and
have an encouraging and sympathetic disposition.
The teacher of riding must remember that nerve
grows best out of confidence, and that before now
pluck has been killed by avoidable accidents. He

i68 Modern Riding and Horse Education

should work chiefly by demonstration, and explain
the meaning of his instructions as he goes along. It
is much easier to ride up to a man and show him
how to sit or how to handle the horse than merely to
tell him how to do so, and he will be far more likely
to remember it; he will also try twice as hard to
place himself correctly if he understands what he
is being asked to perform.

The instructor should never shout; it affects the
horse adversely as well as the man, and he must al-
ways keep his temper. Shouting at a horse is a
sign of weakness in either a rider or a trainer of
young horses.

The pupil should have well-fitting breeches, so
that he may not get rubbed or galled, and his boots
should be supple and smooth in the sole and have
a long, flat heel, for it has often happened that men
have been hung up in the stirrup because their boots
lacked these qualities. Rising to the trot is uncom-
fortable in thick boots if the ball of the foot is on
the iron.

Let the beginner saddle and bridle his own mount ;
this is the most practical way of teaching him how
the gear should fit. The bridle should be a single-

An Improved Method 169

reined, thick, smooth snaffle. When the reins are in
use they should be held long, and one in each hand.
The saddle should fit closely to the horse ; if it does
not, the weight of the man's body is raised and he
is less steady when the horse is in motion, making
balance m.ore difficult; a closely-fitting saddle will
enable the rider to get down into his seat.

Many and various are the directions given as to
mounting; some authorities would have us make
six separate movements of it. Mounting on the
near side has become customary because in the old
days riders carried heavy weapons in their right
hands, and could not conveniently have mounted on
the ofT side,^ but all beginners should learn to do so
on both. Let the pupil turn his back to the horse's
head, and if he is mounting from the left, place his
left foot in the stirrup, catch hold of the horse's
mane if he has one, and if not, the pommel, and
spring lightly into the saddle. Some authorities do

^ In very early days, before stirrups were invented, there was a
hook on the man's spear on which he placed his foot and raised
himself when he wished to mount. At other times horses were
taught to kneel for their riders to get on, or short ladders were used,
and it is recorded that in some countries noblemen were accustomed
to mount by the aid of their attendants' backs. We also hear of
mounting-stones being placed by the roadside for the convenience
of travelers.

170 Modern Riding and Horse Education

not recommend the back being turned to the horse^s
head, but it has these advantages — if the animal
moves on it helps the man into the saddle, and pre-
vents his being kicked if the horse is tickled with the
toe in mounting. The only objection is that a play-
ful horse may give you a pinch in the region of the
coat-tails, but surely this would be an additional in-
centive to springing quickly into the saddle.

As to the way the man should hold himself on
the horse, some writers would have no directions
given him at first, whilst others would, so to speak,
place him by rule of thumb, even to the length of
making him hold his hands in the center of his body,
and exactly three inches from it! Harry Hieover,
a clever horseman and knowing writer, says : " You
don't sit bolt upright on your chair; what on earth
makes you do it on your horse? Leave it to the
soldiers." In this as in all else there is a golden ^
mean ; give too many directions and you get stiffness,
give none and you make balance more difificult for
the tyro. Explain to your charge that his difficulties
will be increased unless he gets his seat well under
him, excepting, of course, when rising to the trot,
or going very fast, when his shoulders should natU'

An Improved Method 171

rally be advanced. An erect carriage can be assumed
without hollowing the back or sitting stiffly.

Fitting the stirrups to the pupil's comfort is of
great importance, and the best way of doing so is to
place him in the saddle with his knee at what appears
to be the height to suit his thigh, and then to stand
in front of the horse and shorten or lengthen the
leathers until the base of the stirrup is in line with
the sole of the boot. Further adjustment may be
needed when the pupil has been riding about for a
time. As Rarey says : " There are certain rules
laid down as to the length of the man's stirrup leath-
ers, but the only good rule is that they should be
short enough to give the rider full confidence in his
seat, and full power over a pulling horse." This
sound maxim may well be borne in mind when
fitting stirrups.

As much practice as possible should be given to
the pupil without fatiguing him or allowing him
to be chafed. A man will learn in a third the num-
ber of lessons if he begins with one a day and goes
on to two, instead of riding only twice a week.

When some progress has been made, a grown-up
pupil should have a change of horses, especially for

172 Modern Riding and Horse Education

work without stirrups ; this is easy enough when two
or three men are under instruction, but presents diffi-
culties with a single learner and a limited stud. If
riding is acquired on one horse only, the instructor
must not expect his pupil to show anything like the
same proficiency the first time he gets on to another
one.

The necessary intervals for rest should not be
wasted; the points of a horse, his simple ailments,
and horsemastership, are very important parts of
any horseman's education, and are too often neg-
lected. The sportsman's pleasure depends upon his
possessing a sufficient knowledge of these subjects;
and as far as the soldier is concerned, the latest
quick-firing gun is useless unless it can be brought
into action at the required moment; very little in-
formation is to be obtained from mounted scouts if
their horses cannot travel; wide strategic move-
ments by cavalry cannot be thought of, nor the army
in the field properly fed, without continual and
tireless care of the horse. The army with the fittest
horses at the outbreak of hostilities has a great in-
itial advantage, and, providing that the officers and
men are well versed in their care and management,

An Improved Method 173

this advantage remains to the end of the campaign.
In the South African War the EngHsh losses in
horseflesh amounted to the appalHng total of 340,-
000, and it is idle to suppose that better horseman-
agement might not have considerably lessened the
death-roll.

The next section consists of a rough guide to fifty
lessons in equitation, which can be modified to suit
the pupil's strength and fitness. His progress will,
to a great extent, depend upon himself.

XVI

INSTRXTCTIONAI. EXERCISES

XVI

INSTRUCTIONAL EXERCISES

*' Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge."

Proverbs xii. v. i.
" Be to his faults a little blind,
Be to his virtues ever kind."
John Jorrocks's version of Matthew Prior.

^T^ HE following is a rough guide for progressive
riding lessons, each of about an hour's dura-
tion, which are to follow ten short lessons on the
dummy horse. Quicker results will be obtained after
riding commences if the pupil continues his exercises
on the dummy horse at a separate hour of the day.
Proficiency in riding is attained more quickly by
some than by others, as in everything else, and It
will be found better after the thirtieth lesson to
separate the good from the indifferent pupils. As
before mentioned, if only one beginner is under in-
struction his horse should be longed; if there is
more than one, a man who can ride should for the

first few lessons take the lead round the manege or

177

ty^ Modern iRiding and Horse Education

school, in order to set the pace. The detail of the
necessary aid and indications will be found at the
end of the section.

First Lesson

The pupil should be taught by practical demon-
stration how to mount, hold his reins (if this has
not already been done on the dummy horse), and
how to make his horse move off at a walk and turn
to the right and left. The instructor need not be
particular at this stage as to whether the animal
turns on his forehand, center, or haunches.

The first day's lesson should merely consist in
walking round the school, first on one rein and
then on the other, and the men should dismount at
frequent intervals; but rising in the saddle with-
out reins should be practised, as it must be remem-
bered that whatever exercise the pupils have had on
dummy horses, those useful machines do not move
forward, and that the conditions are therefore some-
what different on real ones. All the above in-
structions can be given to the pupil on the longe if
necessary.

Instructional Exercises 17O

Second Lesson

Balancing exercises to be commenced, and con-
tinued at a walk up to the ninth lesson: hands
held above the head, touching the toe on either side,
and leaning backwards and forwards in the saddle.

Balancing exercises cannot be undertaken at
this early stage unless previously practised on the
dummy horse. In the Austrian Army beginners
are supplied with india-rubber balls attached by an
elastic to the wrist. It is claimed that catching the
ball affords a useful lesson in balance, but I have
not found this practice necessary.

Short trotting lessons with and without reins but
with stirrups.^

Third, Fourth, and Fifth Lessons

Short trotting lessons as above and also without
reins or stirrups. Once round the manege will be
found sufficient when stirrups are first dispensed
with. Part of these lessons, and subsequent ones
up to the thirtieth, will be done on a circle at either

' It is a help with raw beginners to use horses which will answer
to the voice, and will trot, walk, and halt at the word of the
instructor.

iSo Modern Riding and Horse Education

end of the manege, first on one hand and then on
the other. In the initial stages the principle must be
observed that the tyro is never to be allowed to use
his reins unless he is riding with stirrups, because
he can have very little control over his horse without
the purchase they afford.

Sixth Lesson

The same as No. 5, with the addition of two or
three canters with stirrups and reins.

Seventh and Eighth Lessons

Trotting lesson without reins, and as much with-
out stirrups as the man can stand without fatigue.
Short cantering lesson with stirrups and without
reins. Three or four jumps at a trot over a very
low obstacle about one foot high, with stirrups well
home; end of the rein to be held in the full of the
hand.

Ninth to Twelfth Lessons (inclusive)

Trotting and short cantering lessons without
reins or stirrups. Balancing exercises at a trot.
Number of jumps to be increased daily, and

Instructional Exercises iSi

negotiated at a canter. A few jumps without reins
and with stirrups at the end of each lesson.

Thirteenth to Sixteenth Lessons (inclusive)

Same as above : all jumping to be done without
reins. At least twenty jumps for each pupil.
Frequent changes of horse excepting for jumping*

Seventeenth Lesson

Jumping lesson over a one-foot obstacle at a
canter, without stirrups; the end of the rein to be
held in the full of the right hand.

Trotting, cantering, and balancing exercises as
above.

Eighteenth to Twentieth Lessons (inclusive)

Same as above, with the addition of balancing
exercises at a canter, and frequent change of horses
for jumping.

Jumping without reins or stirrups gradually in-
troduced.^

1 The first time the pupil jumps without reins or stirrups he
should be cautioned against leaning back : in fact he may be told
to lean well forward, as grief is rare from leaning too far forward,
but is sure to come if the body is leant too far back.

x82 Modern Riding and Horse Education

Twenty-first to Thirtieth Lessons
(inclusive)

Jumping- with reins and stirrups over a one-foot
obstacle, and then over two one- foot jumps five
yards apart, to form an in-and-out, and thirdly over
a single jump, to be gradually raised to a height of
two feet, and negotiated without reins but with
stirrups.

Reining back.

Trotting, cantering lessons, etc., as before.

Thirty-first to Fortieth Lessons (inclusive)

First half -hour each day of independent work for
each pupil in the open : — Cantering on the circle,
and passaging.

Second half-hour in the school or manege : —
Jumping a two- foot obstacle, gradually heightened
to three feet, alternately with and without reins and
stirrups.

Fortieth to Fiftieth Lessons (inclusive)
First half-hour: — Independent work; making a

Instructional Exercises 183

horse change at a canter by the movement of the
body; the use of the body as a pivot in turning
(see ''Distribution of the Rider's Weight").

Figure-of-eight at a canter.

One-handed riding (see " Use and Misuse of the
Hands").

Riding over broken ground and up and down hill.

Pupils who are sufficiently advanced to be
allowed spurs and a double bridle.

Jumping (over single and double obstacles) of a
height suitable to the pupil's progress.

As before mentioned, properly-trained horses are
a great advantage, but good results can be obtained
on badly-trained Ones.

In 1907 I experimented with a class of Horse
Artillery trumpeters ; they went through a course of
forty lessons similar to those above, but they also
had thirty lessons on the dummy horse. At the end
of the course they could —

Jump a bushed gorse fence 3 ft. 9 in. high and
3 ft. 4 in. broad, with and without reins or stirrups ;

Jump an in-and-out 3 ft. 9 in. high and i ft. 6 iri.
broad ;

i84 Modern Riding and Horse Education

Do a figure-of-eight correctly at a canter;

Ride up and down a steep incline at any pace ;

Gallop a horse in the open and pull up quickly.

The instructor, Sergeant-Ma j or J. Lynch
(W. O.), was a very exceptional man, of long ex-
perience, and the horses were perfectly trained. I
wish to emphasize the fact that a first-class in-
structor is invaluable.

Since these experiments were first m.ade it has
been found possible to pass out classes of ordinary
recruits with a firm seat independent of the reins in
an average of the same number of lessons, and with-
out any of them having had a fall.

No Continental nation has attempted anything of
the sort in the time.

The following is a description of the combined
use of the aid and the indications, to be explained
and demonstrated to the pupil as the different
movements occur in the instructional exercises: —

To make the horse move oif at a walk. — Ease the
reins and apply both legs without drawing them
back.

To make the horse turn to the right. — Lean
slightly to the right, pull the right rein, and apply

Instructional Exercises 185

the left leg drawn back in order to stay the horse's
quarters when the turn is completed.

To make the horse turn to the left. — Reverse the
indications.

To stop. — A steady but light pull on both reins.

To make the horse trot. — The same indications
should be used as for making him start at a walk,
but with increased pressure of the legs.

Cantering. — To make a horse strike off at a
canter with the near foreleg leading, apply the
right rein/ and the right leg drawn back. Reverse
the indications for the off fore. If a horse is canter-
ing on the wrong leg, i. e., the outward one, wait
till he gets to the end of the manege, and then direct
the pupil to pull his head into the corner as he turns.
He will then change on to the inward leg; if not,
he should be pulled up into a trot and made to
strike off afresh. As a rule no difficulty will be ex-
perienced in this direction when moving on the

' The right rein is chosen, in order to advance the horse's left
shoulder and at the same time to take the weight off it by bringing
the horse's head slightly to the right. Some writers object to the
head being inclined either way, as they say it is apt to make the horse
canter crab-fashion, but I have never found this to happen in practice
when the action on the mouth is only momentary. If the rein in ques-
tion is kept permanently shortened in the riding school the horse will
certainly go crab-fashion to avoid the wall.

i86 Modern Riding and Horse Education

circle, as it is natural for the horse to lead with his
inward leg. The method of making an untrained
horse equally handy on either foreleg at a canter
will be dealt with in the section on '' Futher Horse-
training."

Reining back. — The horse should be put back a
length at a time by a gentle feeling of both reins,
whilst the rider's legs keep the quarters from flying
out and prevent the horse from lowering his head
and so getting out of hand.

Passaging — The passage, a common term in
English riding-schools, means either moving the
horse sideways with his head slightly leading or
moving him diagonally, the latter movement being
sometimes known as the " half-passage " ; this must
not be confused with the '' shoulder in," in which
the horse's head is bent away from the direction
in which he is going. On the Continent the word
" passage " means a high and collected trot. To
passage to the right, feel the right rein a little
stronger than the left, and apply the left leg drawn
back. To passage to the left reverse the above.
This is a most useful lesson as a preparation for
gate-opening.

Instructional Exercises 187

Some teachers of riding will consider thi^ the so-
called " aids " given in the above lesson are, to say
the least of it, insufficient, both in number anci detail,
but I hold that this is not the case if the horse is
trained and balanced. I do not think that enough
distinction is made in equine literature between the
" aids " required for the trained and the untrained
animal. I have before me now a widely-read book
on riding, and as an example of unnecessary det?^il
I will quote the instructions it gives for pulling a
horse up to a standstill. '' Close both legs, feel both
reins, raise the hands, bring the weight of the body
back, and relax the pressure of the legs and hands
as soon as the horse halts." Now, a man uses the
pressure of the lower part of his legs to start his
horse ; it therefore seems unreasonable to do the
same thing when he wishes the animal to stop. It
may, how^ever, be necessary to apply the legs to the
horse when he is halted, should he evince a disposi-
tion to back. Ladies who still ride as their mothers
did, stop their horses very well with no pressure
from the legs : why then should it be necessary for
the man? Again, w^hy raise both hands? The
raising or lowering of the hands should be unneces-

i88 Modern Riding and Horse Education

sary if the horse is well balanced and carries his
head properly; if he does not answer to this descrip-
tion it is just as likely as not that you will have to
lower your hands to make him pull up.

A very knowledgeable man on matters equine,
and a fine man to hounds, remarked after reading
through the above : '' Why give the indications for
cantering first on one leg and then on the other?
Nobody cares when they are in the field which leg a
horse is leading wath ; all they care about is that the
animal should know how to change legs if he turns
quickly and finds himself leading with the outward
one. Why not simply say, * To make a horse
canter, catch him by the head and press him hard
with the legs ' ? This is what any self-taught rider
does." There is truth enough in this, and every
rider does not want to be a horse trainer, but the
answer to it is as follows : Unless a horse canters
round the school or manege with his inward leg
leading he is liable to come down at the corners,
and therefore for the learner's sake certain simple
indications must be laid down for making the animal
start on the inward leg. No ordinary rider will
bother his head either to remember or to apply

Instructional Exercises 189

complicated aids, and no novice could do so if he
would.

The indications for the '^ shoulder in " are pur-
posely omitted here, as I consider that a horse's
head should not be turned away from the direction
in which he is going; the passage and half-passage
are all-sufficient for diagonal and side movements.

Although the subject of horse training is not here
under discussion, I would remind the reader that a
strong and frequent application of the legs is indis-
pensable in the making of a young horse.

PART II

ON TRAINING HORSES

XVII

WHAT TO TEACH

XVII

WHAT TO TEACH

" Now, in equitation there can be no divided empire, and the horse
will be master if the man is not." Whyte Melville.

T F teachiiig- the man to ride is an art, training
the horse is a much higher and more difficult
one, demanding expert knowledge, good horseman-
ship, abounding patience, ready resource, and a
quick, observant eye. The '' colt without under-
standing " not only, as Berenger says, has to learn
the language of man, but must be gentled, mouthed,
and taught to go " balanced " in his paces. In addi-
tion to this his muscles and sinews must be so de-
veloped that when he is trained he is thoroughly
well fitted to do the work that will be demanded of
him.

Balance as applied to a horse is not very gen-
erally understood in England, which may in some
degree account for the lack of it in many so-called
" trained animals." He should be permanently

193

194 Modern Riding and Horse Education

balanced, unless nature has done it for him, to
enable him to go lightly in front when required, in
order that he may be a pleasant ride.

To be at his best when ridden the horse must in-
stinctively balance himself at all paces and in all
situations, and educating him to do this may be
termed the alpha and omega of horse training.

The colt instinctively learns how to balance him-
self from birth : by raising or lowering the head
and neck he shifts his balance backwards and for-
wards and does not feel his weight any more than
we do ours ; but wdien he is backed his conformation
makes all the difference to his ability to adjust him-
self to the new conditions. He has now to carry
some 150 lbs. placed above and behind his normal
center of gravity, and this and the undeveloped con-
dition of the muscles of his back and limbs accounts
for his awkward gait w^hen first mounted. If a
horse is w^ell made, equilibrium comes to him easily
when mounted, and his muscles strengthen in the
proper proportion, providing that he is properly
ridden. If, however, he has not been kindly treated
by nature, we must, as far as she will allow it, help
him to lighten his forehand at the trot and canter

What to Teach 19S

by a judicious raising and placing of his head and
neck. Let us endeavor to find out how this may be
done without depriving the animal of liberty of ac-
tion.

If first the fore and then the hind limbs of a
horse are placed on a sensitive weighing-machine,
it will be found that the forehand is heavier than the
hind-quarters; should the animal hold his neck
horizontal so that the head is vertical the excess is
increased according to the length of the neck and
the size of the head Exhaustive weighing ex-
periments, carried out in England and on the Con-
tinent, prove that from 14 to 28 lbs. weight is taken
ofT the fore-legs by raising the head from the ver-
tical position to a higher one, at which the front
of the face makes an angle of 45 degrees with the
ground. The head of the horse alone weighs from
40 to 50 lbs.

Other interesting points to be gleaned from
horse- weighing experiments are that about 66% of
the rider's weight is carried on the forelegs if he
sits upright, and that if the forehand is weighed
with the mian leaning well forward and then leaning
well back, there will be a difference of weight of

196 Modern Riding and Horse Education

approximately 50 lbs. on the forelegs. Readers
who are skeptical of the value of the " distribution
of the rider's weight " as an aid will do well to bear
this fact in mind.

Veterinary science supplies us with certain in-
formation concerning the mechanism of the horse
which every trainer ought to be in possession of if
he is to get full value out of his work. Without en-
tering into technical detail, the chief muscle which
advances the foreleg runs from the top of the head
to the bone below the blade-bone. Its origin is
from the back of the head and the first four bones
of the neck (see Fig. 9, the point of attachment to
the blade-bone or humerus is marked with a cross).
If we artificially shorten this muscle by pronounced
flexion of the neck we interfere with free shoulder-
action, reduce the horse's speed, and cause him to
resort to increased knee-action to raise his forelegs.
Veterinary experts also tell us that the joint between
the head and the first bone of the neck is not con-
structed for a facial angle approaching the perpen-
dicular; that the bones of the neck are not suitably
arranged for continuous curvature ; and that the
tissues of the throat are displaced if the nose is

What to Teach 195^

tucked in, when the gland may be seen bulging out
behind the edge of the jaw. A horse that makes
no noise in a snaffle may roar in a bit, though the
noise may not be due to paralysis.

A horse never voluntarily arches his neck to any

Fig. 9.
degree excepting when -he wind-sucks or stretches
himself. The confirmed puller does sometimes do
it for a purpose, but the whole tendency of the free
horse is to extend his head, and most of us have
watched with admiration the light elastic movement
of the young horse surprised when grazing in a

198 Modern Riding and Horse Education

field, and the high carriage of his head as he trots
away. The animal certainly has no weight on his
back, but we may note that the free shoulder-action
w^e admire accompanies a neck held high and a
head if anything extended.

Perhaps the best illustration of the part played
in advancing the forelegs, by the important muscle I
have mentioned, is to be observed in the different
effect on the action of the horse of the *' over-draw
check-rein " (Plate XIX) used in trotting matches,
and the English bearing-rein. The first named is
designed to bring the head up and the nose out, thus
stretching the neck-muscle to its extreme length and
giving the quickest and freest shoulder action, which
results in increased speed for trotting matches.
The English bearing-rein (Plate XX), on the con-
trary, arches the horse's neck and brings his nose in,
which produces exaggerated knee-action and loss of
forward movement, but allows the driver a fuller
power of control.

For pleasant hacks, such as the gaited horses
of Kentucky, and for the English park hack, the
arched-neck, nose-in profile recommended by
Baucher and other Haute Ecole enthusiasts in no
way detracts from their usefulness, and they are

What to Teach 199

comfortable to ride, but '* hacks " pure and simple
are rare in England now; most saddle-horses are
bred to be either racers, hunters, or polo ponies. It
is probably for this reason that we Britishers have
not generally adopted the methods of Baucher and
his disciples. The hunting man, for instance, must
have a horse trained to use his shoulders with com-
plete freedom, or he will not get the best pace out of
his mount when he requires it, and will probably
come to grief when jumping a fence with a ditch
on the landing side.

Doubtless the arched-neck, nose-in system of
trainings, places the horse in the most advantageous
position for control and with his hocks more under
him, perhaps because, the arching being unnatural,
he endeavors to escape from it by throwing his
weight back. But leaving the hack out of the
question, do these advantages compensate for the
loss of that freedom which is so essential in the field ?
We can always get a horse back on his hocks when
occasion arises without this iron-bound system.
The other extreme, the position the racing trotter
is made to assume, with his nose poked out and up
in the air, is equally unsuitable for general purposes,
as the bit does not rest on the bars of the mouth.

200 Modern Riding and Horse Education

The medium course seems the most natural one to
pursue, that is to say, to train the horse to carry
his neck as high from the withers as is compatible
with control, and to demand no pronounced flexion
at the poll. I have obtained happy results from this
procedure : once a horse learns to go light in front
at a trot and canter with no hold on his mouth he
will balance himself correctly without any excessive
" collecting," and the rider's power of control is all-
sufficient.

The Arabs provide us with good examples of
the two extremes. The true desert Arabs of Syria,
who generally ride their mares, control them with a
chain round the nose instead of a bit, and they move
with as high a carriage of the head as a horse at
liberty, whilst the agricultural population and towns-
men use a bit of the severest pattern, and their
horses carry their heads with the nose very much
tucked in.

I have not touched on the carriage of the head
from the point of view of vision, as although Hayes
insists that w^hen the nose is brought in the vision
is limited, Major-General F. Smith, Director of
Veterinary Service, whom I have to thank for much
valuable technical information, is not in agreement

What to Teach 201

with him. The horse's eye is prominently set at the
side of the face, and not in front as in ourselves;
it has great rotatory powers, and the facial bones
below it are narrowed, all of which enables the horse
to see with facility in almost any position.

A naturally well-balanced horse always wins the
Derby, and there is no more trying course. By
leaving the animal heavy in front at a trot and canter
we sacrifice the possibility of making him a sure and
comfortable ride, we contribute to the early break-
down of his forelegs, and, most important of all, he
will take it out of himself more quickly and so tire
his rider and rob him of his sport; or, if in war,
perhaps of his life. After an ill-made horse has
been balanced he can always extend his neck to get
his weight forward and so increase his powers of
propulsion.

Nothing makes him put his weight on his fore-
hand more surely than being ridden by a man who
constantly leans on the reins, — a practice which
eventually leads, so to speak, to the horse pulling
with his forelegs.

General Sir Robert Baden Powell, in an article
on balance in the Cavalry Journal of July, 1906,
gives a practical example of its value for the long

202 Modern Riding and Horse Education

distance journeys that so often fall to the lot of the
cavalry horse, as demonstrated in the long-distance
riding competitions on the Continent. Lieutenant
Allut, 28th (French) Dragoons, who won the com-
petition in 1904, said that in selecting the horse from
his squadron he went not so much by its history as
by its balance : when he found a well-built horse
which was light in the forehand he knew that he
had one which would not easily tire and go lame
from carrying all the weight on its forelegs.

As the General explains, " in training a horse we
should not only aim at teaching him to hold himself
in the correct position at the different paces and
movements, but also at developing the necessary
muscles for keeping him permanently so placed or
balanced." I shall have more to say on the way in
which this can be done later on.

So much for the foundation of the training neces-
sary for every description of riding horse. When
he has been made to undergo it we can proceed to
specialize for the particular work which we require
the animal to perform; be it hunting, polo, show
jumping, or mounted combat; and it will repay us
well if his mind has been developed as well as his
muscle.

XVIII

THE HORSE'S MIND

XVIII

THE HORSE'S MIND

" Therefore cultivate his intellect — I use the word advisedly — even
before you enter on the development of his physical powers."

Whyte Melville.

XT would be out of place here to discuss the com-
parative intellectual capacity of our domesti-
cated animals, or to try to explain, as scientists do,
that in the struggle for existence some races of wild
animals develop higher mental powers than others,
cither in pursuit of their prey or in evading the at-
tacks of their enemies. Before, however, condemn-
ing our horses as less intelligent than our dogs, we
should remember that the former spend many hours
out of the twenty-four tied up in front of a wall, a
state of affairs which is not conducive to the develop-
ment of the brain.

Horses are not bred for brains, and authorities
are not in agreement as to the extent to which they
possess them, some even going so far as to say that
any attempt at mental development may add to the

205

2o6 Modern Riding and Horse Education

trainer's troubles. Literature on the subject is some-
what uncommon, though most authors touch upon
it. Quite recently, however, Count Eugenio Marti-
nengo Cesaresco has written a volume insisting on
mind-development for horses if we wish to get full
value out of the machine, and he has lately written
to me to say that the eminent authority Professor
Hobday approves of his psychology.

In his book, the author takes a low view of the
horse's mental capacity ; he writes : — " We have
learnt the reason why the thunder is caused by
lightning, but the horse cannot attain this. He stops

at mere association and erroneously thinks

that two things, however associated, one is the cause
of the other (sic) although it is not." The caliber
of the horse's mind, he says, must be carefully taken
into account in administering both punishments and
favors, and he quotes the following ancient fable
as an instance of wrong association of a favor. A
dog bit a man, and the man gave him bread in the
hope that the dog would bite him no more. The re-
sult was that the dog went about biting people when
he was hungry, because he had obtained bread by
that means before. As an example of wrong asso-

The Horse's Mind 207

ciation of punishment the Count tells us of a rider
whose horse stopped " because he ill-treated him in
the mouth with his hands." When the horse stood
still he did not punish him, but did so when the horse
moved on again. The animal was thereby taught
that " to stand still was good and to go on was bad."
The author insists on the training of the mind
and body together, which is only possible with indi-
vidual attention, and points out the danger of hurry ;
vicious horses are made, he says, by being asked to
do certain things without preparatory instruction of
a gradual nature; and he adds that many horses
merely from seeing that they have once been able
to have their own way become " intractable and no
longer liable to control." Develop the mental quali-
ties of the horse, he says, and he will become more
obedient; he agrees with the ancients, who con-
sidered a good brain to be a valuable asset in a horse.
Hayes takes the opposite view. In his book, " Points
of a Horse," he disapproves of the development of
a high degree of mental (i. e., reasoning) power in a
horse, saying that it makes him impatient of control
by man. His arguments are not convincing, and
might equally well be applied to retrievers. In a

2o8 Modern Riding and Horse Education

previous work, " Illustrated Horse Breaking," he
states that he has not been able to trace any indica-
tion of reasoning power in a horse, by which he
shows that he was not very clear in his own mind
on the subject.

Mr. E. T. Brewster has told us, in an interesting
article in McClure's Magazine on the " Animal Mind
From Inside," that the reason why the horse is so
generally useful is far from complimentary to that
noble animal. This is what he says. '' He (the
horse) possesses just the right degree of stupidity.
If he were stupider he would be less plastic to ac-
quire convenient habits. If he were cleverer he
would acquire too many habits for himslf, and live
too much his own life, like that particularly clever
animal, the cat. The brightest children, likewise, are
sometimes the hardest to bring up." There is no
doubt that the brightest horses are the hardest to
train, but like the bright children they give the best
results if trouble is taken with their education.

I myself humbly agree with Cesaresco, Whyte
Melville, and others on the subject. Now, the best
way to make use of the horse's brain is to teach him
to understand the voice, and though Hayes and

The Horse's Mind 209

Galvayne advocate this to the extent of using a few
simple words, such as " whoa," " come up," and
" back," many other writers, inckiding Cesaresco,
consider it to be impossible. This statement every
soldier will question : he knows how quickly horses
learn words of command and trumpet calls. In
India some years ago, so the story goes, a charger
was winning a race, but when nearing the winning-
post " Halt " was sounded on the trumpet, and he
shut up. The astute ow^ner of the second favorite
had commissioned a trumpeter to be in readiness,
and the ruse succeeded perfectly.

I will quote two examples of voice training re-
sulting in marked brain development which have
recently come under my personal observation, and
which should go far towards removing doubts on
the subject. There was a horse at Woolwich in
1909 called Tommy, and belonging to Captain
Aherne, R.H.A., w^hich if turned loose would walk,
trot, canter, jump, and change legs at a canter when
told to do so, without the aid of whip or signal, be-
sides coming to his master when called. This was
taught by means of long reins ^ accompanied by

1 The horse was bought as a five-year-old and had undergone no
early training.

210 Modern Riding and Horse Education

word of command, the reins being dispensed with
as soon as the animal had learnt to associate the
word with the movement. Every order was given in
the samie level tone of voice, which goes to disprove
Fillis's theory that a horse cannot understand the
vrords of an order, but only the tone in which it is
spoken. There was no picking and choosing about
this horse's parents.

Another instance was that of a mare called
Trixie,^ who performed at the Palace Theater in
London during the winters of 1906-7-8, and perhaps
furnished an example of the highest point of mental
development ever reached by a member of the equine
race. She could spell, add, subtract, multiply, and
divide, work a cash register, and pick out colored
rags at the call of the audience from a variegated
heap on the stage. Mr. Barnes, her owner and
trainer, is interesting on the subject of her educa-
tion, and is a firm believer in the intelligence of the
horse. His mare, who was three parts Arab, was
bred for brains, her dam, sire and grand-dam having
been famous trick performers. From the time

* Trixie was killed in a railway accident in America (February
1909).

The Horse's Mind 211

Trixie was a filly of three weeks old she was allowed
to run in and out of her master's house in America
like a dog, and was the constant companion and
playmate of his children; in fact, her early life ran
along the same pleasant lines as that of her Arab
ancestors. She was twelve years old in 1907, and
had not completed her education until two years
previously.

Mr. Barnes first conceived the idea of teaching her
to spell from his children. They had four alphabet
letters printed on large blocks, and the filly learned
to pick up whichever was called for. Inspired by the
Kindergarten system, after ceaseless effort and un-
wearying patience Mr. Barnes taught her to spell al-
most any word by syllables, showing that she really
associated the sound of the word with the letters
that form it. This was proved by her occasional
lapses into very phonetic or Rooseveltian spelling.

She then learnt the result of every simple com-
bination of multiplication, division, addition, and
subtraction up to the numeral nine. Space does not
admit of going fully into Mr. Barnes's method of
instruction in arithmetic, but he gave me to under-
stand that it was briefly as follows. He would call

212 Modern Riding and Horse Education

out to the mare, " 3 minus i, Two'' with emphasis
on the last word, and would discontinue saying
" two " when Trixie had learnt to pick up that
numeral every time he said " 3 minus i." Eventu-
ally she committed all the combinations to memory.

Teaching the mare to distinguish colors Mr.
Barnes found easier than the foregoing. As soon as
the initial difficulty of fixing her attention and of
making her " take notice " at all was overcome, he
placed two colored rags on the ground, and taught
the mare by voice, at first accompanied by sign, to
pick out the one called for, rewarding or punish-
ing her for success or failure. The number of colors
was aftenvards increased, and Trixie learnt to indi-
cate the shade of a tie or of a lady's hat.

Count Martinengo Cesaresco admits that a horse
can be taught to distinguish between red and white,
but his method of instruction is rather drastic. He
dresses one man in red and another in white, makes
the red man beat the horse and the white man caress
him, and naively adds that the horse soon distin-
guishes the difference in color.

Mr. Barnes claimed for Trixie the brain of a
child of six with all its limitations. She frequently

The Horse's Mind 213

required admonition to keep her to business, and had
learnt to remember that a deep sigh from her master
at her stupidity was the calm before the storm. He
never fed the mare himself, and unless he drove her,
which he did through London traffic without reins,
she was exercised by his groom, of whom she had
no opinion whatever, as he was not allowed to cor-
rect her.

A committee of experts met in 1907 with the
object of establishing or disposing of the mare's
claim to responsive intelligence, her detractors as-
serting that her feats were performed by means of a
trick. She had just recovered from a severe attack
of pneumonia, and after tests lasting over an hour
and a half she showed such fatigue that the com-
mittee released her, and endeavored to come to a
decision. Though a majority was in favor of credit-
ing the mare with responsive intelligence, no under-
standing could be arrived at, as the remaining mem-
bers of the committee were strongly adverse to their
decision, and the inquiry was adjourned for further
examination.

I believe in the genuineness of the mare's attain-
ments ; if the show had been trick-work on the part

214 Modern Riding and Horse Education

of the owner, it would perhaps have been more won-
derful, but would hardly have stood the test of so
many performances. Somebody was invariably on
the stage with the avowed intention of detecting Mr.
Barnes's methods, and no one appears to have done
so.

No ordinary man would wish to teach his horse
multipHcation even if he felt able to do so, but for
obvious reasons a horse is more useful and a safer
conveyance if he is obedient to the voice. Trixie's
w^onderful brain development must in great measure
be attributed to her early life and surroundings.

There are many other examples of cleverness in
horses, and General Tweedie, in his book *' The
Arab and his Horse," tells us that the traveler be-
tween Bagdad and the Caspian used to strap his
portmanteau across the back of a galloping post-
horse, which immediately started off alone for the
next station, and delivered the baggage safely. Ac-
cording to Hayes, Rockefeller and Sample used to
drive horses without reins, and had them under per-
fect control.

Thormanby and many other writers quote cases
of which they had personal knowledge ; in fact, there

The Horse's Mind 215

is ample evidence not only to show that the horse's
mind can be developed if time and trouble are taken
in the process, but that the results fully justify the
labor expended. Osmer would have us believe that
the excellence of horses is altogether mechanical and
not in the blood; others believe in blood only; but
surely brains must and do count.

There is another reason why the mind-training of
horses should be taken up and encouraged, and that
is for the good of future generations; the process
must necessarily be slow, but if carried out system-
atically '' stupid " horses should not be so common in
the future. I must repeat that Trixie's was an ex-
ceptional case : she was the product of three genera-
tions of the higher education.

XIX

APPLIANCES FOR HORSB-TRAININO

XIX

APPLIANCES FOR HORSE-TRAININQ

" That which is new is only that which has been forgotten."

Translated from the Russian.

^"T^HE British Board of Agriculture as at present
constituted only came into existence in the
year 1889. It might with advantage have collected
information on the subject of horse-training for dis-
tribution amongst breeders and farmers, but no
official reports have dealt with the subject as far as
I am aware. This is unfortunate, as scientific
knowledge in this branch would be of the greatest
use to the agricultural population; it would lower
the percentage of horses that either break down un-
der training or become intractable from improper
treatment, and it would increase the value of those
that find purchasers.

A study of equine literature reveals our happv-

go-lucky ways in this important matter, in particular

219

220 Modern Riding and Horse Education

as to appliances for aiding the horse-trainer in his
work, several of which were well known in past
times, and after falling into disuse were reintro-
duced several times over as being quite new, and
often of the author's own invention.

To simplify description I will classify them under
two heads, namely, appliances used on foot, and
those used mounted and dismounted. The former
include long reins, the cavesson and leading-rein,
crosstrees, the crupper leading-rein, the Commanche
bridle, side reins, the strait-jacket, the Galvayne
strap, pillars single and double, the Rarey strap,
throwing gear, the crush, the cage, the iron-pointed
pole, the plain pole and the longeing whip. After
reading some of the above names it will hardly sur-
prise the reader to be told that early writers not in-
frequently alluded to appliances as " engines," or
"utensils!"

In the second category are the rope gag, the Aus-
trian nose-band, the bearing-rein, the running rein,
the martingale standing and running, the cane, two
hand-whips (to be used simultaneously), the hand-
spur, the mouthing, and various other bits forming
part of the bridle, and the saddle.

Appliances for Horse-training 221

Long Reins. — *' Long-rein driving," or, in other
words, driving a colt on a circle or in a straight line
with a pair of reins or ropes, has been forgotten and
brought in as a new art several times. An Austra-
lian named Galvayne claims that he introduced the
correct and scientific way of using the long reins
into England in the 'eighties, and he certainly was
an artist : I have seen him at work. Hayes, who
was lecturing in this country on horse-training at
about the same period, states that he learnt their use
in Ireland from a Mr. John Hubert Moore, and that
this gentleman derived his knowledge from an old
Irish breaker named Fallon, who was born in the lat-
ter part of the eighteenth century. Hayes also seems
to infer that the practice was unknown in England
until he himself introduced it. As a matter of fact
an English gentleman named Mr. Browne used
long reins in the sixteenth century, and in 1624
wrote a book entitled " Browne, his Fifty Years'
Practice, or an Exact Discourse Concerning Snaffle-
riding, etc.," giving the way of carrying out long-
rein driving. His methods must have been practi-
cally those of the present day, as he is careful to ex-
plain : ** Now when you have him perfect on either

222 Modern Riding and Horse Education

hand and he doth set his trot comely and stately, you
may venture to set a saddle on him."

Lord Pembroke, Sir Sidney Medows, Freeman,
and Adams, all practised long-rein driving in vari-
ous ways, and wrote about it in the latter part of
the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth centuries,
yet Galvayne and Hayes were both able to tour the
country and make a financial success of exhibiting the
practice as new in the latter half of the nineteenth.

About twenty years after Hayes's demonstrations
of long-rein driving on his horse-breaking tours, his
methods were embodied in the English Cavalry
Training Manual. The appliance is now in general
use at Netheravon ; at the Woolwich Riding Estab-
lishment it is employed for horses which cannot be
backed or are refractory, and sometimes for teach-
ing jumping, but every riding instructor is taught
how to handle the reins. I understand that the
Messrs. Miller have very generally discarded them.

According to Berenger this appliance was well-
known on the Continent at a much earlier period
than the eighteenth century, but it is not used abroad
now, nor has it been for some considerable time.

As foreigners look upon horse-training as more

Appliances for Horse-training 223

of a science than we generally do in this country,
their abandonment of long-rein driving must carry
weight in assessing the value of the appliance.

The advantages that it offers for training are that
the horse is under perfect control from the first ; he
can be exercised and disciplined when in poor con-
dition, he can be taught to go true on either foreleg
at a canter, and to jump. Long reins afford a good
means of gentling horses that have had no previous
handling, and of dealing with refractory animals.
The disadvantages which apparently led to the prac-
tice being abandoned for some time are that the
trainer acts on a foreign fulcrum, which gives him
immense power and is likely to result in hard
mouths. The reins are heavy,^ so that mechanical
means must generally be resorted to in order to keep
the animal's head in the correct position. Passing
the reins through supports, or even through the stir-
rups, certainly lightens the weight on the horse's
mouth, but this is not sufficient to prevent the head in
many cases from being carried too low, with the nose
too much tucked in. It is obviously better not to

^ Leather long reins weigh 4 lbs., webbing ones 2^, and rope is un-
suitable for the purpose as it is liable to gall a horse, especially if he
breaks away.

224 Modern Riding and Horse Education

constrain the movements of the colt's head and neck
any more than is absolutely necessary in the initial
stages, even if his conformation is hopelessly bad,
and it is also obvious that if he is allowed to hang his
head in the commencement of his training, the rider
will have more trouble afterwards in getting him
correctly placed and balanced. Bearing-reins were
found necessary in the past, and Hayes advocates
the use of the overhead bearing-rein attached to the
nose-band. This does not, however, lighten the
weight on the mouth. Put a harness horse into the
lead of a coach for the first time, and you will find
that the weight of the reins, although supported,
makes him chary of facing the bit.

To handle long reins successfully is by no means
easy, and requires a man of much practice and ex-
perience. When I first saw them systematically used
in horse-breaking, I was much taken with the idea,
and have before now written in their praise;
riper experience has led me to agree with Lord Pem-
broke, who says with reference to working on foot :
" A good rider, who feels every motion of his horse,
must act with more precision, delicacy, and exact-
ness." If a horse has been properly dealt with be-

Appliances for Horse-training 225

fore the time of training arrives, the sooner he is
backed the quicker he will be trained ; the mouth is
better made and the horse more quickly balanced
without resorting to long reins; and this is the
general practice on the Continent.

When they are used, the horse should be made
to circle round the trainer, the outer rein being held
sufficiently tight to keep the animal's quarters from
flying out. Both reins should be supported on
the horse's back about trace-high, and the first time
they are put on a young one they should be attached
to a light cavesson.

Hayes suggests using long reins for teaching rid-
ing, in order to relieve the tyro of the control of his
horse. It is an old idea which was practised in the
sixteenth century, and carries no advantages over
the longeing rein in common use abroad.

The Single Rein and Cavesson. — The single
rein needs very little description. It is simply a long
rein made either of leather, w^ebbing, or cord, with a
billet at one end. The cavesson is a head-collar with
an iron or steel nose-band covered with leather or
cloth, or a plain leather one, on the front of which
there may be either one or three rings, to which the

226 Modern JRiding and Horse Education

long rein can be attached. The metal nose-band was
introduced to facilitate control of the horse by jerk-
ing the rein and hurting the bridge of his nose. Al-
though it can doubtless be used by an experienced
man without giving unnecessary pain, it is a very
severe instrument. At Saumur I saw some sixty
horses led into the school wearing cavessons. The
reins were certainly only held by grooms, but nearly
every horse flinched occasionally from touches with
the iron nose-band, whilst they were simply being
walked and trotted round. This brought out the
severity of the appliance, as the nose-bands were
covered with felt and fitted closely round the nose
to make them as mild as possible.

The French use the single rein and cavesson with
an iron nose-band for exercising on the longe and
teaching jumping; they claim that its use is more
than justified by the fact that the horse is under com-
plete control without tampering with and perhaps
spoiling his mouth. The Austrians have discarded
it, and, when longeing is necessary, buckle the rein
to a ring in the center of a short connecting-strap
fastened to the rings of the snaffle. In conjunction
with this, side reins attached to the D's on the saddle

Appliances tor Horse-training^ ±2^

are invariably used, and a noseband fastened below
the bit if required. When the longe is employed
for teaching the beginner to ride, the nose-band is
discarded.

Some writers recommend longeing the horse with
the rein attached to one side of the bridle only.
There can be no question that the practice is wrong;
it at once teaches the animal to lean against one side
of the bit and spoils his mouth. Xenophon laid
down that the young horse should never be led with
the hand on one side of the bridle only for the same
reason, and it naturally follows that one-sided longe-
ing is even worse.

The cavesson is certainly of great use for very
young horses, as they are weak, and therefore easy
of control. A thick leather nose-band will then
answer the purpose ; it offers the best means of lead-
ing a young horse about, which is the simplest act
of obedience we can ask of him. It can be used for
schooling a horse over fences, either just as it is or
with the addition of long reins.

Enthusiasts for two reins say that a horse will
never go correctly on a circle on one only, because
the head is pulled in and the quarters driven out-

228 Modern Riding and Horse Education

wards by the whip; this state of affairs is, however,
only arrived at if the horse circles unwillingly and
the whip is used from the center of the circle. The
young horse should never be circled at a trot until
he moves pleasantly at a walk, nor should the canter
be attempted before he goes well on both hands at a
trot ; he will learn the game quickly enough.

Crosstrees are another very old invention, and
are designed for the purpose of securing bearing-
reins and side reins at various heights in dismounted
work. Old-fashioned country trainers, amongst
others, are in the habit of leading colts about with
bearing-reins attached to this appliance ; but as there
is no give and take in the reins the animal eventually
learns to lean on the bit, and his mouth is liable to
be spoiled before he is backed. Rubber reins have
been tried to minimize this evil, but authorities are
not in agreement as to their efficacy. Cesaresco and
Hayes are amongst those who contend that rubber
reins have a diametrically opposite action to that of
good hands. Let us leave it at this : that a bearing-
rein, however made or fixed, can in no way imitate
the salutary " feeling '' of a good pair of hands ;
and let us again repeat, with reference to bearing-

Appliances for Horse-training 229

reins and side reins, that the less the head is forcibly
controlled at this early stage the better. Crosstrees
are only used abroad for Haute Ecole training.

In the event of the horse refusing to lead, two ap-
pliances are suggested — the Crupper Leading-
Rein and the Commanche Bridle.

The crupper leading-rein can be improvised by
making a small loop in the center of a long piece
of rope, which is applied as a crupper, and passing
the two ends through the stirrup-leathers and on
through the headstall just above the nose-band. It
will sometimes be found useful in leading a horse
over small water jumps when other means of getting
him over have failed, for moving an obstinate jibber,
or for boxing a refractory horse.

A description of the Commanche bridle will be
found in Hayes's " Illustrated Horse Breaking " ; its
action gives pain, so that the advantage it offers is
problematical.

Several writers, both English and foreign, have
invented " Strait-jackets " for horses. The prin-
ciple is the same in each case : the horse^s legs are
encircled with a rope at about elbow height, in order
to facilitate handling. The appliance was in use in

^30 Modern Riding and Horse Education

the sixteenth century, but was introduced as new by
M. Raabe (amongst others) compartively recently.
It should never be needed in a country like England,
where horses are bred in domesticity.

The next appliance we come to is the Galvayne
Strap, to connect the head-collar to the horse's tail.
A piece of rope will generally answer the purpose.
When a horse is tied in this manner he can only
move in a circle and soon tires, which makes sub-
jugation simple. Jennings, writing in 1866, men-
tions this as a common practice ; both Galvayne and
Sample are credited with introducing it into Eng-
land, but the idea was not original. Tying the tail-
hairs to the bridle was written about in the sixteenth
century, and doubtless practised long before that
date. It teaches the horse nothing, and its effect is
only temporary; as previously mentioned, the long
reins are useful for gentling when necessary, and if
a horse cannot be disciplined without them he had
better be sold.

Modern authors do not advocate the use of
" Pillars," another appliance consisting of two
posts a short distance apart, between which the
horse is placed and attached by the reins. They

o

u

U

Appliances for Horse- training^ 231

have been a great deal used in the past, not only for
Haute Ecole work, but for getting the horse's
hocks under him by driving him up to the bit with a
whip. They are used in France now to train " Sau-
teurs," and in France and Austria to train Haute
Ecole horses in exercises such as the " cour-
bette" (Plate XXI) and the ** croupade " (Plate
XXH). The originator of the idea seems to have
been Eumenes, who when besieged at the fort
of Nora by Antigonus, bridled his horses in the sta-
ble and attached the reins to pulleys in the roof, and
requisitioned people to lash them with whips from
behind. He thus gave them exercise, and taught
them to what Berenger calls " yerk " out behind,
the consequence being that when the siege was raised
his horses wxre in condition and fit for service in the
field.

A Neapolitan named Pignatelli is credited with
the invention of pillars. He was the most famous
horseman of his time, and published a work called
" Ludus Equestris " in 1520. Two pupils of Pigna-
telli's named Broue and Pluvinel first introduced
the pillars into France, and until the time of Bour-
gelat (1750) they appear to have been in general

232 Modern Riding and Horse Education

use abroad. Bourgelat, whose prestige and in-
fluence carried great weight in the horse world,
would have none of them, asserting that the rider's
legs were the best pillars.

The Single Pillar, much favored by the first
Duke of Newcastle, was employed for the same '
purposes as the double pillars, but according to his-
tory it was never popular, as it only served to
fatigue and harass the horse. In Australia they tie
the freshly-caught horse to a tree with tackle he
cannot break, as his first lesson in submission, and
the single pillar was used for a like end. In Amer-
ica it is well named the ^' snubbing post."

The Rarey Strap. — Rarey, a farmer from
Ohio, came to England in 1856 to give practical
demonstrations of his new method of taming and
training horses. Subscribers anxious to know his
secret and to be shown his appliances presented him
with over £15,000. He had come to tell them how
to strap a horse's leg up and throw him. The secre-
tary of the first subscription list naively remarked
that Rarey had reinvented what was known some
fifty years before, and he might have added, some
hundreds of years ago. Amongst others, Mr. Browne

Appliances for Horse-training 233

(1624) gives a drawing of a horse with his leg tied
up for the purpose of subjugation, and Hayes tells
us that Rarey's methods are clearly shown in the
collection of Graeco-Scythic art in St. Petersburg.
Shortly before Rarey's arrival in England one
Frank Holding appears to have practised something
of the same sort. No special straps are necessary
for tying up a horse's foreleg; it can be done with
a stirrup-leather. The result of doing so is that in
time the horse gets tired out from standing on three
legs, and horse trainers should bear this in mind,
not for general use, but to deal with exceptional
cases. Captain Morley Knight (author of " Hints
on Driving") gives it as a cure for jibbing in
harness.

There are several different kinds of Throwing
Gear, but most horses can be taught to lie down in
the following manner : —

Strap up the near fore with a stirrup leather,
taking care that the buckle is on the inside, and that
the foot, when held up, is outside the horse's fore-
arm. Take a long leather strap with a loop at the
end, and tie it round the off fore-pastern. Stand
on the near side of the horse, holding the end of the

234 Modern Riding and Horse Education

strap in the hand, and tap the horse gently on the
off fore just below the knee. Then pull at the strap,
saying " Down ! " at the same time : the horse will
soon learn to go down on his knees and lie down as
he does in the stable.

To throw a horse without any special appliance,
act as follows : —

Strap up the near fore as before. Standing on
the near side, take up both reins in the left hand,
the right rein shorter so as to bend the horse's head
to the right ; place the left hand on the withers and
catch hold of the back part of the saddle with the
right; then with both hands put a little weight on
to the horse and pull slightly backwards: he will
go down, but not always without a struggle, and as
often as not his hind-quarters will touch ground
first. This method, which is given in the Cavalry
Manual 1907, is best kept for a punishment.

Between the stockyards in Australia there is
often a narrow, high-railed passage ; when the horse
enters it the doors are let down in front of and
behind him, and he can be head-collared and
handled at will. This contrivance is called a Crush,

Appliances for Horse-training 235

and is extremely useful in dealing with untamed
animals.

Sample patented a revolving box or Cage, to
subdue wild horses in ; it was not a success.

The Iron-pointed Pole and the Hand-spur
were employed in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries to teach horses the " courbette " and
" croupade," and a plain ash-pole has frequently
been in use with which to stroke down a horse that
was too wild to approach. Galvayne calls it a
" third hand."

The Longeing Whip, which should be made light
enough for one-handed work, should generally be
carried when long-rein driving, but the less it is
used the better. Riding masters in the old days,
w^hen instructing a ride of recruits, were fond of
using the " chambriere," as it is called in the school,
and did a great deal of harm with it. It frightened
the pupil when his horse was hit, and it alarmed
the horses in the ride so much that many would not
leave the side of the school for fear of it.

The Rope Gag or Twitch is an old invention,
and can either be made of a halter or with a piece
of rope. The gag can be applied under the upper

236 Modern Riding and Horse Education

lip or in the mouth. It has the great advantage over
the ordinary twitch that pain need only be inflicted
on the animal at the necessary moment; with the
ordinary twitch it is of course constant. The ap-
pliance may sometimes be useful for disciplinary
purposes when other measures have failed.

The Austrian Nose-band, or Wischzaum,
which is attached below the bit, and is supposed to
have been brought out by von Oeynhausen, author
of several works on equine matters, is In constant
use in Austrian and German training schools. It is
undoubtedly the best form of nose-band for training
purposes when the employment of any is indicated.
Any sort of fixed nose-band, if tight, carries with it
the following disadvantage, v/hich is clearly brought
out by Cesaresco, namely, that it impedes the move-
ment of the lower jaw and thus partially stops the
flow of saliva. Salivation is like oil to machinery,
and prevents the mouth from becoming irritated.
The nose-band certainly increases the power of the
hands.

The Bearing-rein, either over-head or ordinary,
can be attached to the saddle for mounted work : its
disadvantages have already been dealt with.

Appliances for Horse-training 237

The Running-rein was another apphance much
favored in the latter part of the eighteenth and the
commencement of the nineteenth centuries, Tyndale
(1797) assuring us that it was an excellent contri-
vance for raising and placing a horse's head when
he carried it too low, whereas Skeene (1807) ad-
vised it for the exact opposite. We learn from me-
chanics that, putting friction aside, the running-rein
doubles the power of the rider's hands, and however
useful on occasion this may be on a made horse, the
principle is fundamentally wrong for the making of
his mouth. It should be the trainer's aim gradually
to make the colt respond to the slightest touch of the
reins, and not to haul at an improvised system of
pulley.

Martingales are of two sorts, running and
standing ; opinions are more divided on the value of
this appliance than on that of any other. Some
fine cross-country riders will seldom be without a
standing martingale on practically every horse, and
amongst these may be mentioned Colonel Rivers
Bulkeley, the late Empress of Austria's hunting
pilot. We may take it as an axiom that some
horses are so constructed about the head and neck

238 Modern Riding and Horse Education

that in spite of any amount of training, absolute
control and perfect guidance can only be assured
by the use of the martingale, and that the running
one, when properly fitted, interferes in no way with
the horse's ordinary movements and is therefore
harmless. When, however, it comes to tying the
animal's head down so that he cannot freely use it
for balance, and then asking him to move on any-
thing but level ground, we are, theoretically at any
rate, working him under disadvantageous con-
ditions.

The advantages of the Cane over the whip have
been dealt with in the section on the whip; and the
Hand-spur has been mentioned earlier in this one.

Two Hand-whips have been used by one man in
working horses on foot and mounted, and the idea
has been reintroduced by several authors. The first
Duke of Newcastle used them in conjunction with
the single pillar for teaching Haute Ecole riding,
and in the sixteenth century they were held one in
each hand for mounted training work. Hayes re-
introduced them for this purpose. I can see no ob-
ject in using them for either purpose.

I wish as much as possible to avoid going over

Appliances for Horse-training 239

old ground, and do not therefore intend to enter
fully into the big subject of Bits, which Dwyer
has treated scientifically in his work " Seats and
Saddles," should the reader care to turn to it.
Faulty methods of training must to a great extent
be held responsible for the many bits now on sale,
but compared with those of one hundred years ago
they are, generally speaking, mild. Doubtless we
must thank hunting for this. Excepting for flat-
racing, and for hunting in most parts of Ireland,
we may take it that the ordinary double bridle is
serviceable enough, and, as Head has it, the
smoother the bit the more willingly will the animal
submit to it. A thick leather strap may often with
advantage be substituted for the curb-chain. A
good rider on a well-balanced horse will probably
require no special bit, unless the animal has ac-
quired the habit of getting his tongue over it, but
the common gag is a most useful bit for re-training
a " spoilt " horse who carries his head too low.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was ad-
vocated for the purpose of raising all young horses'
heads, apparently whether they needed it or not.
In 1832 Don Juan Segundo issued a pamphlet on

240 Modern Riding and Horse Education

bits, and in it asserted that a great many horses
were set aside in our Cavalry as having lost all
feeling in their mouths. That they were unfit for
use he put down entirely to the imperfection of the
regulation bit. Colonel Taylor, who then com-
manded the Cavalry Riding Establishment at Can-
terbury, agreed with Segundo, and recommended
the following issue of 105 bits per squadron of
100 horses : —

5 for very hard mouths ;

45 for hard mouths;

25 for good mouths;

8 for very tender mouths;

12 for star-gazers;

10 for borers.

No more severe indictment could have been
framed on the horsemanship and training of the
day, but we must not forget that the straight-legged
seat was then" the rule, and that more often than
not the horse had to balance the rider at the expense
of his own balance. I must again repeat that
the conditions were altogether different from those
obtaining on the Plains of America, where riding

Appliances for Horse-training 241

in this fashion was usually a habit acquired in early-
youth.

And here let me beg the reader not to bind him-
self to the iron rule that a horse should do every-
thing perfectly on a snaffle before ever a double
bridle is put into his mouth. When once he under-
stands the meaning of the bridle the rider must
use his discretion; the ill-balanced horse will often
" make " more quickly in a double bit and finish
with a better mouth if it is used judiciously.

It has not been altogether pleasant to write about
appliances, as it has been necessary to speak lightly
of many which have been used successfully by
masters of the equine world. These men often had
to deal with wild and almost untamable animals,
such as we fortunately meet with but rarely now, at
any rate in England.

If the horse has been properly handled at first,
and comes into a trainer's hands who is a good
horseman and knows his work, all the appliances he
is likely to use are a saddle, a snaffle, a double
bridle, a cane stick, and possibly spurs.

XX

EARIiY DATS

XX

EARLY DAYS

" Horses are taught not by harshness but by gentleness,"

Xenophon.

"The grand thing is to get rid of dogged sulks and coltishness— of
that wayward, swerving, hesitating gait, which says, ' Here's my foot,
and there's my foot,* or ' There is a lion in the street and I cannot go
forth ! ' " Greenwood.

T^REQUENT handling from foalhood onwards
is of the first importance. A horse is not
conscious of his own powers until he gets the better
of his trainer, and the best way to keep him ignorant
of them is to teach him to obey when he is young and
weak. The Arab has always led the way in this
early education. His horse is brought up with his
children and is spoken to as if he were a human
being. Countries such as Norway, where the se-
verity of the climate obliges the farmer to house
his ponies during the winter, follow the Arab's lead
to a certain extent, and much less difficulty is ex-
perienced when serious training commences ; but up

245

246 Modern Riding and Horse Education

to the beginning of the nineteenth century the
remainder of Europe paid very little attention to
the early handling of horses, and most people in
England are still much behindhand in the matter.
Doubtless the openness of the country, which ad-
mitted of the colt running practically wild, in-
creased the difficulties in days gone by.

The evils resulting from the neglect of early
handling in the past induced trainers to try to over-
come them by cruelty to the horse. Starving, the
twitch, bleeding, tying the tail down, putting shot
into the ears, drugging, and sewing the ears
together were amongst the tortures resorted to to
obtain mastery. The Duke of Newcastle, though
he did not advocate sucH practices, wrote that " the
horse is such a cunning creature in his opposition
to man that he should be ruled by fear."

Nolan, quoting from a work published in 1664,
gives an example of how equine intelligence and
friendship to man were treated three hundred years
ago. A Neapolitan called Pietro, who possessed a
pony that would lie down, kneel and perform other
tricks at his bidding, was burnt with his pony after
giving a performance at Aries, the people being

Early Days 247

convinced that both man and animal were in league
with the evil one. Early association should spell
early friendship ; and a young horse must be treated
with the same care and gentleness as a child, always
remembering that both must be subject to correc-
tion, and this policy towards him will allow of his
mind being developed to the best advantage.

Time is a great consideration to the small Eng^
lish horsebreeder ; but he does not labor under the
same disadvantages as did his ancestors. Odd mo-
ments spent in the pleasant occupation of gentling
the colt will save much anxiety and some loss from
lameness and accidents, which often result from
keeping " wild " colts on the farm. The Irishman
is a long way ahead of the Englishman in this
respect. It is at this stage that the single long rein
and leather cavesson are invaluable. The young
horse should be led about, and should be allowed,
in Rarey's words, to " see, smell, and touch with
the nose " anything that is strange to him. If this
is carefully carried out he should never become
that abomination to either the rider or the driver, a
shyer. If the colt is really afraid of anything that
he meets, and which is moving towards him, turn

248 Modern Riding and Horse Education

his head away from it and look away from it your-
self. The last point is most important; when the
colt discovers that the object of his distrust does
not hurt him and that his trainer takes no notice
of it, he will soon learn to let it pass him, either
when he is on the move or is standing still and
facing it. Shyers are manufactured by being seized
by the head and made to face objects w^hich are
strange to them.

With infinite patience the colt should be taught
to stand still, to move forward, and to come to the
trainer when called. He should learn to lift his
legs in turn, so that the first visit to the blacksmith's
shop will not come as a surprise. Hand feeding
with sugar and other delicacies promotes early
friendship, and what Cesaresco calls '' caresses on
the eyes and occiput " produce a soothing and mag-
netic effect.

Dodge gives us a delightful picture of the perfect
methods of kindness obtaining at Governor Leland
Stanford's farm at Palo Alto. Anybody ill-treating
the horses was instantly dismissed; but the colts
were early given a respect for authority, and were

Early Days 249

not allowed to " fool " when they were being
handled.

In his third year the youngster should be made to
carry about a sack with a certain weight in it, and
should be taught to take the bit, and, if intended
for a hunter, to negotiate small jumps at liberty. A
colt thus handled should give the trainer no trouble
when he has to mount him, and he will not, as Mr.
Browne wrote, " have to venture in God's name to
put over his leg," as if he were undertaking some-
thing altogether too perilous.

Good large runs on undulating pasture and in-
cluding a certain amount of rough ground are every-
thing to the youngster, and teach him to use his
hocks and shoulders. Animals reared in small flat
paddocks, as are so many of our thoroughbreds,
start their education at a disadvantage from the
point of view of general utility.

At Elvaston Castle, jumping-lanes (Plate
XXIII), with obstacles suited to the ages of the
young ones, connect Lord Harrington's paddocks
with the night sheds. When the colts are released
in the morning they reach the paddocks by way of
the jumping-lanes, and it is a pretty sight to see each

250 ModernRiding and Horse Education

lot, according to age, bunch themselves together and
go over their course. These young horses require
very little schooling over fences when serious work
commences.

XXI

FURTHER TRAINING

XXI

FURTHER TRAINING

■'<, so is my horse ;

It is a creature that I train to fight,
To wind, to stop, to run directly on,
His corporal motion governed by my spirit."

— Shakesfkake, /u/tus C(Esar.

IV/TANY writers give us the time in years or
months which the training of a horse occu-
pies, some even stating the exact number of days
required, varying from seventy-five to one. De
Mauleon, in his " Methode de Dressage," says that
he has been able to break four horses in one day,
to obey all the aids and go in harness. I feel per-
sonally unable to make any pronouncement on the
subject, or even to recommend any particular course
of lessons for a young horse; the length of time
must vary according as the animal is well built,
and therefore perfectly balanced, or the reverse.
It must, however, be harmful to hurry any young

horse's education. Other points to be weighed in

253

254 Modern Riding and Horse Education

assessing the necessary time are the character of
the trainer, the disposition of the horse, his age, and
his fitness for the work in hand.

The personal element is the leading factor in
horse training. One of the best trainers I ever saw,
though he rode " well enough," was by no means a
fine horseman. Yet he had " a way with him,"
and always seemed to follow the least line of resist-
ance by instinct; he was friends with a difficult
horse in a very short time and a " kind " one under-
stood him at once.

There are many systems advocated for horse
training, yet none of these holds the field, which I
believe to be simply for the above reason, namely,
that the personal factor is supreme, and that as long
as the man has an intimate knowledge of horses
and what they should do and and be w^hen he has
finished with them, he will train them as perfectly
as circumstances permit on any system, modifying
his procedure to suit individual cases.

English and American horses certainly have char-
acters, and the better they are bred the more marked
will these be. General Brocklehurst, master of the
Cottesmore hounds, writes to me that the best com-

Further Training 25S

pliment he ever heard paid to English and Irish hor-
ses came from Mr. Blackman, the dealer in Knights-
bridge (London), who remarked that he bought
Continental carriage horses by preference, because
when he got two animals alike in color, shape, and
action he had a pair, whereas two perfectly, matched
English or Irish horses would probably turn out to
be utterly unlike in character and it would be use-
less to put them together.

There are, however, certain general principles
now followed by all scientific modern trainers,
namely :

That free forward movement should be the first
aim of the trainer; this is the easiest exercise for
the horse and the least trying to his temper. He
thus learns to accustom himself to the new condi-
tions (i. e., carrying a weight above and behind his
center of gravity) in the easiest possible manner,
and acquires freedom of action at the same time,
before any interference wnth his movements can
have put him in any doubt as to what his rider re-
quires of him. Good fast walkers are not as com-
mon as they should be, and one of the reasons for
this may well be that in their anxiety for results

256 Modern Riding and Horse Education

trainers generally try collected work too soon when
the horse is mounted.

Another principle is that the animal must be
taught to move his neck forward as well as back-
ward at the will of his rider, or he will not answer
to the term " balanced." He must learn to break
into a canter or gallop from a walk, to jump freely,
to collect himself suddenly, and to turn on his
hocks. This may be termed the second part of his
training, in which the correct and frequent use of
the leg in combination with the lightest of hands is
everything. Theoretical knowledge, though essen-
tial if the trainer is to achieve success in this second
part, is useless without practical experience. A
corollary to this second principle is that the horse
must learn to answer at once to the bridle without
either fighting it or running back from it. A third
principle is that the animal must never be overtired ;
a *' stale " horse can learn nothing.

Some experts advise beginning the work on foot,
teaching the horse to answer first to a snafile and
then to a double bit by holding the reins above the
withers. When necessary they employ a second
man to stand behind the horse with a long whip in

Further Training 257

order to prevent him from " running back from the
bridle." The meaning of the leg is taught at the
same time by taps with a cane on the animal's side.
As long as this method is confined to teaching him
the meaning of the bridle it answers well.

Baucher, the great master of Haute Ecole, in-
troduced a system of training on foot the basis of
which was to supple the horse's head and neck in
such a manner that when first mounted he would
move collectedly. Fillis, a disciple of Baucher*s,
improved upon the latter's methods by insisting on
a higher, though still a practically perpendicular
carriage of the head. The two main features of the
system advocated by these high-school riders may
be classed under the heads of direct fiexion, i. e.,
bending the horse's head in towards his chest, and
lateral flexion, '%. e., bending the upper part of the
neck from one side to the other. I have endeavored
to show in the section on " What to Teach " how
the general utility of the animal will suffer if we
train him to adopt an unnatural profile — that is to
say, to move with his neck arched and his nose
tucked in to an exaggerated extent, and would here
warn the reader who wishes to use direct flexion that

258 Modern Riding and Horse Education

he should do very httle of it, and that only in the
second stage of the horse's education.

Baucher worked at direct flexion with the horse
stationary at first and then reining back; FiUis in-
sisted that the horse should move forward during
the whole of every lesson. His methods, which are
more complicated than Baucher's, require some ex-
planation. Both reins of the snaffle are held in the
right hand under the horse's chin, and a whip is
held in the left hand. The horse's head is pushed
upwards and forwards as he moves on, the whip
being used when necessary. The exercise must at
first be carried out at the side of a school or wall,
or the animal will not be under control. When the
horse walks freely in this manner, the snaffle reins
are held in front and close to the nose in the left
hand, and the curb reins behind the chin on the right.
The horse is then pulled forward by the left hand
and his nose kept in by the right, an assistant using
the whip when necessary in rear. This exercise,
which Baucher carried out with the horse station-
ary, is intended to supple the lower jaw as w^ell as
the neck.

The object of lateral flexion is to train the horse

Further Training 250

when ridden to maintain a high carriage of the
head in turning and circHng, and to incHne it in the
direction in which he is moving. It is taught by
raising the horse's head and pulHng it round from
side to side. Enthusiasts claim that no horse will
turn properly unless he has been through a course
of this exercise, but we may take it that this bigoted
view will not stand examination ; most of us having
ridden extremely handy animals whose trainers
had never so much as heard the word flexion.

The great objection to specifying any length of
time for w^orking on foot is that we are not giving
the horse any lesson in his most important duty,
which is to balance himself with a weight on his
back, although having learnt to move bridled with
his head high will eventually make this easier for
him; nor are we taking any steps to develop the
muscles that are needed for carrying weight. The
whip, even in the hands of an expert, cannot have
the same educational value as the application of the
leg.

If the trainer works mounted, he can raise the
horse's head by raising his hands and pressing with
his legs, and if it is required he can bring the nose

200 Modern Riding and Horse Education

in by holding the snaffle-rein high and the curb low.

It is as well to work the colt by himself;^ he
will pay more attention to the trainer, and it is not
easy to get good work out of a " difficult " horse
unless he is alone. This results not only from the
imitativeness of all young things and their interest
in what is being done by others, but also from the
gregariousness which is one of the strongest natural
characteristics of the equine race, and which prompts
its members to seek their fellows' company and to
shun independent action. For this reason, when it
is necessary to work young horses together they
should never be allowed to follow each other closely.

When the horse is first mounted, which should be
done with the greatest care, he should be led
along by a man on foot; if he shows any disin-
clination to move forward he should be turned
either to the right or to the left : everything should
be done to keep on friendly terms with him. As de

^ The Italians and the Boers couple the young horse to an old one
by means of a rope or a strong leather strap. This is attached to
both headstalls, the horses' heads being about a yard apart. This
procedure is only admissible when the young horse comes " wild "
into the trainer's hands, which is often the case both in Italy and
South Africa,

Further Training 261

Mauleon remarks, if he will not do a thing in one
way, another should be tried. The horse should be
led by a head-collar, and not by the bridle, and as
soon as he goes quietly he should be let go, the man
continuing to walk by him for a time. He should
now be given full liberty of rein, and encouraged
to " walk out " before it is attempted to make him.
go light in front, which cannot be done without the
help of the bridle.

When trotting lessons are begun one important
point should be borne in mind if equal work is to
be done by the horse's hind legs. The Germans lay
great stress on this distribution of work for long-
distance riding; and amongst Frenchmen, Captain
Caubert, in his deep and scientific work " Du Cheval
bien mu et bien mis," goes very fully into it. I will
endeavor to explain it as simply as possible.

When a horse trots, his near fore and off hind
strike the ground at the same time and znce versa.
In rising to the trot, the rider's weight is always
lifted out of the saddle by the straightening of one
particular hock. This in time becomes stiff and
tired, unless the rider occasionally allows himself to
bump twice instead of once in the saddle and shifts

262 Modern Riding and Horse Education

the work on to the horse's other hind leg-, which will
greatly relieve the animal and enable him to travel
further without distress.

Opinions differ as to when a horse should be
taught to rein back. The exercise forms part of
every trainer's curriculum, but Fillis, and de Lisle
(who follows his methods), would leave it until the
rest of the training is completed, whilst other ex-
perts would commence with it. Fillis says that
backing a horse has the effect of putting his hind
legs further away from him, but this is not the fact
if the animal is made to rein back with his head up.
De Lisle says that reining back may make a horse
chary of facing the bit, but many masters of the
" great saddle," who rode in terribly severe bits,
and demanded great flexion at the poll, do not seem
to have been troubled in this respect. Doubtless
the horse can be " made " whichever course the
reader may wish to pursue; the following advan-
tages, however, are derived from early instruction
in this exercise. It is the best lesson for teaching
a horse to get back on his hocks, and to turn on
them, which cannot be done without weighting the
pivot; the retrograde movements of the hind legs

Further Training 263

strengthen important muscles of the back and loins,
and as a preparation for the canter and for jumping
it will often be found extremely useful. My ex-
perience goes to prove that if a horse is kind and
willing it is unwise to forego these benefits, which
are so valuable to the trainer.

It is as well to give the first few Ies§ons in reining
back on foot, the horse^s head being at first held low
in order to lighten his quarters; if he shows any
marked disinclination to move, the trainer should
tread on each of his fore fetlocks in turn (FilHs).
It is not an uncommon thing to see a trainer in
diflRculties with a young horse the first time he tries
to rein him back mounted, which is easily explained.
Not only has the horse to lift his hind legs while
bearing an unaccustomed weight, but this weight is
increased by the animal's head being held high.

When the horse has learnt to carry himself
lightly at a walk and a trot he must be taught to
passage and turn on his hocks. It is advisable to
begin these exercises dismounted and to use a cane
as a substitute for the leg. This is diametrically
opposed to the teaching of Hayes, who would have
turning on the hind legs taught last, but I maintain

264 Modern Riding and Horse Education

that it is correct. Turning in this manner is not
only the most useful one for the rider, as the horse
pivots on the point of the turn, but when once
learnt it is the safest and easiest for the horse, and
is a good lesson in balance. Hayes seems to have
been opposed to it because he thought it likely to
irritate the horse in the early days of his training,
but by exercising great patience and gentleness the
trainer must prevent this. The polo pony is, of
course, useless unless he can turn on his quarters
at a gallop, and every other riding horse is safer
when he can do the same.

The animal must learn to pivot on every leg, but
it comes natural to him to turn on his forehand
unless he is in a confined space; he therefore re-
quires more teaching to swing on his hocks. The
trainer should make use of the inclination of the
body to " fix " the pivot.

Unless they are moving on a circle all horses when
cantering have a leading or favorite leg like human
beings : they should be taught to go on either, and to
change the leading leg readily either at the will of
the rider or when circumstances dictate it ; it is, for
instance, unsafe if a cantering horse suddenly goes

Further Training 265

from a right-hand circle to a left-hand one and does
not at once change legs and lead with the inner one,
as he is liable to cross his legs and come down. It
will be necessary to decide on the quickest and best
way of accomplishing this important part of the
horse's education. He may be taught either to
strike off on a particular leg when given certain
indications, and thus be made handy on both, or he
may be worked on the circle with the awkward leg
leading, the circle being gradually enlarged until he
gets into the way of using this leg on the straight,
after which it will be easy to teach him to change.

Having got the animal to canter on either leg, he
may soon be taught to change legs by the movement
of the rider's body, by working him on a large fig-
ure-of-eight. Let us, for example, take it that we
are riding on the first circle to the right; at the point
where we wish to enter the second circle the body
should be swung to the left, and at the same time
the right rein and right leg applied. The horse
should be given a good kick with the right heel, and
if this does not have the required effect he should
be sharply rapped on the right side with the cane.
Very soon the indications given by the hand and leg

266 Modern Riding and Horse Education

can be dispensed with. This system of training is
carried out to perfection at the Messrs. Miller's
school at Rugby. Care must be taken that the move-
ment of the body is not exaggerated, or the horse
will lose his balance and will change in front only
instead of in front and behind. The figure-of-eight
should not be attempted until the horse canters
collectedly.

The aid and indications given at the end of the
instructional exercises must be amplified according
to the nature of the horse under training; for ex-
ample, a well-balanced, keen animal will not re-
quire the hand and leg work that will be necessary
on an ill-balanced slug.

Both hands may have to be raised ^ to make a
horse " stop " in a collected manner, but I am loath
to lay down any definite rules to suit all horses. If
the trainer will keep in his mind's eye the fact that
when a horse is finished he must be able to answer
to the aid and the indications given in the instruc-
tional exercises, he is better left to his own manner
of arriving at the result, always providing that he
has a thorough knowledge of the business.

* Some writers say that you should lower both hands.

Further Training 267

On the European Continent great stress is laid
on the physical training of the horse, for the pur-
pose of ensuring all-round and even muscular devel-
opment. Without question the principle is sound,
and the trainer should carry it out by systematic-
ally practising circles, turns, passaging, and reining-
back, as soon as his charge is sufficiently advanced.
No lesson should be abandoned because it is learnt.
Jumping, either at liberty or mounted, is the best
possible exercise for all-round physical develop-
ment.

ment. Some of the jumps should be broad, in
order to oblige the horse to use his shoulders freely.
If he does nothing but collected work and high jump-
ing he is likely to lose his full powers of extension,
however much these may have been developed in
the early stages of his education.

XXII

JX7UFING

XXII

JUMPING

" She shortened her long stroke, she pricked her sharp ears,

She flung it behind her ^Yith hardly a rap "

Lindsay Gordon.

TF a horse has had the advantage of a jumping-
lane education in early youth, a Hght-weight can
ride him over low obstacles at once, and very little
trouble will be found in turning him out as good a
fencer as his make and disposition will allow of, if
his mouth is not ill-treated during the process.
" Natural fencers " are often spoken of, but it may
be taken that such horses have jumped in early colt-
hood for pleasure, or, if they come from Ireland,
have learnt to do so for the purpose of getting from
field to field on a farm; the animal that has never
had any opportunity of practising fencing until he is
four or five years old requires schooling. I do not
agree with Whyte Melville that not one hunter in

fifty really likes jumping, and believe that many

271

272 Modern Riding and Horse Education

enjoy it if not jobbed in the mouth and given too
much of the exercise.

The beginner must be taught to stand off and
jump well out. Getting too much under the fence
and landing on his shoulders are faults which are
very common in the young horse. For this reason
the first few lessons should be over an obstacle that
is broad at the top; either two hurdles bunched
together of the sort shown in Fig. 5 or the trunk of
a large tree, the latter having the advantage that a
horse will never try to go through it. The young-
ster should not be allowed to jump fast, whether he
is worked on foot or ridden, until he has learnt to
get his hocks well under him. Many people com-
mence with a single rail. Dick Christian (born
1779), a celebrated trainer of hunters, always did
this, but I am inclined to believe that it is not the
shortest way to the end in view, for reasons that I
have given above.

The trainer may well begin on foot, and use
any of the appliances already mentioned; excellent
results can, however, be obtained in a school without
them. Lead the horse up to the obstacle and jump
it yourself alongside of him; after a few times it

Jumping 273

will be found that he will jump by merely being led
up to the fence, the reins in this case being knotted
to shorten them and left on the animal's neck. A
mouthful of corn or a carrot should be the reward
for each performance.

As soon as the horse jumps readily with a man on
his back, wings should be dispensed with. This is
important, as the horse is thus taught that he must
take the place selected by his rider, and that he is
under complete control. After a sound preparation,
there is no better practice for the young horse than
taking him slowly across country, at first over gaps,
then over low fences ; and if some of them have a
bad take-off, so much the better.

To make the animal safe and certain over timber
and water requires systematic training, too often
neglected in England, to the detriment of the horse's
market value. It has always seemed to me that the
difficulty timber presents to a young horse is owing
to the fact that the lowest bar is some way off the
ground, so that he finds nothing to guide him in
taking off when he looks down to measure the dis-
tance. I have discovered that commencing with a
guard-rail in front of the obstacle overcomes the

274 Modern Riding and Horse Educatioii

difficulty, the rail being placed nearer and nearer to
the jump as he becomes accustomed to it, and eventu-
ally removed. As far as water is concerned, hunters
often make a great fuss about less than six feet of
it, a width they could cover in their stride without
effort. The brook or ditch cannot be too small, or
be ridden at too slowly to begin with; it is every-
thing to establish the animal's confidence at once,
and the pace should be gradually increased as the
width of the obstacle grows. Should the youngster
refuse even to approach water, he should be led up
to it with a crupper leading-rein.

I am a believer in teaching young horses to jump
wire, not necessarily for after use, but by w^ay of
giving them a good eye for measuring distance. I
only know of one disadvantage to the practice,
which is that if a horse gets tied up in wire it
frightens him considerably, but a good deal of ex-
perience has convinced me that the effects are not
lasting, and he quickly learns to regard this class
of obstacle with respect. For instructional purposes
it can be made in the following manner. Two up-
rights fixed on to heavy stands are drilled to take
three or four strands of wire and placed at a suit-

Jumping 275

able distance apart. The wires are run through the
posts and terminate in weights to keep them taut,
which should hang low enough to allow of a certain
amount of play if the horse hits the wire. The top
strand rests on deeply-grooved pulleys on the top of
each post, and should also be w^eighted. The jump
should be low at first, and if two or three sticks are
twisted in and out of the strands in an upright
position the horse will be assisted in measuring the
obstacle until he comes to understand its nature.
I have conclusively proved that any riding horse
worthy of the name can be taught to jump wire.

I strongly advocate sending young horses to the
covert-side a few times before even asking them
to follow hounds ; in this way they will more easily
learn to stand still and not fidget. . When entered to
real hunting they should be taken straight away to
the front and kept there if possible, to prevent their
being demoralized by seeing refusals in front of
them; this should be quite practicable if the pre-
liminary training has been thorough.

Show jumping is a special business, which found
but little favor in England before the days of the
International Horse Show. It is true that jumping

276 Modern Riding and Horse Education

competitions have been held for some years at most
of the agricuhural shows, but the successful horses
have generally done little else from year to year
but travel round the country picking up money
prizes, and few boita fide hunters have competed.
Without arguing at length the practical educational
value of making a horse into a show-jumper, I
would ask the reader whether he w^ould care to ride
a hunter who was in possession of the fact that every
fence in the country could be chanced with impunity.
That the show- jumper is aware of it when he per-
forms in the ring was well illustrated during the
first few days especially of the 1909 International
Horse Show at Olympia (London). Had the fences
been solid there would, without exaggeration, have
been at least a hundred falls a day, and some of
them really dangerous ones. It is true that most
of the foreign animals entered were said to be
" cross-country " horses, but this nearly always
means that they can negotiate a course of made
fences, which much experience has taught them the
evil effects of chancing.

At San Sebastian (Spain) later in the year the
jumps were of a different caliber, and although in

Jumping 277

some cases fantastic and unnatural many of them
could not be chanced. The chief obstacle in the
course was a combination of high bank and fly-
fence with a ditch. The competitor had first to
jump the fence and then the ditch on to a sloping
bank ten feet high. After scrambling up this bank
he was confronted with a four-foot ledge and then
another ten-foot bank. The top was about eight
feet broad and an almost perpendicular drop of
nearly twenty feet completed a very formidable ob-
stacle, which taxed the pluck and tendons of the
horses very highly.

Height and not length has till recently been the
usual characteristic of the obstacles at International
horse shows, and to jump height the animal must
learn to be an excellent judge of where to take off,
and must get right back on his hocks before he does
so. One of the best trick-jumpers I ever saw would
always refuse if he did not get into his proper
stride, sooner than go through the fence; yet
although he refused, he was quite ready to have
another try without any punishment or coercion.
It was palpable that he refused in the same way as

278 Modern Riding and Horse Education

a man who stops when he has misjudged his run
at a high jump.

Some horses require to be put back on their hocks,
and jump better in a double bit ; others, Hke the cele-
brated " All Fours," collect themselves of their
own accord and perform best with a slack rein : they
can see what they are doing and measure their dis-
tance better with their heads free.

A placid disposition is a valuable asset in a show-
jumper; the education can scarcely fail to irritate
many temperaments. Both horse and man require
special training. The man must, amongst other
things, learn to lean well forward on landing, and
the horse's training must be of tvv'O sorts. Firstly,
continual up-and-down-hill work — the steeper the
better — at first at a walk and then at a canter, for
the purpose of muscle development. This can be ob-
tained by continual jumping, but it is apt to sicken
the horse and make him shin-sore. Secondly, special
training in high jumping over those fancy obstacles
which are never met with out of the show-ring. The
difficulty of teaching high jumping is that it must, if
possible, be done without giving the horse falls, as
in coming down from a height of, say, six feet, he

.^1

X
Is

Jumping 279

is very apt to hurt himself; I have seen more than
one injured shoulder from this cause.

One way to set about it is to have a man at eacli
end holding the bar on the rests, or a second bar
maintained at the same height, and to jump the
horse firstly at liberty and then with a man on his
back. If he clears the bar well, the men holding it
should do nothing, but if it is a near thing they
should endeavor to jerk the bar up and down again,
so as to rap the horse on the fetlocks. It is not a
very difficult thing to do with a little practice. In at
least one country abroad where they are famous for
their high jumpers, it is not an uncommon practice
to cover the bar with leather containing sharp tacks,
point outwards. This plan is more effective and
does not make refusers, but it is barbarous, and we
may be thankful that it is unlawful in England.
The bar is, of course, let go by the holders if the
horse is likely to fall from jumping too low.

Some horses are cunning enough quickly to as-
sociate the presence of the men in the vicinity of the
jump with the correction of the bar, and will imme-
diately chance the fence if they are absent. This
difficulty can be overcome if the bar is worked by

28o Modern Riding and Horse Education

pulleys and ropes from a distance, as is now almost
invariably done on the Continent. The pulleys are
attached to strong upright posts at each end of the
fence, and the pole is sunk slightly below its top,
in such a manner as to be invisible from the taking-
off side.

The disadvantage of the above method of training
is that the effect is seldom lasting, and that the pun-
ishment— such as it is — must often be administered.
A horse remembers a fall at a natural fence and dis-
likes it extremely, and he generally takes every care
that it shall not happen again if he can help it. But
if the obstacles are fancy ones, he seems instinctively
to know exactly what may be chanced and what may
not. This was w^ell illustrated at the International
Horse Show of 1909, where the walls, although col-
lapsible, had a solid appearance and did not fall at
a mere touch, being accordingly treated with greater
respect than any other obstacles in the ring.

The piano jump, three rails in a line, and other
special obstacles must be made small at first, or when
necessary only half put up, and the horse sent over
them with nobody on his back until he understands
what is required of him.

Jumping 281

Training the horse to go down what is almost a
precipice, a special feature of Italian show riding,
must be taught by degrees, the pace of the horse
and the slope and length of the declivity being in-
creased as the horse gets accustomed to balancing
himself. The Italians have now trained their horses
to go up a steep narrow bank, jump a wall on top,
and then immediately descend a steep incline. This
sounds alarming, but to a great extent careful train-
ing eliminates accidents.

XXIII

BEFUSEBS

XXIII

REFUSERS

" Yet I must tell you, the rarest Leaping Horse that ever I saw, or
Rid, went not at all upon the Curb, but only upon the Barrs of his
Month, which I do not commend ; but it is better to have him Leap
so, being so rare a horse, than to be so Over-Curious as not to have
him Leap at all, because he went not upon the Curb."

Newcastle.

A FTER reading the above quotation the reader
will perhaps agree with me that the Duke
either did very little jumping, or was extraordinarily
lucky in only finding one horse that objected to leap-
ing on the curb ; there is no surer way of manufac-
turing a refuser if the animal's mouth and chin are
not past all feeling.

Horses refuse for various reasons, and it is useless

to attempt to cure them of the habit until we have

ascertained the cause. A well-known writer has

said that it takes two years to make a horse and

about half-an-hour to spoil him, and we may safely

go this far with him : that a good jumper can be

ruined in a very short time, and that the trouble and

28s

286 Modern Riding and Horse Education

work which will be required to get him back to his
true form cannot be measured with accuracy. The
refuser is of little value either to the hunting man
or to the exhibitor of show jumpers, so that the pre-
vention and cure of this exasperating fault is a
matter of the first importance to them.

A horse may refuse for any of the following rea-
sons, or from a combination of several.

1. From having been previously jobbed in the
mouth on landing (Plate XXV), thus receiving se-
vere punishment for obeying his rider's wishes. If
the job in the mouth is severe the horse receives the
additional punishment of jarring his hindquarters on
landing, as they come to the ground too soon and are
not adapted for bearing weight as are the forelegs.

2. Being accidentally spurred during any phase
of the jump — another punishment for obedience.

3. Insufficient elementary schooling; the horse will
refuse because he does not know what is required
of him.

4. Not having sufficient head-room when he poises
his body to spring.

5. Want of heart in the rider, which is so easily
communicated through the reins.

bo
a

"'5

Refusers 287

6. Want of heart in the horse if the fence is big.

7. Seeing other horses refuse in front of him.

8. Lameness either in front or behind, or a
strained back.

9. Sore back.

10. Badly-fitting saddle.

11. Ill-fitting or too severe a bridle.

12. Sickened by too much jumping.

13. Vice.

14. Finding that he has miscalculated his distance
and has to take off too soon or too late; the horse
often prefers to refuse if he can, rather than fall
(see page 279).

I have seen horses refuse from all these causes:
let us, in so far as is practicable, discuss the reme-
dies, eliminating those refusers who require attention
from a veterinary surgeon, and also those who be-
long to such callous masters as will not study their
horse's comfort in the matter of his furniture.

Horses have such retentive memories that only if
victory is certain is a pitched battle to be thought of,
and even then it is bad policy. I do not wish by this
to imply that corrective punishment is not sometimes

283 Modern Riding and Horse Education

necessary, but it is better applied when we are work-
ing on foot and are assured of mastery and obedi-
ence, and only then if a resolute pair of hands and
legs and a touch of whip and spur have failed of
their effect. Patience and untiring effort is the
secret of success with a refuser, be he young or old,
if the result is to be satisfactory and the lesson a
lasting one.

If the horse refuses because he has been punished
in the mouth, jump him without reins over very low
obstacles, which should gradually be raised; then
use reins attached to a thick smooth snafBe. I have
seen a horse, who had been refusing for half-an-
hour, jump at once simply because the curb bit was
removed from his mouth, although up to then no
pressure had been put upon it. If for any reason
jumping without reins cannot be undertaken, it is
best to dismount and put on a crupper leading-rein
(described in the section devoted to appliances, page
231). After the horse has jumped with this appli-
ance, which assuredly he will, feed him with a
mouthful of carrot or other delicacy; rest him a
little, and then ride him over the fence ; if he again
refuses, repeat the performance.

Refusers 289

We cannot make a coward brave, whether he be
man or horse, but we can sometimes oblige him to
do what he fears by strongly impressing upon him
the evil consequences of resistance. A resolute rider
with a sharp pair of spurs will often make up a
horse's mind for him, but he can never cure him of
the tendency to refuse, for the simple reason that
the coward, from his very nature, will take the first
opportunity of finding the rider off his guard to
balk again, especially if the obstacle be at all formi-
dable. Working on foot, either with a light caves-
son, long reins, or the crupper leading-rein, may
improve this class of animal, as jumping without a
weight on his back inspires confidence in the per-
former, but I should strongly advise the owner to
sell him on the first opportunity.

A refuser from any of the causes we are now
discussing, who " runs out " when going at a fence,
generally does so on one particular side. This can
sometimes be stopped by showing him the whip on
that side, or by a course of bending the neck to the
other, the side which he stiffens to oppose you: in
fact, using lateral flexions (see page 259).

Horses that refuse from vice come under an

290 Modern Riding; and Horse Education

altogether different category, and often repay per-
severance and patience beyond the trainer's expecta-
tions. Punishment with the whip or spurs gener-
ally increases the trouble, so we must look for other
means of enforcing mastery and obedience. Here
again we must go back to elementary v/ork ; the ob-
stacles cannot be too low to commence with, and
bran and not corn is the best food for the delinquent
until he has seen the error of his ways. His corn
must afterwards be regulated, little being allowed at
first, and the quantity gradually increased. It is
waste of time trying to cure vice if the horse is
above himself. The animal can be thrown immedi-
ately after the refusal (see page 235 on Appli-
ances), with his head facing the jump and about ten
yards from it; he should be held down for five
minutes or so with his head slightly raised off the
ground, and then taken at the fence again. Another
way of treating him is to place him in front of the
jump and tie up one foreleg, keeping him in this
position until he is tired. Any of the appliances
mentioned for coercing a coward may be used in
conjunction with these two punishments. As soon

Refusers 2gt

as the horse gives in we must make much of him and
give him some deHcacy.

Doubtless some horses will jump when hounds
are running that will not do so in cold blood, but
those who urge that the way to cure a refuser is to
take him to the front out hunting forget that the
rider should always be in command, and not be sub-
ject to the caprice of his mount. A horse should not
be allowed in the field until he will jump willingly in
cold blood. One disadvantage of trying to cure this
vice out hunting is that when the animal does refuse,
— and I have ridden horses myself thathave" turned
it up " in the middle of a run after having gone
well, and with nothing forbidding in front of them —
the rider cannot assure himself of victory, as he has
nothing but his whip and spurs to help him. He
may be kept in the same field for half a day and still
fail, a very serious matter as far as curing the horse
is concerned.

If the worst comes to the worst, the despairing
rider who has seen the hunt fade from his sight
may generally get his horse to jump a moderately-
sized fence, and so gain a hollow victory, if he dis-

2g2 Modern Riding and Horse Education

mounts and pulls the animal over by the reins,
lengthened by the addition of the whip-thong.

Except with very young horses, it is best not to
allow them a lead over a fence, as it is in a sense a
moral support, and if we pander to them in this re-
spect we cannot expect boldness — the most valuable
characteristic in the jumper ; and, I might also add,
an indispensable one in the horseman.

Horses are seldom fit for really hard work before
they are six years old, and we in England should
do well to follow Continental nations a little more
in this matter. In the English Cavalry Training
Manual of 1904 it was laid down that the trainer
should aim at making his horse as handy as a polo
pony, as clever as a hunter, and as quiet as a shoot-
ing pony. The ideal is an excellent one, and sel-
dom impossible if the training is scientific.

THE END.

INDEX

Adams, 34, 90, I39, H7, 222
Adductor muscle, 59, 60
Aid, the one, and the Indica-
tions, 75-77
Aids, 16, 17, 75-77, 184-189,

265, 266
America (U. S.), 5. 6, 7, 35,

95, loi, 15s
American flat-racing seat, 28,

40-43
American trotter, 82, 198, 199
Anderson, 120
Angle of thigh, 37
Appliances for horse training,

219-241
Arabs, 32, 200, 245
Ash-pole, 235
Assheton-Smith, 154
Australian methods, 95, 152,

221, 232, 234
Austrian Cavalry School

(Vienna), 8, 23, 38
Austrian methods, 83, 148, 179,

226, 231, 236
Austrian nose-band, 226, 227,

236

Baden-Powell, General, 201
Balance, of horse, 89-94, 107,

193-202, 259
Balance, of man, 27, 36, 39, 42,

43, 47-56, 60, 63, 64, 70, 132,
135, 136, 138, 146, 153, 154,
160

Balancing, exercises for, 63-65,
179-181

Barnes, Mr., 210-214

Baucher, 34, 63, 70, 120, 131,
198, 199, 257, 258

Bearing-rein, 198, 228, 229, 236

Belgian Cavalry School
(Ypres), 8, 23

Berenger,^ 38, 61, 113, 119, 143,
147, 193, 222, 231

Bernhardi, General von, 13

Bits, 144, 239-241, 288

Blaine, 34

Body, position of when jump-
ing, 49-56, 136, 160-166

Boer War (South Africa), 24,
37, 38, 173

Boers, 48, 260 (note)

Boots, 168

Bourgelat, 21, 147, 231, 232

Brains, of the horse, 205-215

Breeches, 168

Bridle, 90, 114, 168, 169, 239

Bridle, Commanche, 229

Brocklehurst, General, 254

Browne, Mr., 221, 232, 249

Brussels Horse Show, 19

Buckjumping, 155, 156

Buckskin saddles, 16, 152

393

'^94

Index

Buxtorff, 119

Cabriole, 16, 155

Cage, 235

Caligula, 30

Cane, 115, 238

Cantering, 83, 84, 180-185, 188,

264, 265
Carriage of head and neck,

194-201, 256-259
Carthaginians, 113
Caubert, Captain, 261
Cavaliers, 32

Cavalry Depot, Canterbury, 37
Cavalry Schools, see Schools
Cavesson, 225-227, 247, 289
Centrifugal force, 49, 84
Cesaresco, Count E. Martinen-

go, 39, 100, 139, 206, 208, 209,

212, 228, 236, 248
Character of horses, 254, 255
Check-rein, 198
Child's rocking-horse, 50
Christian, Dick, 272
Circling, 83, 84, 182, 185, 188,

259, 264-266
Colt, handling of, 245-250
Commanche bridle, 229
Conquest, 31, 119
Courbette, 16, 18, 155, 231, 235
Cow-puncher, 35, loi
Cross-legged seat, ladies', 7
Crosstrees, 228

Croupade, 16, 18, 155, 231, 235
Cruelty, 246
Crupper leading-rein, 229, 274,

288, 289
Crusades, 32
Crush, 234

Cutting- whip, 115

De Lisle, 262

Demonstration, teaching by,

168
Development of gripping

muscles, 59-67, 108, 152, 157
Distribution of the rider's

weight, 75-77, 81-85, 265, 266
Dodge, 41, 248
Dragging, 155, 156
Driving, long-rein, 221-225,

289
" Drop " fence, 55
Dummy horse, 60-65
Dwyer, 131, 134, 148, 239

Early days, 245-250
Eastern nations, 29, 30, 38
Eastern seat, 28, 29
Ecuyers at Saumur, 15, 155,

163
Exercises for balancing, 63-65,

179-181
Exercises for curing rider's

strain, 65, 66
Exercises for curing round

thighs, 70
Exercises for developing

gripping muscles, 60-65, 108,

152, 157
Exercises, instructional, 177-

189
Equitation, lessons in, 177-183

Fallon, 221

Falls, 63, 138, 153, 154
Fancy obstacles, 14, 18, 277,
278, 280

Index

295

Fatigue, 135, 136, 137, 171, 256
Fence, riding at, 160-163
Fillis, 34, 109, 120, 131, 133.

210, 257, 258, 262, 263
Fitting stirrups, 171
Flat-racing seat, 28, 29, 39-43,

69
Flexion, 196-200, 257-259
Flexor muscle, 59, 60
Foot, working on, 256-259, 272,

VZ, 289
Fox-hunting, 34, 35
Free forward movement, 255
Freedom of head and neck,

91-97, 163-166, 194-201, 239,

256-259
Freeman, 222
French Cavalry School (Sau-

mur), 6, 8, 15-18, 23, 24, 38,

146
French methods, 15-19, 83, 152,

154, 155, 226, 231
Further training, 253-267

Gag, rope, 235

Galvayne, 209, 221, 222, 230,

235
Galvayne strap, 231
German Cavalry School

(Hanover), 6, 8, 15, 23
German methods, 133, 236, 261
Getting down in the saddle,

69-71
Gibbon, yj
Greenwood, '/(>, 94
Grip, knee and thigh, 27, 59-

67 _
Gripping muscles, development

of, 59-67, 108, 152, 157
Half-passage, 186, 189
Handling colt, 245-250
Hand-spur, 235
Hand-whips, two, 238
Hands, height of the, 97, 98
Hands, ladies', 98
Hands, use and misuse of the,

89-104
Hanover, German Cavalry

School at, 6, 8, 15, 23
Harrington, Earl of, 249
Haute Ecole, 16, 17, 28, Z'^, 34,

36, 75, 91, 107, 114, 115, 120,

131, 146, 229, 231, 238
Hayes, 44, 55, 133, 134, 146,

148, 200, 207, 208, 214, 221,

222, 224, 225, 228, 229,

2ZZ, 238, 263, 264
Head, 100, 119
Head and neck, carriage of,

194-201, 256-259
Head-room for horse, 91-97,

163-166, 196, 198-201, 238,

286
Hieover, Harry, 170
Hints to instructors, 167-173
Hobday, Professor, 206
Hocks, turning on, 263, 264
Holding, Frank, 232
Holding reins, manner of, 52,

96, 100-104, 169
Horse, balance of, 89-94, I07>

193-202, 259
Horse, dummy, 59-63
Horse, mastership, 172, 173
Horse, rocking, 64, 65
Horse, rocking, child's, 50

296

Index

Horse shows, 5, 7, 13-15, 19,

92, 146, 147, '2.'/S-2'j7, 280
Horse, training appliances,

219-241
Horse, weighing experiments,

195, 196
Horses, introduction of in

America, 35
Horse's mind, 205-215
Hungary, 8

Hunting, 34, 35, 275, 291
Hunting seat, 7, 28, 29, 36, 38,

39, 43, 44
Hurdles, 157, 272

levers, Major Philip G., 65
Improved method, an, 151-173
Independent work, 182
Indications, the one aid and

the, 75-77
Indications, of the leg, 107-

109, 184-189, 265, 266
Indications, of the voice, 113,

114
Instructional exercises, 177-

189
Instructors, hints to, 167-170
Instructors of horses in

America, 35
Introduction of reins, 143-144
Invention of stirrups, 29
Iron-pointed pole, 235
Irons, ladies' safety, 148
Italian Cavalry School (Pin-

erolo), 6, 8, 23, 38
Italian methods, 52, 83, 96,

136, 260 (note), 281

James I., 19

Jennings, 230

Jibbing, 229

Jockeys, 5, 40-43, 53» 54, 70,

102, 163-166
Jumping, 92, 94, 109, 126, 136,

145-147, 267, 271-281
Jumping, learning, 126, 154-

166, 180-183
Jumping, position of body

when, 49-56, 136, 160-166
Jumping, refusing, 285-292
Jumping, seat for, ZZ, 34, 44,

49-56, 160
Jumping, show, 13, 14, 18, 54,

55, 92, 147, 275-281
Jumping, without reins, 126,

154-160, 180-182, 289
Jumping, without stirrups,

136, 181, 182

Knee and thigh grip, 2,7^ 59-

67, 108

Ladies' hands, 198
Ladies' cross-legged seat, 7
Ladies' safety irons, 148
Leading leg, 83, 84, 109, 185,

186, 188, 264, 265
Leading rein, 148
Leading rein, crupper, 229,

274, 288, 289
Leg, indications of the rider's,

107-109, 184-189, 265, 266
Leg, use of the lower part of

the, 107- 1 10, 189
Lessons in equitation, 177-183
Livy, 144

Index

297

Longe, 148, 158, 177, 226
Longeing-whip, 235
Long rein driving, 221-225, 289
Losing stirrups, 155
Losses in horse-flesh in war,
173

Man, balance of, 27, 36, 39, 42,
43, 47-56, 60, 63, 64, 70, 132,
13s, 136, 138, 145, 146, 153,
154, 160

Manege, 125, 126, 148, 158

Manege, riding, 33

Manner of holding reins, 52,
96, 100-104, 169

Martingales, 2yj, 238

Mason, Jim, 98

Mauleon, de, 253, 261

Medows, Sir Sidney, 222

Method, an improved, 151-173

Methods, Australian, 95, 152,

221, 232, 234

Methods, Austrian, 83, 148,

179, 226, 231, 236
Methods, French, 15-19, 83,

152, 154, 155, 226, 231
Methods, German, 133, 2z(i,

261
Methods, Italian, 52, 83, 96,

136, 260 (note), 281
Methods, obsolete, 9
Military saddle, 39
Military seat, 7, 28, 36-39
Military tournament, 44
Miller, the Messrs., 14, 97,

222, 266

Mind, the horse's, 205-215

Misuse and use of the hands,

89-104
Moore, Mr. John Hubert, 221
Mounting, 169, 170, 260
Mouth, pressure on horse's, 97
Muscles, adductor, 59, 60
Muscles, flexor, 59, 60
Muscles, gripping, develop-
ment of, 59-67, 108, 152, 157
Mott, Major T. Bentley, 6

Neck and head, carriage of,
194-201, 256-259

Nerve, 167

Netheravon, Cavalry School
at, 24, 109, 222

Newcastle, Duke of, 34, 100,
232, 238, 246

Nolan, 120, 246

Norway, 245

Nose-band, Austrian, 226, 22-7,
236

Numnah v. saddle with stir-
rups, 131-139

Obsolete methods, 9
Obstacles, fancy, 14, 18, 277,

278, 280
Oeynhausen, von, 236
Olympia, 19, 276
Open, riding schools v. the,

125-128
Opening the shoulders, 95, 96,

163
Osmer, 215

Passaging, 186, 263
Pelvis, 30

298

Index

Pembroke, Earl of, 20, 23, 36,

47, 147, 222, 224
Perpendicular, 48-55
Phillipps, 97, 166
Physical training of the horse,

267
Piette, M. Edouard, 143
Pignatelli, 231
Pillar, single, 232
Pillars, 17, 154, 230, 232
Pinerolo (Italian Cavalry

School at), 6, 8, 23, 38
Placing the beginner on the

horse, 170
Pole, ash, 235
Pole, iron-pointed, 235
Polo, 5, 60, 97, loi, 120
Polo ponies, 14, 264
Position of the body when

jumping, 49-56, 136, 160-166
Preliminary gripping exer-
cises, 60-65, 152, 157
Pressure on the horse's mouth,

97
Pucci, Marchese Orario, 93
Pulling, 98-100, 197-201

Quist, Captain, 23

Raabe, Mr., 230
Racing seat, 28, 29, 39-43, 69
Rarey, 148, 232, 233, 247
Rarey strap, 232, 233
Refusing, 114, 158, 285-292,

277
Rein, leading, 148
Rein, single, 225-228, 247
Reining back, 186, 262, 263

Reins, bearing, 198, 228, 229,

236
Reins, crupper leading, 229,

274, 288, 289
Reins, introduction of, 143, 144
Reins, jumping without, 126,

154-160, 180-182, 288
Reins, letting slip, 163, 166
Reins, long, 221-225, 289
Reins, manner of holding, 52,

96, 100-104, 169
Reins, rubber, 228
Reins, running, 237
Reins, side, 226
Reins v. no reins, 143-148
Rider's strain, to cure, 65, 66
Rider's weight, distribution of,

75-77, 81-85, 265, 266
Riding at a fence, 160-163
Riding " right hand free," 100
Riding schools v. the open,

125-128
Riding, teaching, 151-189
Riding without stirrups, 69,

131-139, 144, 145, 149, 179-

182
Rockfeller, 214
Rocking-horse, 64, 65
Rocking-horse, child's, 50
Roller-pad, 136
Romans, 33, 144
Rope-gag, 235
Round thighs, to cure, 70
Rowels, 120, 121
Rushing, 145, 159

Saddle, buckjumping, 152
Saddle, buckskin, 16, 152

Index

299

Saddle, getting down into the,

69-71
Saddle, high-peaked, 31
Saddle, military, 39
Saddle, with stirrups v. num-
nah, 131-139
Safety-irons, ladies', 149
Sample, 214, 230, 235
San Sebastian, 276, 2']']
Saumur, see Schools
Saumur, Ecuvers at, 15, 155,

163
Sauteurs, 154, 155, 231
Schools, Cavalry : Austria

(Vienna), 8, 23, 38
Schools, Cavalry : Belgium

(Ypres), 8, 23
Schools, Cavalry : England

(Netheravon), 24, 109, 222
Schools, Cavalry : France

(Saumur), 6, 8, 15-18, 23,

24, 38, 146, 163, 226
Schools, Cavalry : Germany

(Hanover), 6, 8, 15, 23
Schools, Cavalry: Italy (Pine-

rolo), 6, 8, 23, 38
Schools, riding, v. the open,

125-128
Science in riding and horse

training, 13-24
Seat, Eastern, 28, 29
Seat, Haute Ecole, 28
Seat, for jumping, 33, 34, 44,

49-56, 160
Seat, for hunting, 7, 28, 29, 36,

38, 39, 43, 44, 134
Seat, ladies' cross-legged, 7
Seat, military, 7, 28, 36-39
Seat, racing, 28, 29, 39-43, 69

Seat, straight-legged, 28-39,
133, 134

Seat, war, 30, 32

Seats, 27-44

Segundo, Don Juan, 239

Shoulder-in, 189

Shoulders, opening the, 95, 96,
163

Shouting, 168

Show-jumping, 13, 14, 18, 54,
55, 92, 147, 275-281

Shows, horse, 5, 7, 13-15, 19,
92, 146, 147, 275-277, 280

Shying, 247-248

Sidney, 30, 32

Side-reins, 226

Single-rein, 225-228, 247

Single pillar, 232

Skeene, 237

Slipping reins, 163, 166

Sloan, Tod, 40

Slug, 118, 120, 167

South African (Boer) War,
24, 37, 38, 173

Spanish trot, 17

Spurs, 119-121, 289

Spurs, hand, 235

Stirrups, saddle with v. num-
nah, 131-139

Stirrups, short, 38, 69, 70

Stirrups, fitting of, 171

Stirrups, invention of, 29

Stirrups, losing, 155

Stirrups, riding without, 69,

131, 139, 144, 145, 148, 179-

182
Stirrups, tied together, see

Strap
Stop, the, 185, 187, 188, 266

300

Index

Strait-jackets, 229, 230
Strain, riders', to cure, 65, 66
Strap, the, 152-157
Strap, Galvayne, 230
Strap, Rarey, 232, 233
Stumbling, 17, 93, 94, no
Swire, Mr., 17
Switchback, 51

Teaching riding, 151-189

Teaching riding by demon-
stration, 168

Thigh, angle of, Z"]

Thigh and knee grip, 27, 59-
(y-], 108

Thigh, curing rider's strain in,
65, 66

Thighs, 69-71, 108

Thighs, curing round, 70

Third hand, 235

Thompson, Mr. Charles, no

Thormanby, 109, 147, 214

Throwing horses, 233, 234

Timber, t.'jz, 274

Time required for training,
253, 254

Tod Sloan, 40

" Tommy," 209, 210

Tournament, military, 44

Tozer, 31, 144

Training horses, appliances
for, 219-241

Training horses by the voice,
209-214

Training, further, 253-267

" Trixie," 210-214

Trot, Spanish, 17

Trotter, American, 82, 198,

199
Trotting, 179-182, 261, 262
Trotting, indications for, 185
Turks, 38
Turning, indications for, 184,

185
Turning on hocks, 263, 264
Tweedie, General, 214
Twitch, 235
Two hand-whips, 238
Tyndale, Z^, 237

U. S. America, 5, 6, 7, 28, 35,

40-43, 95, loi, 155
Use and misuse of the hands,

89-104
Use of the lower part of the

leg, 107-110, 189

Vegetius, 61

Vienna (Austrian Cavalry

School at), 8, 23, 38
Vision of the horse, 200, 201
Voice and whip, 113-115
Voice as an indication, 113,

114
Voice training, 209-214

Walk, indications for, 184

Walsh, 148

War seat, 30, z^

War, South African (Boer),

24, Z7, 38, 173
Water, 273, 274
Weighing horses, 195, 196
Weight, distribution of the

rider's, 75-77, 81-85, 265, 266

Index

301

What to teach young horses,

193-202
Whip, 126, 167, 256, 258
Whip and voice, 113-115
Whip, longeing, 235
Whips, hand, two, 238
Whyte Melville, 94, 98, 120,

148, 208, 271
Wire, 274, 275
Wischzaiim, 236
Working by demonstration,

168

Working on foot, 256-259, 272,
273, 289

Xenophon, 30, 31, 33, 39, 119,

227

Ypres (Belgian
School at), 8, 23

Zittel, von, 35.

Cavalry

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