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“ Let us see, however, if art has discovered nothing that is certain and invariably true.—The Italians, the Spaniards, the French and, in a word, every country where Riding is in repute, adopt each a posture which is peculiar to themselves: the foundation of their general notions is the same, but each country has prescribed rules for the placing the man on the saddle. ”

“ Well and thorough broke horses with mouths made fine and to answer the nicest touch of feeling, are in general rode by the Bit alone, the Bridouns hanging loose and seem more for ornament than use; but yet in the hand of a skillful horseman are of the greatest utility; for by handling your right Bridoun-rein lightly with your whip hand at proper times; you can always raise your horse’s head if too low, you may take the liberty of easing your Bit-reins at times, so that playing upon his mouth, as it were an Instrument of musick, you will always keep his mouth in tune. ”

“ I cannot find a juster simile than, that the Horse is the Instrument and the Rider the Player; [8] and when the horse is well broke and tuned properly, and the rider knows how to keep him in that state, he is never at a loss to play upon him; but if suffered to go out of tune, by the want of skill in the horseman, and to imbibe bad habits, the horseman not being able to screw him up, and tune him as before: the Instrument is thrown by as useless, or may be sold for a trifle, and by chance falling into able hands, that know how to manage and put him once more together ”

“ I demand but a moderate stress upon the buttocks, because a man that sits full upon them can never turn his thighs flat to the saddle; the thighs should always lay flat to the saddle, because, the fleshy part of them being insensible, the horseman would not otherwise be able so nicely to feel the motions of his horse: I insist that the turn of the Thigh must be from the Hip, because it can never be natural, but as it proceeds from the hollow of the hip bone. ”

“ Two material disadvantages arise from Ladies accustoming themselves to bear heavy in the stirrup, and loll about, constantly twisting themselves to the near or left side of the horse: first it destroys their whole figure, making the same appear deformed and crooked; and if they were to continue in the habit of riding would confirm them in such deformed attitude, in its becoming second nature, by constant use; this is a truth too frequently witnessed, by practising without the right method. ”

“ The Bit and Snaffle were they to be kept constantly in one place in his mouth, would of course dull the sense of feeling, and become benumbed and callous; this shews the necessity of continually yeilding and drawing back the hand to keep the horse’s mouth fresh and awake. It is therefore self evident that a heavy handed horseman can never break a horse to any degree of nicety, or ride one which is already broke to any degree of exactness. ”

“ I have observed before that only your little finger should be between the reins when only two, it is the same now four, so now your two reins on the [7] right side of your horse’s neck lie flat upon your three fingers in your left-hand, your two left reins placed flat upon the right, and your thumb pressed flat upon all four. This is the only sure method to keep your reins firm, free from confusion, and to cause them to act properly; which any lady or gentleman will be convinced of if they will only give themselves the pleasure to practise, as I cannot call it a trouble. ”

“ The legs and feet make up the second division of what I call the moveable parts of the body: the [14] legs serve for two purposes, they may be used as aids or corrections to the horse, they should then be kept near the sides of the horse, and in a perpendicular line with the horseman’s body; for being near the part of the horse’s body where his feeling is most delicate, they are ready to do their office in the instant they are wanted. ”

“ The arms should be bent at the elbows, and the elbows should rest equally upon the hips; if the arms were strait, the consequence would be, that the hands would be too low, or at too great a distance from the body; and if the elbows were not kept steady, they would of consequence, give an uncertainty and fickleness to the hand, sufficient to ruin it for ever.
It is true that the Bridle-hand is that which absolutely ought to be steady and immoveable; and we might conclude from hence, that the left elbow only ought to rest upon the hip ”

“ It is the general practice of those who undertake to teach horsemanship, when they put a scholar upon a horse, to mix and confound many rules and precepts together, which ought to be distinct and seperate ”

“ I insist farther that the horseman never avails himself of the strength or help of his thighs, except he lets his whole weight rest upon the center, as before described; because the closer he presses them to the saddle, the more will he be lifted above the saddle on any sudden or iregular motion of the Horse. ”

“ The horseman should present or advance his breast, by that his whole figure opens and displays itself; he should have a small hollow in his reins, and push the waist forward to the pommel of the saddle, because this position corresponds and unites him to all the motions of the horse. ”

“ Therefore the immoveable parts as before observed ought to be so far without motion as not to wriggle and roll about so as to disturb the horse, or render the seat weak and loose: but the thighs may be relaxed to a certain degree with propriety and advantage, when the horse hesitates and doubts whether he shall advance or not; and the body may likewise, upon some occasions, become moveable and change its posture to a certain degree, as when the horse retains himself, it may be flung back more or less as the case requires ”

“ Your horse being firmly stayed, you next take your Stirrup-leather in your Right-hand, about four inches from the stirrup-iron, and fix one third of your foot in the stirrup, standing square with your horse’s side; next take a firm hold with your [6] right hand on the Cantlet or back part of the saddle, rather on the off side of it, and with your left knee prest firm against the horse’s side, spring yourself up perpendicularly, bending the small of your back and looking chearfully up rather than down. ”

“ The objects to which a master, anxious for the advancement of his pupil, should attend, are infinite. To little purpose will it be to keep the strictest eye [10] upon all the parts and Limbs of his pupil’s Body; in vain will he endeavour to remedy all the defects and faults which are found in the posture of almost every scholar in the beginning, unless he is intimately acquainted with the close dependance and connexion there is between the motions of one part of the body with the rest ”

“ THE Stirrup should be such length as when the lady sits upright and properly on her seat, with the knee being easily bent, the heel kept back, with the toe raised a little higher than the heel, so that the heel, hip and the shoulder, are in a line and as upright as when walking along, for if otherwise it is unjust and not agreeable to nature ”

“ Hold your hand three inches breadth from your body, as high as your elbow, in such a manner that the joint of your little-finger be upon a right line with the tip of your elbow; let your wrist be sufficiently rounded so that your knuckles may be kept directly above the neck of your horse; let your finger nails be exactly opposite your body, the little finger rather nearer to it than the others; your thumb quite flat upon the reins, separated as before described, and this is the general Position. ”

“ Take a wooden horse let his two corner legs be taken away and he will stand, but take away his two sides leg and he falls, again one often sees at a farrier’s shop when a horse is wanted to be shod in haste, two smiths can work at the same time, by taking each of them a corner leg, [40] therefore how careful should we be to keep our hackneys on a safe action, and awake under us on all occasions. ”

“ A horse can move four different ways; he can advance, go back, turn to the Right and to the Left; but he cannot make these different movements except the hand of the Rider permits him, by making four other motions which answer to them ”

“ It is nothing more than a natural cause, which will always produce a natural effect, for instance, ballance a pole upona wall so that it acts in equilibrium, only raise one end, the other of course must be lowered, it is the same with a horse, as you cannot rise his fore parts but by bringing his haunches more under him. ”

“ And lastly, it is of the utmost utility in supporting you in the continuance of the Spring Trot, a pace now greatly in fashion, and should be practised by all who accustom themselves to ride any length of journies, as it enables them to make some degree of speed, and by changing their paces often from walk, to trot, and gallop, their journey becomes less tedious to them. ”

“ Now to say some little more of the Seat, which cannot be too much attended to, being in a great [36] measure the foundation of safety to a lady when on horseback, and as such I would strongly recommend the lady being in the menage, or in any proper place, the horse being very quiet and to be trusted to; then let the lady seat herself properly on the saddle as before directed, only without the stirrup, and not to take the reins, leaving the direction of the horse to the Riding Master, or to whoever she can with safety trust the government to ”

“ Thus says our Warwick historian, so that side saddles appear to have been used many centuries ago, and that formerly the female sex took the fashion of riding like men, for which they are [27] reprehended, by a Greek historian, and hard indeed is the equestrian situation of the ladies, for if they are to be accused of indelicacy for riding after the manner of men, they are greatly to be pitied in hazarding their safety as they do, in riding after the manner of Women. ”

“ Let the horseman then place himself at once, upon his Twist, sitting exactly in the middle of the saddle; let him support this posture, in which the Twist alone seems to sustain the weight of the whole body, by moderately leaning upon his buttock. ”

“ It is generally supposed that the first service in which the Horse was employed, was to assist mankind in making war, or in the pleasures and occupations of the chase. Xenophon, who wrote three hundred years before the Birth of Christ, says, in an express treatise which he wrote on Horsemanship, that Cyrus hunted on Horseback, when he had a mind to exercise himself and horses. ”

“ The other reason is, you can lengthen or shorten the stirrup at pleasure, without disturbing the lady at all, and without even dismounting yourself, if you are riding on the road, as the business is done on the off side the horse, nay I have altered the stirrup often without stopping at all. ”

“ For this purpose let the seat alone be cultivated for some time, and when the scholar is arrived at a certain degree of firmness and confidence so as to be trusted, I would always advise the master to take hold of the longeing rein and let the pupil intirely leave the governing of his horse to him, going sufficiently to both hands holding his hands behind him. ”

“ I would here wish to remark that horses should never be compelled by force untill they know what you wish from them, for let them be however disobedient in their disposition, yet are all of them more or less sensible of good and bad usage from their masters ”

“ I would earnestly recommend the lady to make herself acquainted with every help so as to gaurd and defend herself on all occasions, such as her horse stumbling, shying, starting, running away, running back, rearing, kicking, and plunging ”

“ Mankind were not long before they were acquainted with them, and found the means of applying them to the purposes for which they were given: this is apparent from the Histories and traditions of almost all nations, even from times the most remote ”

“ In the first place I would strongly recommend a large seated Saddle, very high on the cantlet or back part, and a regular sweep from thence to the front or pommell, for some saddles, more shame be it spoken, are so small, and the seat so rounded in the middle, that to sit on them is next to balancing themselves on a round pole, a comfortable situation truly for a lady! ”

“ A young Lady about Seventeen years of age who had been afflicted for twelve months with a stiffness in her neck and shoulders, and it was observable that the right shoulder was grown much larger than the left. ”

“ The notions which some Ladies have entertained, as to fear to let their daughters be taught to Ride, least it should make them grow crooked and awry, I insist that they are false, and quite the reverse ”