Horse riding

“ Every privation which he endures his horse endures with him,—carrying him through falling weather, swimming rivers by day and riding in the lead of stampedes by night, always faithful, always willing, and always patiently enduring every hardship, from exhausting hours under saddle to the sufferings of a dry drive. ”

“ A person who has never tried it, can hardly conceive the wild delight of riding a swift horse, when he lays down his ears, tosses his tail in air, and stretches himself out in a full race. The intense energy of the beast's movements, the rush of the air, the swimming backward of lands, houses, and trees, with the clattering thunder of the hoofs—all convey to the rider a fierce ecstasy, which, perhaps, nothing else can give. ”

“ This is the perfection of a walking pace. By degrees any nervousness wears off, the rigid trussed appearance gives place to one of pliancy and comparative security, the body loses its constrained stiffness, and begins to conform to and sway with the movements of the horse. The rider, sitting perfectly straight and erect, approaches the correct position, and lays the foundation of that ease and bearing which are absolutely indispensable. ”

“ There are two very different ways of riding; the more usual, because the easier, consists in letting the horse go forward at a walk, a trot, or a gallop, the rider contenting herself with guiding him, and staying on his back; while, in the other, the will as well as the action of the animal is controlled, and he is carried forward in obedient and intelligent sympathy with his rider. ”

“ If good riding is worth your attention do not think these things beneath your notice. For the acquirement of the bearing on the horse’s mouth, the turning your [41] horse on the proper rein, smoothness of indications, and, in shortening the reins, the power of making your horse collect himself, and the working together of your hands and legs, are the unseen and unappreciated foundation on which good riding stands. These, and not strength or violence, command the horse. ”

“ When you go fast, neither you nor the horse has time to feel the pressure of the atmosphere from above, and that is why it seems as if you were flying, and he is happy and exhilarated as well as you. You will see the tame horse in the paddock gallop about for his pleasure, and the wild horse on the prairie will start and run for miles in mere sportiveness. ”

“ Do not urge your horse suddenly from a canter into a full gallop; let him settle down to his pace gradually—steady him. Being jumped off, like a racehorse with a flying start at the fall of the flag, is very apt to make a hot, high-couraged horse run away or attempt to do so. ”

“ The general art of riding, sometimes called manège riding, to distinguish it from its modifications in road-riding, hunting, racing, &c., teaches us to place every part of the body so that it can act upon the horse in every emergency, shows the effect of all the aids or modes of guiding him, and enables us to render him obedient to the slightest touch. By never suffering the ascendancy to be transferred to the horse, by in general preventing him from making all his speed, and by exhausting him the sooner the more he exerts himself without permission, it bestows upon the rider perfect security. ”

“ To make the horse take gallop right from the halt, the walk, or the slow trot, the rider should first collect the forces of the animal, apply the left heel, and make a slight upward play with the right rein; when given sufficient freedom, the horse will start off with the legs of the right side leading. ”

“ The rider having to some extent perfected herself in walking straight forward, inclining and turning to the right and to the right about, and in executing the same movements to the left, on all of which I shall have a few words to say later, and when she can halt, rein back, and is generally handy with her horse at the walk, she may attempt a slow Trot, and here her sorrows may be said to begin. ”

“ Then, the horse being habituated to jump the narrow obstacle without reluctance, rugs, colored cloths, or anything of the kind that might ordinarily alarm a horse should be placed, first near the hurdle and then upon it, as the horse jumps it at the length of the longe-line. ”

“ I have had a ride on my new horse: a wretched animal to look at; but he went like the wind across the country, which is very wild and beautiful. The riding here is very different to English riding. If the animal is to walk or trot, he goes a sort of ambling jiggle, which I think most uncomfortable. You cannot rise, nor do even a military trot, but sit down in your saddle like a jelly and let him go. The only other pace is a hard gallop, which is the best; you go like the wind over prairie and valley, up and down hill, all the same. ”

“ Presuming that you are in a fair way to obtain a secure seat, the next point is the use of the reins and the employment of your legs, for it is by these that a horseman holds, urges, and turns his horse. To handle a horse in perfection, you must have, besides instruction, “good hands.” Good or light hands, like the touch of a first-rate violinist, are a gift, not always to be acquired even by thought and practice. The perfection of riding is to make your horse understand and obey your directions, as conveyed through the reins—to halt, or go fast or slow; to walk, trot, canter, or gallop ”

“ This figure eight riding, thus, ∞, is most useful both for horse and rider when it is carefully done. Keep the horse “light in hand,” and above all, collected—viz., with his haunches well under him, and always with his feet exactly in the circle and his neck and body bent to the curve. As soon as he will lead off correctly from a walk, begin to teach him to do so from the trot; and when this lesson has been learned, practise him on the double circles, or figure 8’s, beginning at a trot, and lifting him into a canter just as you pass from one circle to the other. ”

“ The horse should be ridden on two paths in straight lines, in turns, and in large and small circles, sometimes the forehand on the outer circumferences, sometimes the croup following the longer paths, in the walk, in the slow trot, and in the united trot. ”

“ The relaxation and contraction of the hand constitutes the "give and take" movement, which causes the horse to move easily, pleasantly, and with perfect freedom, [173] while at the same time he is kept in entire obedience to his rider. Indeed, this movement is the grand secret of good riding and correct management of the horse, and there can be no good riding without it. ”

“ Already I knew well enough that tens of thousands who could never afford to own, feed, and stable a horse, had by this bright invention enjoyed the swiftness of motion which is perhaps the most fascinating feature of material life, the charm of a wide outlook upon the natural world, and that sense of mastery which is probably the greatest attraction in horseback-riding. ”

“ Oh! here they come, trotting, riding, and galloping to the meet from every point of the compass, and apparently from every region of the habitable globe,146 some of the young ones—diverging as usual from their path of rectitude—to lark over a fence or two. Along the turnpike and country roads, drags with four horses, light dog-carts with two, post-chaises and gigs, each laden with men muffled up in heavy clothing, showing no pink, save a little bit peeping out at the collar, are all hurrying onwards to the same goal ”

“ Then the increased tension upon the reins is relieved, and the legs of the rider withdrawn from the horse, and the slower trot having been obtained, the halt may be made from it; in the latter case the animal should be first put into the walk, and then brought to a stop as before described.
Nearly every horse will shy if "a bit above himself" from want of work, and many horses, otherwise quiet, shy habitually at some favorite object, either flying paper, a high wagon, an automobile, or some such thing. ”

“ Although ten or twelve horses, gallantly taking it in their stride, have proved the jump to be an easy one, two or three of the foremost riders are seen to pull up, apparently afraid. In like manner, as horses and horsemen who had been riding boldly approach, it becomes evident to the meanest capacity, that the peg that holds in their steam is getting—sometimes in the biped, sometimes in the quadruped, and sometimes in both—looser and looser57 as they advance. ”

“ The horses are managed by men seated upon the saddle-horse of each pair, and they dash through the street at a rapid gait, a bugle being sounded frequently by a man riding in advance, so as to have the way cleared for the passage of the royal cortege. ”

“ During the past twenty years I have taken thousands of photographs of the moving horse in studying the question of action, and I am satisfied [19] that the horse which plants its fore foot with the front of the hoof vertical will stumble; that the horse which straightens its joints and brings the heel to the ground first will travel insecurely and slip on greasy surfaces. ”

“ With the amount of help available, this allowed twelve to fifteen horses to the man, so that every animal was ridden once in three or four days. Rather than corral, we night-herded, penning them by dawn and riding our first horse before sun-up. ”

“ From time [24] to time the man will bring the horse to a halt, and require it to stand quite still, making much of it by caresses and kind words, picking up the feet and stroking it gently with the whiphandle all over its body and legs, so that it will not be alarmed at his future motions, and then continuing the progress on the circle. Gradually the length of the hold on the longe line will be increased, until the horse goes about the man at the full length of the strap. ”

“ We are permitted to ride, providing we sit in a position ruinous to the horse; providing we wear a riding-habit long enough to hide the obscene human foot, weighed down by ten pounds of gravel to cheat the wind in its free blowing, so running the risk of disabling ourselves completely should accident throw us from the saddle. Think how we swim! We must even wear clothing in the water, and run the gauntlet of derision, if we dare battle in the surf minus stockings! ”

“ Again the horses sprang to the pace they had kept so gallantly, and on and on their hoofs flew over the low, rolling hills. The riders sat their horses as if they were part and parcel of the beasts, horse and rider with one will and one motion, and all galloping on with rhythmic hoof-beats, neck to neck and heel to heel, without pause or slackened pace, while the cold, dry night wind whistled past their ears and the stars measured their courses through the violet blue of the bending vault above. ”

“ We found it highly desirable now and then to alight and walk, for to the unaccustomed rider the strain of sitting in a cramped position on a horse for hours at a time is wearying and benumbing to the lower limbs. ”

“ From out this misty obscurity shot a horse and rider, the animal with outstretched neck, tail streaming and straining every nerve to carry the man who was leaning well forward, beyond the zone of danger. ”

“ As horse after horse swells the thundering crowd.
Speed, speed, to thy footsteps! thy track has been found;
Now, sport for the rider, and blood for the hound!
Through brake and through forest the man-prey is driven;
O, help for the hopeless, thou merciful Heaven!
On! on to the mountain! ”

“ No less than five times is the traveller obliged to repeat the operation of remounting what is called, what is considered, and what really is "a fresh horse," which in his turn, solely by his rider's weight, becomes tired, without metaphor, almost "to death," in the presence of the unmounted horses, who, with nothing to carry but their own carcases, are still showing no signs whatever of distress. ”

“ In a second or two it becomes a horse and rider, rising and falling, rising and falling—sweeping toward us nearer and nearer—growing more and more distinct, more and more sharply defined—nearer and still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes faintly to the ear—another instant a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider’s hand, but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited faces, and go swinging away like a belated fragment of a storm! ”

“ Now, however, this clumsy-barrelled, cloddy-shouldered, round-legged animal, something between a coach and a dray horse, as fat as an ox, and, with all his prancing at first starting, not capable of more than six miles an hour, and rendered useless by a day’s hard work, is no more seen; and, instead of him, we find a horse as tall, deep-chested, rising in the withers, slanting in the shoulders, flat in the legs, with more strength, and with treble the speed. ”

“ I know grown women who ride every day, and the very moment their horse breaks into a canter or a trot they lay a grim grip upon the pommel, and hold firmly on to it until the animal again lapses into a walk. ”

“ Of better night sight than his rider, and no more eager than he to be trampled into a bloody pulp, the horse would put out unasked his limit of speed and care of footing. Trust him, also, to edge ahead or outside of any enveloping part of the herd. ”

“ Still, as of old, the wide and spreading grasslands try horse and rider with a tempting challenge, as of one who cries, ‘Come, who will tire first?’ The music of the hounds sweeps down the brae: ‘Yoi—yoi—yoi!’ quivers the cry from the streaming pack. Onward the rider gallops, the plover perchance rising at his horse’s heels, the long note of the curlew sounding in his ears, the breath of the west wind racing in his nostrils ”