The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1882-10-13
VOL. XXVII----NO. 80.
How to Ride.

Horseback riding is curious art, and YOU
can not master it in one lesson Regular
lessons of an hour each, three times a week,
for three months, is the usual course requir-
| ed to make really good rider. TO make the
| horse perform fancy steps, leap hedges, and
that sort OF thing, requires from one to two
| years study in good school and much out
| ofdoors practice. Like learning to dance,
it consists in the art of holding and carrying
the body gracefully and naturally. Very few
boys and girls in this country ever learn to
walk naturally and gracefully without in
struction, and to dance or ride one must go
to school. Walking, dancing, and riding are
parts of good education. They give health
and pleasant manners but of the three, riding
is the most useful in giving courage, strength,
manners, and good health.
The body is the house we live in. 1t is
pretty good house, and should not only be
neatly clothed but be carried in n cor
rect and natural manner No one thinks of
wearing torn clothes or living in a tumble
down house, and why should we not stand
and walk, or sit and ride, in q natural and
graceful manner? We are so made that if
we do things in the right way we shall al
ways ind it the easiest way also, and that
it will enable us to be natural and graceful
at the same time.
The art of riding teaches all this and once
much second nature as walking 1t consists
OF two things: good seat and guiding the
horse. BY a good seat is meant secure
position on the horse. For boy 1t means
to put both legs over the horse, with the up
per part of the leg bent slightly forward the
lower part hanging down, with the foot in
the stirrup and the heel slightly lower than
the toes. Sit erect, with the body free to
sway in every direction on the hips, For
girl, the right leg is thrown over the horn
of the saddle, and the left hangs down like
a boys. Her body is really on a pivot,
through the hips, and must freely bend for
ward or backward, or on either side, without
moving in the saddle.
The horse, as was remarked, has four feet
and brain. Riding consists not only in
good seat, but the art of teaching the horse
to give up his will and to do, not what he
wishes, but what you wish. SO you must
come to an understanding with the horse
learn his way of thinking and his language.
Left to himself, he might go the wrong way,
or stand still and go nowhere in particular. 1t
might be very pleasant for him, but this is
not what we want. So in the schc oil YOU are
taught all the words ofcommand :: to start, to
halt, to trot or gallop, to change STEP and
to go to the right or left To tell it all would
flll n book, and we can only now observe, in
a general way, how horse is managed 1t
is done both by voice and by motions of the
hand and body. For instance, the word is
given to start or stop, but the riders body
must be moved slightly on the hips to help
the horse. To turn to the right or left, the
reins are turned very slightly, the body is
bent in the opposite direction to that you
wish to take, and the horses side is touched
gently with the foot. Boys use either foot,
but girls use only the left foot and touch the
the horse on the right with riding-whip.-
This is the merest hint of what is meant by
learning to ride but it is enough to show
what is done in the riding school. The horse
has mind oft own, and, though he sur
renders his will to the rider, he yet watches
where he is going and always has his wits
about him. He will not willingly fall or
stumble. He will not step on you should you
fall on the ground, nor can you drive him
against wall or down steep bank A
| steam engine has no mind, and will run into
ditch or into river just as readily as on
the rails.
The moment you get on his back YOU OBJ
serve that the motion is very different from
walking. AS he his four legs, and as you sit be-
between the two pair, You are really at place
tween four points of support that are con-
tinualy moving. This you have always to
remember, and to ride gracefully you must
conform to every motion of your horse. If
you wish him to turn sharply to the right
and change his step, you lean to the left
This throws your weight on three ofhis legs
and leaves the right fore.leg free, and, as it
moves more easily than any other, the horse
steps out with that foot first But, to give
you all the details would only weary you.-
The best way to learn is to go to a riding
school, or else to have a good teacher at home.
-FrOm "Learning to Ride" By Charles Bar
mud in st. Nicholas for October