neck and shoulders, so as to throw both of them
down, when they ought to have got off with a
scramble.
Let us return to the horse you have lately
mounted not without certain misgivings that he
may be tempted to insubordination under the
excitement of tumult, rivalry, or noise. When
you have discovered the amount of repression,
probably very slight, that he accepts without
resentment, at a walk, increase your pace
gradually, still with your legs keeping him well
into his bridle, carrying your hands low down on
his withers, and, if you take my advice, with a
rein in each. You will find this method affords
you great control of your horse's head, and en-
ables you, by drawing the bit through his mouth,
to counteract any arrangement on his part for a
dead pull, which could have but one result.
Should you, moreover, find it necessary to jump,
you can thus hold him perfectly straight at
his fences, so that he must either decline al-
together or go exactly where you put him.
Young, headstrong horses are exceedingly apt to
swerve from the place selected for them, and to
rise sideways at some strong bit of timber, or
impracticable part of a bullfinch ; and this is a
most dangerous experiment, causing the worst
kind of falls to which the sportsman is liable.
84 BIDING RECOLLECTIONS
Elding thus two-handed, you will probably
find your new acquaintance "bends " to you in
his canter better than in his trot, and if so, you
may safely push him to a gallop, taking great
care, however, not to let him extend himself
too much. When he goes on his shoulders, he
becomes a free agent ; so long as his haunches
are under him, you can keep him, as it is called,
" in your hand."
There is considerable scope for thought in this
exercise of manual skill, and it is always wise to
save labour of body by use of brain. Take care
then, to have your front clear, so that your horse
may flatter himself he is leading his comrades,
when he will not give you half so much trouble
to retain him in reasonable bounds. Strategy is
here required no less than tactics, and horseman-
ship even as regards the bridle, is quite as much
a matter of head as hand. If you are out hunt-
ing, and have got thus far on good terms, you
will probably now be tempted to indulge in a
leap. We cannot, unfortunately, select those
obstacles exactly as we wish ; it is quite possible
your fence may be high, strong, and awkward,
with every probability of a fall. Take your
horse at it quietly, but resolutely, in a canter,
remembering that the quicker and shorter his
strides, while gathering impetus, the greater
effort he can make when he makes his spring.
Above all, measure with your eye, and endeavour
HAND 85
to show him by the clip of your thighs, and the
sway of your body, exactly where he should take
off. On this important point depends, almost
entirely, the success of your leap. Half a stride
means some six or seven feet ; to leave the
ground that much too soon adds the width of a
fair-sized ditch to his task, and if the sum total
prove too much for him you cannot be surprised
at the result. This is, I think, one of the most
important points in horsemanship as applied to
riding across a country. It is a detail in which
Lord Wilton particularly excels, and although so
good a huntsman must despise a compliment to
his mere riding, I cannot refrain from mentioning
Tom Firr, as another proficient who possesses
this enviable knack in an extraordinary degree.
Many of us can remember " Cap " Tomline, a
professional "rough rider," living at or near
Billesden, within the last twenty years, as fine a
horseman as his namesake, whom I have already
mentioned, and a somewhat lighter weight. For
one sovereign, " Cap," as we used to call him,
was delighted to ride anybody's horse under any
circumstances, over, or into any kind of fence
the owner chose to point out. After going
brilliantly through a run, I have seen him, to
my mind most injudiciously, desired to lark
home alongside, while we watched his per-
formance from the road. He was particularly
fond of timber, and notwithstanding that his
86 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS
horse was usually rash, inexperienced, or bad-
tempered, otherwise he would not have been
riding him, I can call to mind very few occasions
on which I saw him down. One unusually open
winter, when he hunted five and six days a week
from October to April, he told me he had only
fifteen falls, and that taking the seasons as they
came, thirteen was about his average. Nor was
he a very light-weight - spare, lengthy, and
muscular, he turned twelve stone in his hunting
clothes, which were by no means of costly
material. Horses rarely refused with him, and
though thej 7 often had a scramble for it, as
seldom fell, but under his method of riding,
sitting well down in the saddle, with the reins in
both hands, they never took off wrong, and in
this lay the great secret of his superiority. When I
knew him he was an exceedingly temperate man ;
for many years I believe he drank only water,
and he eschewed tobacco in every form. " The
reason you gentlemen have such bad nerves,''' he
said to me, jogging home to Melton one evening
in the dusk that always meets us about Somerby,
" is because you smoke so much. It turns your
brains to a kind of vapour ! " The inference was
startling, 1 thought, and not complimentary, but
there might be some truth in it nevertheless.
We have put off a great deal of time at our
first fence, let us do it without a fall, if we
can.
HAND 87
When a hunter's quarters are under him in
taking off, he has them ready to help him over
any unforeseen difficulty that may confront him
on the other side. Should there be a bank from
which he can get a purchase for a second effort,
he will poise himself on it lightly as a bird,
or perhaps, dropping his hind-legs only, shoot
himself well into the next field, with that delight-
ful elasticity which, met by a corresponding
action of his rider's loins, imparts to the horse-
man such sensations of confidence and dexterity
as are felt by some buoyant swimmer, wafted
home on the roll of an incoming wave. Strong
hocks and thighs, a mutual predilection for the
chase, a bold heart between the saddle-flaps,
another under the waistcoat, and a pair of light
hands, form a combination that few fences after
Christmas are strong enough or blind enough to
put down.
And now please not to forget tha.t soundest of
maxims, applicable to all affairs alike by land or
sea "While she lies her course, let the ship
steer herself." If your horse is going to his own
satisfaction, do not be too particular that he
should go entirely to yours. So long as you can
steady him, never mind that he carries his head
a little up or a little down. If he shakes it you
know you have got him, and can pull him off in
a hundred yards. Keep your hands quiet and
not too low. It is a well-known fact, of which.
88 BIDING RECOLLECTIONS
however, many draughtsmen seem ignorant, that
the horse in action never puts his forefeet beyond
his nose. You need only watch the finish of a
race to be satisfied of this, and indeed the Derby
winner in his supreme effort is almost as straight
as an old-fashioned frigate, from stem to stern,
while a line dropped perpendicularly from his
muzzle would exactly touch the tips of his toes.
Now, if your hands are on each side of your
horse's withers, you make him bend his neck so
much as to contract his stride within three-
quarter speed, whereas when you carry them
about the level of your own hips, and nearly as
far back, he has enough freedom of head to
extend himself without getting beyond your
control, and room besides to look about him,
of which be sure he will avail himself for your
mutual advantage.
I have ridden hunters that obviously found
great pleasure in watching hounds, and, except
to measure their fences, would never take their
eyes off the pack from field to field, so long as
we could keep it in sight. These animals too,
were invariably fine jumpers, free, generous,
light-hearted, and as wise as they were bold.
I heard a very superior performer once remark
that he not only rode every horse differently, but
he rode the same horse differently at every fence.
All I can say is, he used to ride them all in
the same place, well up with the hounds, but I
HAND 89
think I understand what he meant. He had his
system of course, like every other master of the
art, but it admitted of endless variations accord-
ing to circumstances and the exigencies of the
case. No man, I conclude, rides so fast at a
wall as a brook, though he takes equal pains with
his handling in both cases, if in a different way,
nor would he deny a half-tired animal that
support, amounting even to a dead pull, which
might cause a hunter fresh out of his stable to
imagine his utmost exertions were required forth-
with. Nevertheless, whether "lobbing along"
through deep ground at the punishing period,
when we wish our fun was over, or fingering a
rash one delicately for his first fence, a stile, we
will say, downhill with a bad take-off, when we
could almost wish it had not begun, we equally
require such a combination of skill, science, and
sagacity, or rather common sense, as goes by the
name of " hand." When the player possesses
this quality in perfection it is wonderful how
much can be done with the instrument of which
he holds the strings. I remember seeing the
Eeverend John Bower, an extraordinarily fine
rider of the last generation, hand his horse over
an ugly iron-bound stile, on to some stepping-
stones, with a drop of six or seven feet, into a
Leicestershire lane, as calmly as if the animal
had been a lady whom he was taking out for a
walk. He pulled it back into a trot, sitting very
90 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS
close and quiet, with his hand raised two or
three inches above the withers, and I can still
recall, as if I had seen it yesterday, the curve of
neck and quarters, as, gently mouthing the bit,
that well-broken hunter poised lightly for its
spring, and landing in the same collected form,
picked its way daintily, step by step, down the
declivity, like a cat. There was a large field out,
but though Leicestershire then, as now, had no
lack of bold and jealous riders, who could use
heads, hands, and beyond all, their heels, nobody
followed him, and I think the attempt was better
left alone.
Another clergyman of our own day, whose
name I forbear mentioning, because I think he
would dislike it for professional reasons, has the
finest bridle-hand of any one I know. " You
good man," I once heard a foreigner observe to
this gentleman, in allusion to his bold style of
riding ; "it no matter if you break your neck ! "
And although I cannot look on the loss of such
valuable lives from the same point of view as
this Continental moralist, I may be permitted to
regret the present scarcity of clergymen in the
hunting-field. It redounds greatly to their credit,
for we know how many of them deny themselves
a harmless pleasure rather than offend " the
weaker brethren," but what a dog in the manger
must the weaker brother be !
I have never heard that these " hunting
HAND 91
parsons," as they are called, neglect the smallest
detail of duty to indulge in their favourite sport,
but when they do come out you may be sure to
see them in the front rank. Can it be that
the weaker brother is jealous of his pastor's
superiority in the saddle ? I hope not. At any
rate it seems unfair to cavil at the enjoyment by
another of the pursuit we affect ourselves. Let
us show more even-handed justice, if not more
charity, and endeavour at least to follow the
good man's example in the parish, though we
are afraid to ride his line across the fields.
It would be endless to enter on all the different
styles of horsemanship in which fine hands are
of the utmost utility. On the race-course, for
instance, it seerns to an outsider that the whole
performance of the jockey is merely a dead pull
from end to end. But only w r atch the lightest
urchin that is flung on a two-year-old to scramble
home five furlongs as fast as ever he can come ;
you will soon be satisfied that even in these
tumultuous flights there is room for the display
of judgment, patience, though briefly tried, and
manual skill. The same art is exercised on the
light smooth snaffle, held in tenacious grasp, that
causes the heavily-bitted charger to dance and
"passage" in the school. It differs only in
direction and degree. As much dexterity is
required to prevent some playful flyer recently
put in training from breaking out in a game of
92 BIDING RECOLLECTIONS
romps, when he ought to be minding his business
in the " string " as to call forth the well-drilled
efforts of a war-horse, answering wrist and leg
with disciplined activity, ready to " rein back,"
"pass," " wheel,"-
" And high curvet that not in vain,
The sword-sway may descend amain
On foeman's casque below."
Chifney, the great jockey of his day, wrote an
elaborate treatise on handling, laying down the
somewhat untenable position, that even a race-
horse should be held as if with a silken thread.
I have noticed, too, that our best steeplechase
riders have particularly fine hands when cross-
ing a country with hounds ; nor does their pro-
fessional practice seem to make them over-hasty
at their fences, when there is time to do these
with deliberation. I imagine that to ride a
steeplechase well, over a strong line, is the
highest possible test of what we may call " all-
round " horsemanship. My own experience in
the silk jacket has been of the slightest ; and
I confess that, like Falstaff with his reasons, I
never fancied being rattled quite so fast at my
fences " on compulsion."
One of the finest pieces of riding I ever
witnessed was in a steeplechase held at Melton,
as long ago as the year 1864, when, happening
HAND 93
to stand near the brook, eighteen feet of water, I
observed my friend Captain Coventry come down
at it. Choosing sound ground and a clear place,
for it was already beginning to fill with numerous
competitors, he set his horse going, at about
a hundred yards from the brink, in the most
masterly manner, increasing the pace resolutely
but gradually, so as not to flurry or cause the
animal to change his leg, nearly to full speed
before he took off. I could not have believed it
possible to make a horse go so fast in so collected
a form ; but with the rider's strength in the
saddle, and perfectly skilful hands, he accom-
plished the feat, and got well over, I need hardly
say, in his stride.
But, although a fine " bridle-hand," as it is
called, proves of such advantage to the horse-
man in the hurry-skurry of a steeplechase or a
very quick thing with hounds, its niceties come
more readily under the notice of an observer on
the road than in the field. Perhaps the Eide in
Hyde Park is the place of all others where this
quality is most appreciated, and, shall we add ?
most rarely to be found. A perfect Park hack,
that can walk or canter five miles an hour, no
light criterion of action and balance, should also
be so well broke, and so well ridden, as to change
its leg, if asked to do so, at every stride. " With
woven paces," if not " with waving arms," I
have seen rider and horse threading in and out
94 BIDING RECOLLECTIONS
the trees that bisect Eotten Kow, without miss-
ing one, for half a mile on end ; the animal
leading with near or off leg, as it inclined to left
or right, guided only by the inflection of the
rider's body, and the touch, too light to be called
a pressure, of his knee and leg. How seldom
does one see a horse ridden properly round a
corner. He is usually allowed to turn on his
shoulders, with his hind-legs too far back to be
of the slightest assistance if he slips or stumbles,
and should the foothold be greasy, as may
happen in London streets, down he comes flat
on his side. Even at a walk, or slow trot, he
should be collected, and his outer flank pressed
inwards by his rider's heel, so that the motive
power in hocks and thighs is kept under his own
body, and the weight on his back. In the canter
it stands to reason that he should lead with the
inner leg, otherwise it is very possible he may
cross the other over it, and fall like a lump of
lead.
I remember seeing the famous Lord Anglesey
ride his hack at that pace nineteen times out of
Piccadilly into Albemarle Street, before it turned
the corner exactly to his mind. The handsome
old warrior who looked no less distinguished than
he was, had, as we know, a cork leg, and its
oscillation no doubt interfered with those niceties
of horsemanship in which he delighted. Never-
theless at the twentieth trial he succeeded, and
HAND 95
a large crowd, collected to watch him, seemed
glad of an opportunity to give their Waterloo
hero a hearty cheer as he rode away.
Perhaps the finest pair of hands to be seen
amongst the frequenters of the Park in the
present day belong to Mr. Mackenzie Greaves, a
retired cavalry officer of our own service, who,
passionately fond of hunting and everything
connected with horses, has lately turned his
attention to the subtleties of the haute ecole,
nowhere better understood, by a select few, than
in Paris, where he usually resides. To watch
this gentleman on a horse he has broken in him-
self, gliding through the crowd, as if by mere
volition, with the smoothness, ease, and rapidity
of a fish arrowing up a stream, makes one quite
understand how the myth of the Centaur origi-
nated in the sculpture and poetry of Greece.
In common with General Laurenson, whose
name I have already mentioned as just such
another proficient, his system is very similar to
that of Monsieur Baucher, one of the few lovers
of the animal either in France or England, who
have so studied its character as to reduce equine
education to a science. Its details are far too
elaborate to enter on here, but one of its first
principles, applied in the most elementary
tuition, is never to let the horse recoil from his
bridle.
" Drop your hands ! " say nine good riders out
96 BIDING RECOLLECTIONS
of ten, when the pupil's head is thrown up to
avoid control. " Not so," replies Baucher. " On
the contrary, tighten and increase your pressure
more and more, keeping the rebel up to his bit
with legs and spurs if necessary, till he yields,
not you ; then on the instant, rapidly and
dexterously, as you would strike in fly-fishing,
give to him, and he will come into your hand ! "
I have tried his method myself, in more than
one instance, and am inclined to think it is
founded on common sense.
But in all our dealings with him, we should
remember that the horse's mouth is naturally
delicate and sensitive though we so often find it
hardened by violence and ill-usage. The amount
of force we apply, therefore, whether small or
great, should be measured no less accurately
than the drops of laudanum administered to a
patient by the nurse. Reins are intended for the
guidance of the horse, not the support of his
rider, and if you do not feel secure without hold-
ing on by something, rather than pluck at his
mouth, accept the ridicule of the position with
its safety, and grasp the mane !
Seriously, you may do worse in a difficulty when
your balance is in danger, and instinct prompts
you to restore it, as, if a horse is struggling out of
a bog, has dropped his hind -legs in a brook, or
otherwise come on his nose without actually fall-
ing, nothing so impedes his endeavours to right
HAND 97
himself as a tug of the bridle at an inopportune
moment. That instrument should be used for
its legitimate purposes alone, and a strong seat
in the saddle is the first essential for a light
hand on the rein.
CHAPTEE VI
SEAT
SOME people tell you they ride by " balance,"
others by " grip." I think a man might as well
say he played the fiddle by "finger," or by ear.
Surely in either case a combination of both is
required to sustain the performance with har-
mony and success. The grip preserves the
balance, which in turn prevents the grip becom-
ing irksome. To depend on the one alone is to
come home very often with a dirty coat, to cling
wholly by the other is to court as much fatigue
in a day as ought to serve for a week. I have
more than once compared riding to swimming,
it seems to require the same buoyancy of spirits,
the same venture of body, the same happy com-
bination of confidence, strength, and skill.
The seat a man finds easiest to himself, says
the inimitable Mr. Jorrocks, " will in all humane
probability be the easiest to his 'oss ! " and in
this, as in every other remark of the humorous
grocer, there is no little wisdom and truth. " If
SEAT 99
he go smooth, I am," * said a Frenchman, to
whom a friend of mind offered a mount, " if he
go rough, I shall not remain ! " and doubtless
the primary object of getting into a saddle, is to
stay there at our own convenience, so long as
circumstances permit.
But what a number of different attitudes do
men adopt, in order to insure this permanent
settlement. There is no position, from the
tongs in the fender, to the tailor on his shop-
board, into which the equestrian has not forced
his unaccustomed limbs, to avoid involuntary
separation from his beast. The dragoon of fifty
years ago was drilled to ride with a straight leg,
and his foot barely resting on the stirrup,
whereas the oriental cavalry soldier, no mean
proficient in the management of horse and
weapon, tucks his knees up nearly to his chin,
so that when he rises in the saddle, he towers
above his little Arab as if he were standing
rather than sitting on its back. The position,
he argues, gives him a longer reach, and stronger
purchase for the use of sword and spear. If we
are to judge by illuminated copies of Froissart,
and other contemporary chronicles, it would
seem that the armour-clad knight of the olden
time, trusting in the depth and security of his
saddle, rode so long so to derive no assistance
whatever from his stirrups, sitting down on his
* J'y suis.
100 BIDING RECOLLECTIONS
horse as much as possible, in dread, may be, lest
the point of an adversary's lance should hoist
him fairly out of his place over a cantle six
inches high, and send him clanging to the
ground, in mail and plate, surcoat, helmet and
plumes, with his ladylove, squires, yeomen, the
marshals of the lists, and all his feudal enemies
looking on !
Now the length of stirrup with which a man
should ride, and in its adjustment consists much
of the ease, grace, and security of his position,
depends on the conformation of his lower limbs.
If his thighs are long in proportion to his frame,
flat and somewhat curved inwards, he will sit
very comfortably at the exact length that raises
him clear of his horse's withers, when he stands
up in his stirrups with his feet home, and the
majority of men thus limbed, on the majority of
horses, will find this a good general rule. But
when the legs are short and muscular, the thighs
round and thick, the whole frame square and
strong, more like wrestling than dancing and
many very superior riders are of this figure the
leathers must be pulled up a couple of holes and
the foot thrust a little more forward, to obtain
the necessary security of seat, at a certain
sacrifice of grace and even ease. To look as
neat as one can is a compliment to society, to be
safe and comfortable is a duty to oneself.
Much also depends on the animal we bestride.
SEAT 101
Horses low in the withers, and strong behind
the saddle, particularly if inclined to " catch
hold" a little, require in all cases rather shorter
stirrups than their easier and truer-shaped stable-
companions, nay, the varying roundness of barrel
at different stages of condition affects the attitude
of a rider, and most of us must have remarked,
as horse and master get finer drawn towards the
spring, how we let out the stirrups in proportion
as we take in waistbelt, and saddle girths. Men
rode well nevertheless, witness the Elgin marbles,
before the invention of this invaluable aid to
horsemanship ; and no equestrian can be con-
sidered perfect who is unable in a plunge or leap
to stick on his horse bare-backed. Every boy
should be taught to ride without stirrups, but
not till he is tall and strong enough to grasp his
pony firmly between his knees. A child of six
or seven might injure itself in the effort, and ten,
or eleven, is an early age enough for our young
gentleman to be initiated into the subtleties of