REINING BACK.
As a lady will be unable to open gates correctly unless her horse will rein back readily, it will be necessary for her to obtain practice in this useful exercise. A horse which has to carry a woman should have previously been taught to rein back, chiefly by word of command and with only slight indications of the reins, because in the rein back a lady is greatly handicapped by her want of control over the animal’s hind quarters. In this movement we should above all things avoid leaning back and putting an equal feeling on both reins, for that would be the very thing to prompt him to rear. It is evident that as a horse has to be light in front when going forward, he should be light behind when reining back. Therefore, the rider should lean forward. Also, she should feel the reins alternately, turning the horse’s head towards the fore leg which is more advanced than the other fore leg. When she takes a steady pull with her right rein and finds that the horse draws back his off-fore, she should slacken the right rein and take a similar steady pull with the left rein to induce him to bring back his near fore, and so on. During this alternate feeling of the reins she should keep her hands as low as practicable, so that the horse may lower his head and put weight on his forehand, and consequently facilitate the movements of his hind legs. For each step the lady should use the words of command, “rein back,” in a decided tone of voice, supposing of course that the animal has been taught the meaning of this verbal order. However well a lady may carry out these directions, she may not effect her purpose with precision, because the side pulls of the respective reins will prompt the horse, if he has not had previous training, to bring round his hind quarters in the opposite direction. The rider can prevent him doing this to the right by pressure of the whip on his off-flank; but owing to the necessary shortness of her stirrup, she will not be able to prevent him from swinging his hind quarters round to the left. Here, the fact of a man having a leg on each side of his horse and fairly long stirrups, makes him far more capable of reining back a horse properly, than a lady seated on one side of the animal. A man obtains command of a horse’s hind quarters by the pressure of his legs, especially when the feet are drawn back. As horses very much dislike reining back, I would caution the rider not to disgust her animal by continuing it for too long a time. He should be occasionally reined back a couple of times for four or five paces, and after each rein back should be allowed to go forward, and he should be rewarded for his obedience by a few pats on the neck and some words of encouragement. If the animal’s temper be upset by too much reining back, he will probably adopt the dangerous habit of running back, when he would be very liable to fall, or he may rear. As inconsiderate people will persist in taking kickers into the hunting field, every lady who desires to hunt should be able to rein back her horse, in order to remove him, if possible, from the dangerous vicinity of an animal whose tail is adorned with a red bow, which is a sign that he is a kicker, and not that he has been recently vaccinated.
Her next lessons should be devoted to obtaining practice in jumping various kinds of fences, and in riding up and down hill, over ridge and furrow and difficult ground, which we will deal with in another chapter. A lady should remember to always keep an eye on her mount, and never let her attention be diverted from the order of his going, however much she may be otherwise occupied. To people who have had much practice in riding various horses, this forward outlook becomes almost automatic.
I would advise my imaginary pupil to learn the following ancient rhyme by heart, and to observe its teaching, although it is not entirely applicable to ladies—
“Your head and your heart keep boldly up,
Your hands and your heels keep down,
Your knees keep close to your horse’s sides
And your elbows close to your own.”
CHAPTER XI.
RIDING ACROSS COUNTRY.
“Made” fences—Practice over natural fences.