Having now endeavoured to describe the best preparations on foot for the pupil, the style of dress most suitable for her first lessons in equitation, the stamp of horse a lady should ride, the training he should undergo for the special service required of him, and the kind of saddlery and equipment he will travel best in, in my next chapter I will attempt briefly, but minutely, to detail the first step in the riding lesson proper, namely, the form in which the pupil should approach her horse in order to be assisted into the saddle, and the mounting motions, all of which are of great importance, as each motion should be executed gracefully, without hurry, and in a well defined and finished manner. Nothing connected with riding stamps the style and tournure of a lady more than the fashion in which she mounts her horse and arranges her habit; it ought, in fact, to be a matter as carefully looked to by the instructor as her mode of entering a room would be to a master of deportment.
CHAPTER IV.
The manner in which a lady should approach her horse in order to be assisted to mount should be carefully looked to by the instructor. Anything like hurry, while it is calculated to render the horse unsteady, is at the same time ungraceful, and the beginning of a bad habit always to be avoided.
Everything in the way of mounting or dismounting a horse, either by a lady or gentleman, should be done with well-defined and deliberate, although smart motions. This precision once acquired is the good habit which becomes second nature to the rider, and is so highly indicative of good manners in equitation.
To some persons the formula I am about to describe may appear too punctilious, and possibly carried to too nice a point of precision. But my idea is that in all these matters it is well to begin by overdoing them a little. We are all more or less prone to become careless in our carriage and bearing, both on foot and horseback, as we grow older; therefore overdoing them a trifle with young people may safely be pronounced an error on the right side.
I have frequently heard the remark that it is of no consequence how a man or woman gets upon a horse, provided they can ride when once up. I maintain that graceful riding is true riding, and that if it is worth while to ride gracefully, it is equally worth while to mount gracefully.
Let us then suppose the lady to be dressed and ready for her ride in school or manége. She should take the skirt of her habit in the full of both hands, holding her whip in the right; the skirt should be raised sufficiently to admit of the wearer walking freely. Then she should walk from a point in the school at right angles with her horse quietly to his shoulder, and face square to her left, standing just behind the animal's near elbow and parallel to his side. Thus facing to the front, and still holding her skirt with both hands, she should pass her whip from her right hand into the left, and "make much of her horse" by patting him on the near shoulder—the best method anybody (man or woman) can adopt as a first step to acquaintance with a strange horse; at the same time she should speak soothingly to her new equine friend. The horse should be held by a groom standing in front of him, and holding him by both reins. On the assistant approaching to lift the pupil to the saddle, the lady should return the whip to the right hand and drop her habit. She should then take the snaffle or bridoon rein in the centre with the left hand, at the end close to the buckle piece with the right, and draw them through the left until she has a light and equal feeling upon both sides of the horse's mouth. The right hand should then be placed firmly on the near side upper crutch of the saddle, the snaffle rein held between the pommel and the hand, the whip in the full of it. The left hand should then grip the reins, and the lady should resume her position square to the front, without moving her right hand or relaxing her grasp of the pommel of the saddle. The assistant (who should be a gentleman, not a groom) should then stoop low enough to place both his hands locked together in such a position that the pupil can place her left foot firmly on them, the left knee slightly bent. At the same time she should also place the flat of her left hand firmly on the right shoulder of the assistant, keeping her arm perfectly straight. The instructor should then give her the following directions: "On the word 'one,' bend the right knee; on the word 'two,' spring smartly up from the right foot and straighten the left knee." If the pupil executes these movements simultaneously, keeping her left elbow perfectly firm and the arm straight, the assistant can lift her with the greatest ease to the level of the saddle, where, firmly grasping the pommel, she has only to make a half turn to her left, and she is seated sideways on her horse. The assistant should then straighten the skirt down, and taking the slack of it in his left hand, lift it over the near side upper crutch while the lady turns in her saddle, and facing square to her point, lifts her right knee over the pommel, bringing her right leg close to the forepoint of the saddle, with the leg well drawn back, and the toe raised from the instep. The assistant should then place the lady's foot well home in the stirrup. Before raising the right knee over the pommel, the lady should lift the snaffle reins with her right hand high enough to admit of her moving the leg without interfering with them. The right knee being firmly placed between the pommels, and the left foot in the stirrup, the pupil should then place her right hand with the snaffle reins between the finger and thumb and the whip in the full of the hand, firmly on the off-side pommel of the saddle. She should then draw her left foot well back, and getting a firm bearing on the stirrup, raise herself well up from the saddle, leaning forward sufficiently to preserve her balance. She should then pass her left hand back, and pull her skirt well out, so that there remains no ruck or wrinkle in it, and then quietly lower herself down to the saddle again. This act of clearing the slack of the skirt is one which it is so frequently necessary for the lady to execute when riding that she should practise it frequently in her early lessons. It is true that when the assistant first places her on the horse he can arrange her habit as she rises from the saddle; but, for some time, until she has acquired firmness and perfect balance, her habit will inevitably ride up, particularly in trotting, and it is necessary that she should learn to be independent in this respect of the gentleman who attends her. Moreover, as to arrange the habit gracefully requires considerable practice, it should form a distinct part of the lesson at first when the horse is standing perfectly still, afterwards at a walk, and finally at a trot. In cantering it cannot be done.
Having arranged the hind part of her skirt, the lady should then take the front in her left hand, and pull it well forward, raising her right knee at the same time, to insure that she has perfect freedom of action for it. The left knee should then be placed firmly against the leaping crutch (or, as it is generally called, the third crutch) of the saddle; although with saddles devoid of an off-side pommel, it is, in fact, the second crutch. This important adjunct to a lady's firmness and security in riding should always be most carefully looked to by Paterfamilias when purchasing the saddle, and by the master after it is bought. I can well remember when the third crutch was unknown; and in these days, when its efficiency has been so abundantly proved, it really seems marvellous how ladies years ago could not only ride well without it, but even acquit themselves creditably in the hunting field. The secret of the matter, however, lies in this: First, although there was no third support for the rider, the off-side and near-side pommels were much closer together than those now made; the off-side one was well padded, and in most cases where ladies rode hunting it was usual to have an extra pad, which fitted on to the off-side crutch, and again narrowed the interval, according to the size of the lady, until her leg fitted tightly between the two crutches, thus giving her a very firm hold with the right knee. Nevertheless, it is evident that only the truest balance would enable the fair equestrians of those days to maintain their seats.
When a young lady is first put on horseback, I believe in anything that can give her confidence, and for this purpose the third crutch is admirable, because she finds a firm purchase between the crutch and the stirrup. As this hold, however, is apt to degenerate into a complete reliance on the third pommel, it is necessary in a more advanced stage of the lessons in equitation to use a saddle without any such support for the pupil. The third crutch, when forming part of a side-saddle, should never be removed, as is too frequently done by grooms for the purpose of cleaning the saddle. The crutch itself is so constructed as to screw into a socket in the tree. By constantly screwing and unscrewing it, the thread of the screw wears out; in fact, this will occur much sooner than would be supposed. The consequence is that, let the lady or her assistant turn the third crutch to what angle they may in order to suit the length and formation of the lady's leg, the crutch will not remain in its proper position, but is continually shifting, turning, and wobbling, to the great discomfort of the rider; nay, I have seen more than one case where the crutch has turned edgeways to the rider's leg, and caused severe pain and bruising of the delicate limb. Let it be a strict injunction then, to your groom, "Never unscrew the third crutch;" and if you find the support shifting in its socket, shift the groom as soon as possible, and send the saddle to the saddler to be firmly fixed in.