Should any failure, however, attend the first effort, both horses should again be brought to the walk; the lady should be allowed to re-arrange her habit, and recover from the inevitable flurry which attends any failure of this sort. Patience, concise explanation, and cheerful manner on the part of the master will presently find their reward. All ladies do not possess great nerve, but most of them have great courage and perseverance, and after a false start or two they get on their mettle, and are sure to catch the true action. When once they have it, the master should make the pace sharp and active three or four times round the school, which is long enough for a first attempt. A couple more turns of equal duration should terminate the first trotting lesson. The lady should walk her horse round the school until both are cool, make much of him by patting him on the neck, and then be taken off. Day by day the instructor can slightly increase the length of the lesson, always beginning it, however, as above described, until the rise and fall of the pupil at a trot is perfectly true and fair. There should be no twist from the waist, the shoulders perfectly square, every movement in exact harmony with the horse's action. After the lady can rise and fall in the saddle unaided by the master, he is better on foot, because he can stand behind his pupil, and at once correct any fault in her position or riding; and no fault, be it remembered, however trivial, should be allowed to pass uncorrected.
For some time the lady should continue trotting out round the school, riding altogether upon the snaffle and sending her horse well up against it. There should be no "give-and-take" action in the hand in this case; but while she does not pull the weight of a feather against her horse, she should make him maintain the appui by taking well hold of her hand; his trot will then be regular and fair.
After about ten days or a fortnight of such practice, the master may commence the third section of his trotting lesson, namely, that in which the pupil begins to collect her horse, raise his forehand, and bring his haunches under him.
The first step in this should be to ascertain that the lady is not dependent upon the horse's mouth for any part of her firmness in the saddle, or, more correctly speaking, to see that her balance is right unaided by the bridle, because, although perhaps imperceptible to the rider (man or woman), the appui of the mouth has more to do with the seat than most people imagine. In good schools of equitation men tell you "There are no hands without legs." True, and if we were to ask many a good man that we see crossing a country to ride over a big fence without a bridle we should perceive that there are few seats without hands. It is to correct the tendency to trust for support to the horse's mouth that the efforts of the instructor should now be directed.
To carry this out, he should be mounted upon a horse of about equal height to that of his pupil, on the off side, and close to whom he should place himself. He should direct her to drop her reins entirely, and then take them in his left hand, riding his own horse with his right. He should then instruct the lady to place her hands behind her waist, the right hand grasping the left elbow, as described in the suppling practices. Cautioning her again as to firmness of grasp and good balance, he should then urge both horses into a smart trot, and keep them going round the school two or three times, carefully watching the action of the pupil, and if he perceives the least indication of distress pull up immediately. The exertion necessary to execute this lesson is severe if the pupil has not been well suppled before being put on horseback. If she has, there will be considerably less effort in it; but, in any case, on first practising it, the fair tyro requires every encouragement to persevere, because in doing one thing well, she is very apt to forget another. Constantly reminded as to her position as the trot goes on, she will succeed in doing all well. After two or three such turns (the arms of course disengaged during the interval), the lady should take up her reins again; this time the curb and snaffle reins of equal length, and in the form (No. 1) described in a previous chapter. She should then trot her horse freely out round the school, and she will find the full benefit of her recent drilling without reins, inasmuch as her seat will be many degrees firmer, and her balance more true, leaving her more liberty of action in hand and leg to apply the necessary aids to her horse in the coming lesson, in which at a well-regulated and collected pace, she will learn to turn him in any direction at her will, to rein him back, to make the inclines and circles, and prepare him for the cantering lesson by finally riding him in his trot entirely on the curb rein, and throwing him well upon his haunches.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Trotting Lesson (continued).
I come now to the final section of the trotting lesson—that which, thoroughly acquired, I may term the thorough base of the matter. Having satisfied himself that his pupil has command of her horse, steady seat and hands, and true balance when riding equally on the snaffle and curb, the master should proceed to instruct her as to the mode of arranging the reins so as to ride on the curb alone.
As this has been already described, it is needless to repeat the formula. I may observe, however, that, in order to give increased facility of action to the bridle hand, and avoid anything like sudden jerk or rough pull upon the horse's mouth, it is best for the lady to retain the end of the curb reins between the fore finger and thumb of her right hand, by doing which she is enabled, keeping her left hand perfectly steady, and opening and closing the fingers, to give easy play to the reins. Without this she would find riding on the curb alone difficult at first with the left hand only, because all the motion must come from the wrist, and considerable practice is necessary to accommodate this motion exactly to the action of the horse. Care should be taken that the elbows are kept well back, so as to preserve the suppleness of the waist, and by this time also the pupil ought to have acquired sufficient steadiness in the saddle to admit of her giving easy play to the upper part of the arm at the shoulder joint. But until complete firmness of seat is gained this should not be attempted, because in the case of a novice it disconnects the figure, and interferes with the horse's mouth materially. The most rigid attention also should be given to the pupil's general position, and the firmness and correct placing of both legs—the heels well down, the upper part of the body well drawn up from the waist, "the whole figure pliant and accompanying every movement of the horse" (see "Military Aid Book").