A hunting-tie or stock, which is a combination of collar and tie, the collar part being either starched or soft, according to choice, is the warmest and most becoming kind of neck arrangement for hunting. It is not easy to put on neatly, and it would be well for a novice when purchasing these ties to get the shopman to initiate her into their mysteries, and to take one home correctly tied, to be kept as a copy until its somewhat intricate manipulation has been mastered. My husband’s directions for the arrangement of a hunting-tie are as follows:—“The centre of the stock is placed on the front of the neck, the ends are passed in opposite directions round the back of the neck, brought in front, tied in a reef knot, crossed in front of this knot, and finally secured, as a rule, by means of a pin or brooch of the safety or horse-shoe or fox pattern. A gold safety pin is often used. A brooch pin is naturally safer than an ordinary pin. Nowadays, hunting ties are nearly always made of white cotton material” (Riding and Hunting).
If a collar is preferred to a hunting-tie, it should not be too high, for nothing is more uncomfortable in riding than a collar which compels its wearer to preserve a stiff neck and runs into her whenever she tries to turn her head. The best kind of cuffs are those which have button holes for links or solitaires in the centre, as they allow room for thick gloves to be passed under them. The necktie to be worn is a matter of choice, but white and black ties are always becoming, the former for preference, as they brighten up a dark habit. It is always well to abjure startling colours; for the dress, saddlery and gear of a horsewoman should be characterised by simplicity and neatness. On this point I can offer no sounder advice than that given to Laertes by his father, who said:
“Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;”
and also the woman.
CHAPTER VI.
MOUNTING AND DISMOUNTING.
MOUNTING.
Supposing, as is usually the case, that there is a groom to hold the horse, and a gentleman to put the lady up; the groom, after the reins are placed on the animal’s neck just in front of the withers, should stand in front of the horse, and should keep the animal’s head up by holding the snaffle reins, one in each hand, close to the rings. If a double bridle be employed, as is usually the case, he should on no account hold the bit reins, lest an accident may happen from the curb hurting the horse’s mouth. If there be no snaffle, the cheek-pieces of the headstall of the curb or Pelham should be held. With a strange or uncertain tempered animal, it is best for the lady to approach him from his “left front,” and she will do well to speak kindly to him and pat him on the neck, for these two forms of conciliation are greatly appreciated by horses. Having arrived alongside her mount, she should stand just behind his near foreleg, close to, but not touching him, and facing to the front, with her shoulders at right angles to his side. She now places her right hand, with the whip in it, on the upper crutch, and raises her left foot about twelve inches from the ground, while keeping the leg, from knee to ankle, in a more or less vertical position ([Fig. 67]). The whip should be held as in this illustration, so as to avoid alarming the horse. The gentleman who is to put her on her horse, places himself close to, and in front of her, bends down, and places the palm of one hand (generally the left one) under the ball of her left foot, while he supports that hand by putting the palm of the other hand under it. The lady then places her left hand—with the elbow turned out a little, so as to be able to utilise that arm in raising herself—on his right shoulder ([Fig. 68]).