I may say here, that in ninety-five cases out of a hundred the lady falls to the right. If the gentleman is riding on her left, he gives up to her the best place, and protects her legs; she can use her whip more freely; he has the use of his right hand to stop or quiet her horse; he can arrange her skirt, should she need his help; if she falls, he has but to seize her left arm, and draw her toward him, calculating the strength which he employs, and he may even lift her from the saddle.
[CHAPTER IV.]
Resistances of the horse.
In all the best riding-schools of Europe two posts are firmly fixed into the ground, parallel with and about twenty paces from one of the short sides of the school. These are called pillars, and between them is fastened a horse who is trained to rear or to kick at command, in order that the teacher may explain to his pupils what they must do when they encounter one or other of these resistances. These pillars are almost unknown in riding-schools in this country, and the reason of their absence may be found, I think, in the moral qualities of the American horse, which are really astonishing when looked at from the point of view of animal character.
A teacher should, however, give his pupils some instructions about the most common tricks or vices of the horse, which are usually only defensive action on his part. Before any active form of resistance, the horse always makes a well-marked pause; for instance, in order to rear, he stops his motion forward, draws his hind legs under him, throws his weight on them, and lifts his fore legs from the ground, holding his head high. When he is almost upright on his hind legs, he stands for a longer or shorter time, moving his fore feet as if beating the air, and then either comes down to earth again or falls backward, which is acknowledged to be the most dangerous thing which can happen on horseback. If the rider feels that her horse is on the point of going over with her, she must instantly slip her foot out of the stirrup, loosen the hold of her leg on the pommel, and lean as far to the right as she can, turning her body to the left in order to fall on the right of the horse, who almost always falls to the left, and, as soon as she is on the ground, she must scramble away from her horse as quickly as possible.
The best way of preventing a horse from rearing is not allowing him to stop; and, if it should be too late or too difficult to manage this, all effects of the hands should stop at once, and the rider should attack his right flank with her whip vigorously. If a horse rears habitually, he should be got rid of.
In order to kick, on the contrary, the horse braces himself with his fore legs, lifting his hind quarters by a contraction of his hind legs; and, when his croup is in the air, he kicks as hard as he can with his hind legs, and brings them suddenly to the ground again, holding his head low and sticking out his neck meanwhile.
An inexperienced rider may be frightened by the shock of this movement, which is very disagreeable, besides being dangerous to people behind; but, with calm presence of mind and a little energy, this trick may be fought without too much annoyance. In this case also the great thing is to hinder the horse from stopping, by keeping his head up; and, if, in spite of the rider, he gets it down and his legs braced in front of him, she should lean very far back and strike one or two vigorous blows with her whip on the lower part of the neck where it joins the chest, trying at the same time to lift the head with the reins.