Mounting of Lady in Side-Saddle.—The mounter, being as close as possible to the animal, should place his right hand on his right knee, and in it receive the lady’s left foot. When she springs she should straighten her left knee, at the same time having in her right hand the reins, with a fast hold of the middle crutch, and her left hand on the mounter’s shoulder to help her to spring up.
HARNESSING.
The General Mounting, whether of brass or silver-plated (to correspond with the mountings of the carriage), or with leather-covered buckles, is all a matter of taste; the leather being, however, the least durable.
A Dry Harness-Room is indispensable, in which there should be shallow presses with pegs, but no shelves; otherwise, coverings should be provided for harness and saddles to preserve them from flying dust.
Style.—In pairing horses for draught, if one be rather larger than the other, the larger should be placed on the near or left side, as the left-hand side of the road being that on which vehicles travel, the near-side horse will generally be going an inch or more lower than the off-side one, and the difference of size in the pair will be less perceptible.
If the animals are of an even size, and one be more lazy than the other, that one should be placed at the off side, being thus more conveniently situated to receive gentle reminders from the whip without observation. If one of the pair will carry his head higher than the other, his coupling-rein[22] should run under that of the animal that leans his head the most, so as to bring their heads as much on a level as possible. An ivory ring, to run the coupling-reins through, looks and acts well.
Both manes should be trained to flow either in or out from the pole; the latter way is probably preferable.
Horses left to stand harnessed in the stable should be turned round in the stalls and fastened with the T’s of two pillar-reins passed through the rings of the bridoon of bit. Should there be no pillar-reins in pairs belonging to the stern-posts of each stall, tie the horses’ heads up with the rack-rein, so as to prevent their lying down in the harness.
As a maxim, never leave a bridle on in the stable, unless in the case where the head can be sustained by a pair of pillar-reins from the stern-posts. Most serious accidents have occurred through neglect of this rule.