I fancy it will be almost superfluous to tell you to observe strictly the rules of the road—namely, to keep to the left, except when you have to pass anything going your way, in which case you must get by on the right of it.
CHAPTER XII.
PACES, VICES, AND FAULTS.
Cantering is a very nice pace for park or road riding, when the ground is soft, and not cut up by stones. A trained horse will start from a walk to a canter at a very slight indication from his rider, but surmising (as in the last chapter) that you have accepted the loan of a somewhat unmannerly or not sufficiently educated mount, you must induce him to canter by collecting him well on his haunches (from which the motion is in reality performed), touching him with the whip on the off side, and drawing his head gently round to the near until he makes a start. When he does so, balance yourself in time to his movement, and use the bridle lightly, with a very slight give-and-take motion of your hands. Do not allow him to get into a gallop; but, at the same time, remember that it will be cruel to keep him cantering too long, especially unless you permit him to change his leg, for which purpose you must pull him quietly up, and reverse the movement by which, in the first instance, you have urged him to go off. A slow, handsome canter, collected and dignified, looks extremely well no doubt in the park, but it is terribly trying to a horse when kept up too long; in fact, a smart, stirring gallop will not distress him nearly so much.
When cantering keep your knees firmly pressed against the pommels—sit close to the saddle, like a part of your horse—and throw your shoulders well back.
The very nice pace called a hand-gallop may be indulged in by slackening the rein a little, and encouraging your mount by voice or bridle to go a trifle faster. The hand-gallop never distresses a horse, even a broken-winded one; it is a joyous, exhilarating motion, in which both steed and rider find pleasure. Conversation need not be stopped by it, or even interrupted for a moment, and it will be found a delightful pace at which to go to covert in the morning, or to travel on to the next one, when “blank” has been called at the first.
The hand-gallop is only pastime—mere play, without any peril—but the gallop proper, to which I now come to allude, is a very serious business indeed for a young rider to take in hand. If your horse is a trained one, you have only to sit down close when he gallops, and hold the reins firmly in both hands: your seat secure, your body as motionless as you can make it, your elbows like hinges, your hands low on the withers, keeping your horse’s head straight and steady, while you give-and-take with his every stride, and on no account, or under any circumstances whatever, keep a dead pull on his mouth.
I shall surmise, however, as before (for the purpose of instructing you) that your steed is not by any means perfect, and that he will probably give you a good deal of trouble before you have quite done with him. He will not be likely to have all the vices, or even one-half of those for which I am about to prepare you, but you will probably meet with them in one form or another at different periods of your career as a horsewoman: therefore a few words about such matters will not, I think, be amiss.
If called upon to ride a puller, get his head up, and then drop your hands a little to him, to see whether he will yield to your will. If he fails to do so, catch the reins short, draw back your foot, give him one good pull, and then another: in short, a succession of them—but yield to him always between whiles, and speak to him in a quiet, soothing manner. Do not attempt to fight him, or he may run away with you, and that is nasty for a lady. If you think that he has the bit between his teeth, you may saw at it from side to side until you get him to release it.