| INTRODUCTION. |
| PAGE |
| Utility, health, and enjoyment, in horseback riding.—Affection of the horse for a kind mistress.—Incorrect views entertained by ladies relative to horses and horseback riding.—Tight lacing incompatible with correct riding.—Advantages of good riding-schools.—Instinct not a sufficient guide.—Compatibility of refinement and horseback riding.—Importance of out-of-door exercise. | 1 |
| CHAPTER I. THE HORSE. |
| Origin and countries of the horse.—Earliest Scriptural mention of the horse.—Caligula's horse.—Horseback riding in the Middle Ages.—The Arab horse and his descendants.—Selection of a horse, and points to be observed.—Suitable gaits for the several conformations of riders.—The fast or running walk.—Various kinds of trotting.—The jog trot undesirable.—Temperament of the horse to be taken into consideration.—Thorough-bred horses.—Low-bred horses.—Traits of thorough and low bred horses.—Purchasing a horse; when to pay for the purchase.—Kindness to the horse instead of brutality.—Advantages of kind treatment of the horse.—Horses properly trained from early colt-life, the best.—Certain requirements in training a horse for a lady.—Ladies should visit their horses in the stable.—Ladies of refinement, occupying the highest positions in the civilized and fashionable world, personally attend to their horses.—Nature of the horse.—Unreliable grooms; their vicious course with horses intrusted to their care.—Care required in riding livery-stable horses. | 13 |
| CHAPTER II. THE RIDING HABIT. |
| Riding habit should not be gaudy.—Instructions concerning the material for riding habit, and how this should be made.—The waist.—The basque or jacket.—Length of riding habit.—White material not to be worn on horseback.—Riding shirt.—Riding drawers.—Riding boots.—Riding corset.—Riding coiffure or head-dress.—Riding hat.—Minutiæ to be attended to in the riding costume.—How to hold the riding skirt while standing.—Riding whip. | 52 |
| CHAPTER III. THE SADDLE AND BRIDLE. |
| Saddle of ancient times, and the manner of riding.—Planchette.—Catherine de Medici deviser of the two-pommeled saddle.—M. Pellier, Sr., inventor of the third pommel.—English saddle.—Advantages of the third pommel.—Saddle should, invariably, be made and fitted to the horse.—Seat of saddle.—Kinds of saddles for different ladies.—Proper application of the third pommel.—Saddle recommended and used by the author.—Points to be attended to in procuring a saddle.—Girths.—New mode of tightening girths.—Stirrups and stirrup-leathers.—Safety stirrups.—How to attach the stirrup-leather.—The bridle and reins.—Martingales.—Snaffle-bits.—Curb-bits.—Curb-chain.—Tricks of horses with bits, and their remedy.—Adjustment of the bit and head-stall.—Care of the bit.—How to correctly place the saddle on the horse.—Remarks concerning girthing the horse.—Great advantages derived from knowing how to saddle and bridle one's horse. | 67 |
| CHAPTER IV. MOUNTING AND DISMOUNTING. |
| Timidity in presence of a horse should be overcome.—First attempts at mounting.—Mounting from a horse-block.—Mounting from the ground.—Mounting with assistance from a gentleman; how this is effected.—What the gentleman must do.—A restive horse while mounting; how to be managed.—Attractiveness of correct mounting.—To dismount with assistance from a gentleman; what the gentleman must do.—Attentions to the skirt both while mounting and dismounting.—Dismounting without aid; upon the ground; upon a very low horse-block.—Concluding remarks. | 99 |
| CHAPTER V. THE SEAT ON HORSEBACK. |
| The absolute necessity for a correct seat.—Natural riders rarely acquire a correct seat.—The dead-weight seat.—The wabbling seat.—Essential to good and graceful riding that the body be held square and erect.—The correct seat.—Proper attitude for the body, shoulders, waist, arms, hands, knees, and legs, when on horseback.—Uses and advantages of the third pommel.—Lessons in position should always be taken by the novice in horseback riding.—Faulty positions of ladies called "excellent equestriennes," pointed out at an imaginary park.—Remarks concerning the improper use of stirrups and pommels.—Pupils and teachers frequently in erroneous positions toward each other.—Obstinacy of some pupils, and wrong ideas of others.—Ladies should not be in too much haste to become riders before they understand all the elementary and necessary requirements; but should advance carefully, attentively, and thoroughly.—Suggestions to teachers of ladies in equitation. | 114 |
| CHAPTER VI. HOLDING THE REINS, AND MANAGING THE HORSE. |
| A thorough knowledge of the management of the horse highly necessary for a lady.—Position in the saddle has an important influence.—Horses generally more gentle with women than with men.—Position should be acquired first, and afterwards the reins be used.—How to hold the hands and snaffle-reins, in first lessons.—To turn the horse to the right, to the left, to back him, to stop him, with a snaffle-rein in each hand.—Manner of holding the snaffle-reins in the bridle-hand; to turn the horse to either side; to back, and to stop him.—To change the snaffle-reins from the left to the right hand; to reinstate them in the bridle-hand.—To separate the snaffle-reins; to shorten or lengthen them.—To hold the curb and bridoon, or double bridle-reins; to shorten or lengthen them; to shorten the curb and lengthen the snaffle-reins; to shorten the snaffle and lengthen the curb-reins.—To tighten a rein that has become loose.—To change the double bridle from the left to the right hand; to return it to the left hand.—Management of reins when making quick turns.—European manner of holding the double bridle-reins, a pair in each hand.—The equestrienne should practice and perfect herself in these various manœuvrings with the reins.—The proper rein-hold creates a correspondence between the rider's hand and the horse's mouth, and gives support to the animal.—Give and take movements—The dead-pull.—In collecting the horse the curb must be used.—The secret of good riding.—The management of the reins with restive horses.—Liberty of the reins sometimes necessary.—Movements of horse and rider should correspond.—Horse united or collected.—Horse disunited.—To animate the horse.—To soothe the horse.—What to do in certain improper movements of the horse.—Concluding remarks. | 145 |
| CHAPTER VII. THE WALK. |
| The movements of the horse in walking.—A good walk is a certain basis for perfection in other gaits.—A lady's horse should be especially trained to walk well.—Every change in the walk, as turning, backing, and stopping, should be well learned, before attempting to ride in a faster gait.—The walk is a gait more especially desirable for some ladies.—The advance, the turn, the stop, the reining back, in the walk.—Remarks on the reining back. | 181 |
| CHAPTER VIII. THE TROT, THE AMBLE, THE PACE, THE RACK. |
| The movements of the horse in trotting.—The trot a safe gait for a lady.—The jog trot.—The racing trot.—The true trot.—The French trot.—The English trot; is desirable for ladies to learn.—Objections to the French trot.—How to manage the horse and ride the English trot.—Which is the leading foot of the horse in the trot.—To stop a horse in the English trot.—Trotting in a circle.—Circling to the right, to the left.—The amble.—The pace.—The rack. | 197 |
| CHAPTER IX. THE CANTER. |
| Leading with the right foot, with the left foot.—The rapid gallop.—The canter.—The true canter.—To commence the canter; position of the rider, and management of the horse.—To canter with the right leg leading.—To canter with the left leg leading.—To determine with which leg the horse is leading in the canter.—To change from the trot to the canter.—To turn in the canter, to the right, to the left.—Management of the horse while making a turn in the canter.—To stop in the canter.—Remarks concerning position in the canter. | 221 |
| CHAPTER X. THE HAND GALLOP, THE FLYING GALLOP. |
| The hand gallop, a favorite gait with ladies.—Position and management of the reins, in the hand gallop.—Cautions to ladies when riding the hand gallop.—To manage a disobedient horse during the hand gallop.—Turning when riding the hand gallop.—Position of rider while turning in the hand gallop.—The flying gallop an exercise for country roads.—Cautions to ladies previous to riding the flying gallop.—Holding the reins, position of the rider, and management of the horse, in the flying gallop.—To stop in the flying gallop.—Concluding remarks. | 238 |
| CHAPTER XI. THE LEAP, THE STANDING LEAP, THE FLYING LEAP. |
| Advantages of learning to leap.—Requisites necessary in leaping.—The standing leap.—Position of the rider, rein-hold, and management of the horse, in the standing leap.—Points to be carefully observed in the leap.—How to make the horse leap.—Management of the reins and of the rider's position during the leap.—Counsels which should be well learned by the rider before attempting the leap, and especially as to the management of the horse.—How to train a horse to leap.—A lady should never attempt the leap, except with a horse well trained in it.—Horses do not all leap alike.—The flying leap.—Important points to know relative to the flying leap. | 249 |
| CHAPTER XII. DEFENSES OF THE HORSE, CRITICAL SITUATIONS. |
| A lady's horse should be gentle, well-trained, and possess no vice.—Shying, and its treatment.—Shying sometimes due to defective vision, and at other times to discontent.—Balking, and its treatment.—Backing, and its treatment.—Gayety.—Kicking, and its remedy. An attention to the position and motions of the horse's ears will determine what he is about to do.—Plunging; bucking; what to do in these cases.—Rearing, and the course to be pursued.—Running away, and the course to be pursued.—Unsteadiness of the horse while being mounted, and how to correct it.—Stumbling, and its treatment.—What to do when the horse falls.—Remarks concerning the use of the whip and spur.—Be generous to the horse when he yields to his rider. | 271 |
| ADDENDA. |
| Thirty-four points necessary to be learned, and to be well understood by equestriennes.—Conclusion. | 301 |
| GLOSSARY | 313 |
| INDEX | 319 |
