take rather a short hold of her horse, and induce
him to bear on the snaffle to aid her to rise; for a horse which will
not bear on the reins is not a comfortable animal to trot with. A lady
should lean slightly forward and rise when the animal's near fore leg
comes on the ground. In Fig. 93 we see the horse's off fore on the
ground and the lady preparing for the rise with her body inclined
forward. Fig. 94 gives us the position of the rider at the rise, and
that of the horse's near fore leg. As a well-executed trot can be
acquired only after a great deal of practice, a lady should not be
disheartened if she makes but slow progress. She will find it difficult
to time the rise accurately, and until she can do this it is best for
her to sit down in the saddle and bump up and down _a la militaire_,
keeping her seat by the aid of her crutches, and occasionally making an
effort to rise. If she rises at the wrong time, her effort will be
productive of a churning movement, which should at once be
discontinued, for that slipshod style of trotting is not only incorrect,
but is liable to give the horse a sore back, and will prove very tiring
to the rider. In making the rise she should straighten her left knee as
in mounting, and bear slightly on the stirrup, executing her upward
movement by the aid of the ankle-joint and by simultaneously pressing
the upper crutch with her right knee, when she will return to her former
position without being in any way jerked during the movement. The
stirrup should always be kept in one fixed position at the ball of the
foot, and both foot and stirrup should act with automatic precision,
without the slightest jerk or wriggle, exactly as though the lady were
making an upward step from the ground. The pressure of the foot should
be directed on the inner side of the stirrup-iron, in order that the leg
may lie close to the flap of the saddle. She will not require to lift
herself from the saddle, for the horse will put her up to the necessary
height, if she straightens her left knee and prepares to rise at the
right moment. The height of the rise will vary according to the size and
action of the horse. An animal of, say, 15-3, with a long, swinging
trot, will cause his rider to rise higher in the saddle than a smaller
horse with a short, shuffling gait. Many ponies have a short, quick trot
requiring a hardly perceptible rise from the rider; but they are not, as
a rule, comfortable trotters. The lady, a