ting parents or friends, should certainly be encouraged and taught to
ride as soon as they manifest their wish to do so. Many hunting women
allow their children to occasionally attend meets in a governess car or
other suitable conveyance, and the budding sportsmen and sportswomen in
the vehicle keenly follow the hounds, as far as they can do so, by the
roads. On non-hunting days during the season, it is no uncommon sight
in hunting districts to see ladies walking by the side of their tiny
daughters who are mounted on ponies, and giving them instruction in
riding. In cub-hunting time we may often see the good results of such
lessons, when parent and daughter appear together, and the little girl
on her pony follows the lead over small fences which "mother" knows can
be negotiated by both with safety.

Twenty years ago, infants were often carried in panniers or baskets, one
on each side of a led pony or donkey, with the supposed object of
initiating them to horse exercise. The pannier training was followed by
the little girls being placed on a pilch, and conducted about by a
mounted groom with a leading-rein. This leading-rein system is
absolutely worthless as a means for teaching horse-control to children,
and should be used only as a safeguard with an animal which the young
rider may be unable to hold.

At whatever age a child is taught to ride, we should bear in mind that
the exercise always entails a certain amount of fatigue, and should be
taken in moderation. The many lamentable accidents which have occurred
to young girls from being "dragged," show the vital necessity of
supplying the small horsewoman with the most reliable safety appliances
in saddlery and dress. The parent or guardian often overlooks this
all-important point, and devotes his or her entire attention to securing
a quiet animal.

Girls who do not possess any aptitude or desire to ride should not be
compelled to practise this art, for, apart from the cruelty of
subjecting a highly nervous girl to the torture of riding lessons, such
unwilling pupils never become accomplished horsewomen. In the same way,
a child who has no ear for music, and who is forced against her wish to
learn the piano, never develops into a good player.

The same remark applies to older ladies, who, with the usual angelic
resignation of my sex, try their best to obey the command of their lords
and masters by learning to ride. I fear that success in this art is
seldom attained