RCISES IN THE PACES 71
THE WALK 73
THE TROT 79
THE CANTER 81
THE GALLOP 84
STOPPING AND BACKING 85
LEAPING 87
DISMOUNTING 91
CONCLUDING REMARKS 95

[Illustration]

THE YOUNG LADY'S EQUESTRIAN MANUAL.

[Illustration]

Our Virgin Queen, peerless Elizabeth,
With grace and dignity rode through the host:
And proudly paced that gallant steed, as though
He knew his saddle was a royal throne.

INTRODUCTION.

Riding on Horseback is, confessedly, one of the most graceful,
agreeable, and salutary of feminine recreations. No attitude, perhaps,
can be regarded as more elegant than that of a lady in the modern
side-saddle; nor can any exercise be deemed capable of affording more
rational and innocent delight, than that of the female equestrian.
Pursued in the open air, it affords a most rapid, and, at the same
time, exhilarating succession of scenic changes, at a degree of personal
exertion, sufficient to produce immediate pleasure, without inducing the
subsequent languor of fatigue.

Nor is riding on horseback attended with that danger to ladies,
attributed to it by the indolent, the melancholy, and the timid.
Accidents, indeed, in the side-saddle, are of extremely rare occurrence.
Strange as it may seem, it is, however, an incontrovertible fact, that
horses, in general, are much more docile and temperate, with riders of
the fair sex, than when mounted by men. This may be attributed,
partially, to the more backward position, in the saddle, of the former
than the latter; but, principally, perhaps, to their superior delicacy
of hand in managing the reins.

As an active recreation, and a mode of conveyance, riding on horseback
appears to have been of very remote usage among our fair countrywomen.
During a long period, indeed, it was the only one known to, or, adopted
by them, for the performance of journies. Such, too, appears to have
been the case (with some modifications) in other European countries. The
only _voiture_ of the French, says Garsault, until the reign of Charles
the Sixth, was the back of the horse or mule: neither Kings, Queens,
Princes, nor subjects were acquainted with any other. In the time of
that monarch, litters, borne by two horses, first appeared; but these
were uncovered, and used, on