courage,
sit in a manner that is at once fearful and ridiculous to behold;
entirely dependent on the good behaviour of horses, which they, in
reality, have no power of turning, and scarcely of stopping.

Little girls who learn their first lessons by riding with papa, who is
either absorbed in other business, or himself a novice in the art of
horsemanship, get into poky habits, which it is extremely difficult to
eradicate when they reach the age when every real woman wishes to be
admired.

Therefore, let everyone interested in the horsemanship of a young lady
commence by placing her, as early as possible, under the tuition of a
competent professional riding-master, unless he knows enough to teach
her himself. There are many riding-schools where a fair seat is acquired
by the lady pupils, but in London, at any rate, only two or three where
they learn to use the reins, so as to control an unruly horse.

Both sexes are apt to acquire the habit of holding on by the bridle. To
avoid this grave error, the first lessons in walking and cantering
should be given to the pupil on a led horse, without taking hold of the
bridle; and this should be repeated in learning to leap. The
horsemanship of a lady is not complete until she has learned to leap,
whether she intends to ride farming or hunting, or to confine herself to
Rotten Row canters; for horses will leap and bound at times without
permission.

I have high authority for recommending lessons without holding the
bridle. Lady Mildred H----, one of the most accomplished horsewomen of
the day, taught her daughter to walk, trot, canter, gallop, and leap,
without the steadying assistance of the reins.

A second point is, that every pupil in horsemanship should begin by
holding the rein or reins (one is enough to begin with) in both hands,
pulling to the right when they want to go to the right, and to the left
when they wish to go to the left, that is the proper way of riding every
strange horse, every colt, and every hunter, that does not perfectly
know his business, for it is the only way in which you have any real
command over your horse. But almost all our riding-school rules are
military. Soldiers are obliged to carry a sword in one hand, and to
rely, to a great extent, on the training of their horses for turning
right or left. Ladies and gentlemen have no swords to carry, and neither
possess, nor can desire to possess, such machines as troop-horses.
Besides other more impo