seat, the next
point is the use of the reins and the employment of your legs, for it is
by these that a horseman holds, urges, and turns his horse. To handle a
horse in perfection, you must have, besides instruction, "good hands."
Good or light hands, like the touch of a first-rate violinist, are a
gift, not always to be acquired even by thought and practice. The
perfection of riding is to make your horse understand and obey your
directions, as conveyed through the reins--to halt, or go fast or slow;
to walk, trot, canter, or gallop; to lead off with right or left leg, to
change leg, to turn either way, and to rise in leaping at the exact
point you select. No one but a perfect horseman, with naturally fine
hands, can do this perfectly, but every young horseman should try.

The golden rule of horsemanship is laid down by Colonel Greenwood, in a
sentence that noodles will despise for its "trite simplicity:"--"When
you wish to turn to the right, pull the right rein stronger than the
left." This is common sense. No horse becomes restive in the
colt-breaker's hands. The reason is, that they ride with one bridle and
two hands, instead of two bridles and one hand. "When they wish to go to
the left, they pull the left rein stronger than the right. When they
wish to go to the right, they pull the right rein stronger than the
left. If the colt does not obey these indications, at least he
understands them, even the first time he is mounted, and the most
obstinate will not long resist them. Acting on these plain principles, I
saw, in August last, a three-year-old colt which, placed absolutely raw
and unbridled in Mr. Rarey's hands, within seven days answered every
indication of the reins like an old horse--turned right or left, brought
his nose to the rider's knee, and backed like an old trooper.

"But it takes a long time to make a colt understand that he is to turn
to the right when the left rein is pulled;" and if any horse resists,
the rider has no power one-handed, as the reins are usually held, to
compel him.

The practice of one-handed riding originated in military schools; for a
soldier has to carry a sword or lance, and depends chiefly on his
well-trained horse and the pressure of his legs. No one ever attempts to
turn a horse in harness with one hand, although there the driver has the
assistance of the terrets, and it is equally absurd to attempt it with a
colt or horse with a delicate mouth. Of course, with an old-tra