Page:Horsemanship for Women.djvu/128

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114
HORSEMANSHIP FOR WOMEN.

your crop against his right side back of the girth, and raising the left snaffle-rein. While doing so, draw back your left shoulder so as to throw your weight on the right side. If he does not take the hint at once, do not be discouraged, but practise him in some quiet place, choosing, if possible, a corner where the turn is uphill; and when he does well, pat him and make much of him, for you will find that no one of your admirers is more sensitive to your praises than he. This matter of turning is well worth all the trouble it may cost you, as it will give you a lively pleasure to find your horse's powerful limbs moving sympathetically to the gentle impulses of a woman's hand, and, besides, it lends an air of style and savoir-faire which will be fully appreciated by every looker-on who knows anything whatever about riding. Be particular to lean over towards the centre of the curve you are describing at an angle proportionate to the speed, just as the horse does himself, that is, leaning to the right side as he wheels to the right, and to the left when he wheels to the left. It is well not to let him cut off his corners, but to preserve the same distance from the centre of the road, just as if you were riding in company, and when this last is the case be careful to keep exactly abreast both on the straight road and on the turns, for there is nothing that looks more countrified than to see riders straggling along irregularly like a party of mechanics out for a stroll on a Sunday afternoon.