head was admirably carried, his trot was greatly improved—his walk always had been light and swift—he could trot sideways to the right or left, could pirouette to the right or to the left on the hind-feet or on the fore-feet, responding to the pressure of the rein upon his neck or of the leg against his side, while he had become so steady that I could fire at a mark with a pistol from his back.
All this was very satisfactory progress, especially in view of my total inexperience, poor health, and the heat of the weather; but there is no doubt that any active young girl of sixteen or eighteen can do the like, for it was accomplished not by any mysterious or difficult process, nor by any exertion of physical strength, but by patiently following out, step by step, the processes which I am about to describe, and which are substantially those of Baucher, adapted to the use of a person of total inexperience, and that person a lady.
If any such, having accompanied me thus far, feels the impulse to try to improve her own mount, I will confide to her the fact that the incidents narrated really occurred within the last few years not a hundred miles from New York; and I hope that the following propositions, which are literally true, will help to encourage her to an undertaking in which she will find amusement, exercise, and a discipline as useful to herself as to her horse:
1. If, as is very likely, you feel a little afraid of your
