Hints on Horsemanship, to a Nephew and Niece Part 1

Hints on Horsemanship, to a Nephew and Niece.

by George Greenwood.

CHAPTER I.

MILITARY RIDING NOT FIT FOR COMMON RIDING.

Throughout Europe there is only one style of riding _taught_; that is, the soldier's _one-handed_ style.--_Two hands_ should be used to the reins.--A soldier's horse must turn on the wrong rein.--Common riders generally turn their horses on the wrong rein. Result of this with colts or restive horses.--Indications are not _aids_.

When you wish to turn to the right pull the right rein stronger than the left. This is common sense. The common error is precisely the reverse.

The common error is, when you wish to turn to the right to pa.s.s the hand to the right. By this the right rein is slackened, and the left rein is tightened, across the horse's neck, and the horse is required to turn to the right when the left rein is pulled. It is to correct this common error, this monstrous and perpetual source of bad riding and of bad usage to good animals, that these pages are written.

[Sidenote: Only one style of riding _taught_.]

[Sidenote: That is, a _one-handed_ style.]

England is the only European country which admits of more than one style of riding. But in all Europe, even in England, there is but one style of riding _taught_, as a system; that style is the manege or military style. The military style is, and must ever be essentially _a one-handed style_, for the soldier must have his right hand at liberty for his weapons. The recruit is indeed made to ride with a single snaffle in two hands, but only as a preparatory step to the one-handed style. His left hand then becomes _his bridle hand_, and that hand must hold the reins in such a manner as will require the least possible aid from _the sword hand_ to shorten them as occasion may require. This is with the fourth finger only between them (Fig. 1).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.--STRICT REGIMENTAL.]

For these reasons, as far as soldiers are concerned, I do not see how the present system can be altered for the better, unless it be by placing the three last fingers of the left hand between the reins (Fig.

2), instead of the fourth finger only. The reins held in this way are as easily and as quickly shortened, by drawing them with the right hand through the left, as if they were separated by the fourth finger only. I always adopted this mode myself when my sword was in my hand; and I should think it worth trial for all soldiers. My two last chargers had been notoriously restive horses, and I could not have ridden them in the strictly regimental mode.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.--VARIED REGIMENTAL.]

[Sidenote: _Two hands_ should be used to the reins.]

But I see no reason why, because soldiers are compelled to guide their horses with the left hand only, and with the fourth finger only between the reins, that ladies and civilians should be condemned to the same system. On the contrary, I would have ladies as well as gentlemen use both hands to the reins, whether of the curb or of the snaffle, somewhat as the rough-rider or colt-breaker uses the reins of a single snaffle; but the reins should enter the hands outside instead of inside the fourth fingers, and they should quit the hands between the first and second fingers instead of between the first finger and thumb, as will be explained in the next chapter.

Fasten the end of a rein to the upper part of the back of a chair; pull the reins enough to raise two of the legs off the ground, and to keep the chair balanced on the other two. Take your reins as ladies and soldiers are taught to take them (Fig. 1), both grasped in the left hand, the fourth finger only between them, and (I quote from the regulations of the English cavalry) "the top of the thumb firmly closed on them--the upper part of the arm hanging straight down from the shoulder--the left elbow lightly touching the hip--the lower part of the arm square to the upper--little finger on a level with the elbow--wrist rounded outwards--the back of the hand to the front--the thumb pointing across the body, and three inches from it." In this position we are taught that "the little finger of the bridle-hand has four lines of action--first, towards the breast (to stop or rein back); second, towards the right shoulder (to turn to the right); third, towards the left shoulder (to turn to the left); fourth, towards the horse's head (to advance)." Try the second motion: you will find it a very nice operation, and that you are capable of shortening the right rein only in a very slight degree; you will also find that, if the hand ceases to be precisely opposite the centre of the body, the moment it is pa.s.sed to the right the right rein becomes slackened, and the left rein is pulled.

This is still more the case when the horse's neck is between the reins; the left rein is then instantly shortened across the neck.

[Sidenote: A soldier's horse must turn on the wrong rein.]

I will not a.s.sert that the art of riding thus is impossible, though it has ever been so to me; and though, in my own experience, I never saw a cavalry soldier, rough-rider, riding-master, or any horseman whatever, who turned his horse, single-handed, on the proper rein. But I may a.s.sert that it is an exceedingly nice and delicate art. It is the opera-dancing of riding. And it would be as absurd to put the skill of its professors in requisition in common riding or across country, as to require Taglioni to _cha.s.ser_ over a ploughed field. For single-handed indications, supposing them to be correctly given--which, as I have said, I have never known; but supposing them to be correctly given--they are not sufficiently distinct to turn a horse, except in a case of optimism. That is, supposing for a short time a perfectly broken horse, in perfect temper, perfectly on his haunches, going perfectly up to his bit, and on perfect ground. Without all these perfections--suppose even the circ.u.mstance of the horse being excited or alarmed, or becoming violent from any other cause; that he is sluggish or sullen; that he stiffens his neck or pokes his nose--single-handed indications are worth nothing. But as for riding a horse perfectly on his haunches through a long day's journey, or in rough or deep ground, or across country, one might as well require infantry to make long forced marches at ordinary time, and to strictly preserve their touch and dressing; or, still to compare it to opera-dancing, Coulon to go through a day's shooting with the pas de zephir.

But correct single-handed indications, with the fourth finger only between the reins, will not be obeyed by one horse in ten thousand. Try them in driving. There the terret-pad prevents their being given incorrectly, and a bearing-rein, a severe bit, and a whip, give you every advantage in keeping your horse collected; yet you will find them wholly inefficient. The soldier, who is compelled to turn to the right by word of command, when the correct indication is unanswered, in despair throws his hand to the right. The consequence is, that no horse is a good soldier's horse, till he has been trained to turn on the wrong rein.

[Sidenote: Common riders turn on the wrong rein.]

Without the same excuse for it, the same may be said of all ladies and civilians who ride with one hand only, and of almost all who ride with two hands. For, strange to say, in turning, both hands are generally pa.s.sed to the right or left, and I have known many of what may be called the most perfect straight-_forward_ hands; that is, men who on the turf would hold the most difficult three-year-old to the steady stroke of the two-mile course, and place him as a winner to half-a-length--who in the hunting-field would ride the hottest, or the most phlegmatic made hunter, with equal skill, through all difficulties of ground, and over every species of fence, with admirable precision and equality of hand--or who on the exercise ground would place his broken charger on his haunches, and make him walk four miles an hour, canter six and a half, trot eight and a half, and gallop eleven, without being out in either pace a second of time, but who marred all by the besetting sin of side-feeling--of turning the horse on the wrong rein. The consequence is, that they can ride nothing but what has been trained to answer the wrong indications.

[Sidenote: Result of this with colts or restive horses.]

This is something like steaming without steering. Set them on a finely broken horse, on a colt, or a restive horse, and they become helpless children--the powerless prisoners of the brutes they bestride. How often does one see one's acquaintance in this distressing situation, with courage enough to dare what man dare, but without the power to do what the rough-rider has just done! First comes the false indication of the rider, then the confusion and hesitation of the horse; next the violence of the rider; then the despair and rebellion of the horse. The finish is a fractured limb from a rear or a runaway. The poor brute is set down as restive and in fact becomes more or less a misanthrope for the rest of his days. I have seen the gentle and brave, under such circ.u.mstances, act very much like the cruel and cowardly; that is to say, first rough an innocent animal for their own fault, and then yield to his resistance. It is in consequence of this that we find so many restive horses; that so few thorough-bred horses--that is, horses of the highest courage--can be made hunters; that, in fact, almost all high-couraged young horses become restive after leaving the colt-breaker's hands. It is, indeed, in consequence of this that the cla.s.s of people called colt-breakers exists at all. For if we all rode on their principle, which is the true principle, any groom or moderately good rider could break any colt or ride any restive horse.

No horse becomes restive in the colt-breaker's hands; nor do any remain so when placed in his hands. The reason is that he invariably rides with one bridle and two hands, instead of two bridles and one hand. When he wishes to go to the right he pulls the right rein stronger than the left. When he wishes to go to the left he pulls the left rein stronger than the right. These are indications which, if the colt will not obey, he will at least understand, the very first time that he is mounted, and which the most obstinate will not long resist. But as may be supposed, it takes a long time to make him understand that he is to turn to the right when the left rein is pulled, and to the left when the right rein is pulled. And it is only the meek-spirited and docile who will do this at all. Such, however, is the general docility of the half-bred horse, that a great proportion of them are, after long ill-usage, taught to answer these false indications, in the same way that a carthorse is brought to turn right or left by the touch of the whip on the opposite side of the neck, or the word of the driver; and indeed such is the nicety to which it may be brought, that you constantly hear people boast that their horses will "turn by the weight of the reins on the neck."

This, however, only proves the docility of the horse, and how badly he has been ridden. For a horse which has been finely broken should take notice only of the indications of his rider's hands on his mouth, not of any side-feeling of the reins against his neck.

[Sidenote: Indications are not _aids_.]

By _indications_ generally, I mean the motions and applications of the hands, legs, and whip, to direct and determine the paces, turnings, movements, and carriage of the horse. I have used the word throughout instead of _aids_, as being more explanatory and certainly less liable to abuse. For common sense tells us that a horse receives no aid from a pull in the mouth with a piece of iron, or a blow with a whip, or a kick in the side with an armed heel, however these may indicate to him the wishes or commands of his rider. I have also used the term _bearing_ on the horse's mouth instead of _appui_, since to those who do not understand French appui will convey no meaning at all,--and to those who do understand French it will convey the false ideas of the necessity and power of the rider to _support_ his horse. I promise my pupil every _aid_ and _support from_ his horse. But I beg him not to think of offering either aid or support _to_ his horse. I beg him to believe that the horse carries the rider, and not the rider the horse. But this we will discuss in another chapter. That the horse supports the rider is common sense: that the rider supports the horse is the common error.

CHAPTER II.

HOLDING AND HANDLING THE REINS.

Reins at full length.--The downward clutch.--Grecian mode of holding and handling the reins.--The side-clutch.--The two reins crossed in the hand.--A rein in each hand.--Turn to the right, and left.--The hunting hand.--The rough-rider's hand.--Fixing the hands.--Use of both bridles at once.--Shortening the reins when held, one in each hand, mode of taught and of untaught hors.e.m.e.n.--Use of the whip.--Horses swerve, turn, and refuse _only to the left_.--Fault in "the great untaught," English, two-handed rider.

[Sidenote: Reins at full length.]

To practise the indications of the hands, take the bridle which is attached to the chair at full length (Fig. 3), with the tips of the four fingers of the left hand between the reins at the centre, the first and fourth fingers detached to facilitate their working on the rein proper to each; the hand pendant, with the back to the front, and balance the chair on two legs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3.--REINS AT FULL LENGTH.]

If the length of the rein suits, it may be so held in long rides when the horse is going quietly at an extended walk, for directly as the slowness of the pace is the length of the horse, and so should be the length of the rein. The horse is at his greatest length when standing still, and if you force him to collect himself then, he will be uneasy and fidget.[16-*] But the reins must never be loose. The bearing on the mouth, however lightly, must still be felt; and if the horse, in attempting to stare about, as colts and ill-ridden horses will, should throw his head to the right, it must be stopped by the feeling of the tip of the fourth finger on the left rein; if he throws his head to the left, by the feeling of the first finger on the right rein. But provided that the bearing on the horse's mouth, and this power of keeping his head straight, are preserved, a horse cannot have too much liberty under the circ.u.mstances supposed. To turn to the right both reins must be pulled, the right the strongest, by feeling the tip of the first finger towards you; both legs must be pressed, the left the strongest; the whip shown on the left. To turn to the left the reverse indications.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.--DOWN CLUTCH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.--DOWN CLUTCH, REIN IN EACH HAND.]

[Sidenote: Down clutch.]

[Sidenote: Grecian mode.]

To take up the reins use the downward clutch[16-] (Fig. 4); that is, place the two first fingers of the right hand between the reins at the greatest convenient distance, and slide them smoothly back. Repeat this movement, changing from hand to hand, and keeping the chair balanced and steady. This clutch is excellent for a straight-forward, _hot_ horse; it shortens the reins any length at one movement, with a very low, steady bearing. Two hands may be used (Fig. 5). I conceive this to be the Grecian mode of holding and handling the reins (see frontispiece and vignette, from the Elgin Marbles), except that the Greeks had one finger between the reins instead of two; and they held the reins, whether together or divided, between the thumb and the second finger.

The first finger was thus detached, and used only for guiding, by which very distinct indications may be given on either rein when both are in one hand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--SIDE CLUTCH.]

[Sidenote: Side clutch.]

At a walk, with a quiet horse, this _down_ clutch may be turned into the _side_-clutch (Fig. 6 and Fig. 7); it is nearly the same as the English mode of driving, but the right rein is uppermost, which facilitates the dividing the reins and placing them together again, and when the reins are in the left hand, the right rein quits the hand between the second and third finger. This allows you to hold one rein while you slip the other, besides that the left rein is not disturbed in taking the right rein in the right hand, and in returning it to the left hand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7.--SIDE CLUTCH, REIN IN EACH HAND.]

[Sidenote: Cross.]

But the following position (Fig. 8) is the foundation of all fine handling, and therefore of all fine riding.

And if the pupil will only thoroughly acquire this one movement he shall have my leave to consign the rest of my book "protervis in mare Cretic.u.m portare ventis."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8.--CROSS.]