How Women Should Ride Part 9

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOUBLE BRIDLE FOR GENERAL USE]

[Sidenote: Noseband]

A noseband furnishes additional control over a horse; but it should not be attached to the bridle, or it may interfere with the action of the bit. It should have a headstall and cheek-pieces, and be buckled tight enough to prevent the horse from opening his mouth too wide, but it must not restrain his breathing.

[Sidenote: Martingale]

If a martingale is used, I much prefer a running to a standing one. It is useful with star-gazers or horses that get their noses out too far.

Some horses need one to steady them in hunting, but the running martingale is the only one which should be tolerated in jumping, and then not be used unless necessary. It is attached to a girth, and at the two upper ends are sewed rings through which the snaffle pa.s.ses.

With a running martingale there must be a stop on each snaffle, considerably larger than the rings of the martingale; otherwise there is danger of these rings getting caught in the bits, frightening the horse, and making him rear or back, as there is no way to release the pressure thus brought on his mouth. The length should be carefully regulated, so that it will keep the horse's head at the desired height. This admits of considerable play to the horse, but within control of the rider, while with a standing martingale no liberty is attainable. Once mounted, the rider cannot influence its bearing; and should the horse trip, he cannot fling up his head, as he must to regain his balance.

[Sidenote: Breast-plate]

For ordinary riding a breast-plate is not always used, but in hunting it is almost indispensable, and is always a safeguard against a woman's saddle slipping back. It is put on over the horse's head with the reins, and one strap pa.s.ses between his fore-legs, through the loop of which one of the girths pa.s.ses. Two other ends buckle, one on each side of the saddle, near the horse's withers, and it should be loose enough to admit of free movement in galloping and jumping.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CORRECT SADDLE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: UNDESIRABLE SADDLE]

[Sidenote: The Saddle]

The saddle should be very plain in appearance. It must have a level seat, which can only be obtained in those having the tree cut away above the withers; otherwise, to clear them, the saddle must be so elevated in front that it is sometimes six inches higher than the cantle, placing the knee in an awkward and fatiguing position, and it is impossible to rise without an unusual amount of exertion, which will lead to arching the back, thrusting the head forward, and probably galling the horse's withers. There should be no third pommel, such as there formerly was on the right side of the saddle, bending to the left over the right leg.

The two pommels must fit the knees exactly, or the circulation will be impeded, and a cramp brought on which renders the muscles powerless to grip the pommels. The seat must extend about an inch beyond the line of the spine, and, although I usually object to it, for a child the seat should be covered with buckskin. No more padding should be used than is required to fit the horse's back, as it looks badly for the top of the saddle to be several inches above the horse. Moreover, the nearer one is to the animal's back, the greater will be the control.

It enables one more readily to detect the stiffening of the muscles when mischief is contemplated, and to be prepared to thwart it. It should not have any superfluous straps, st.i.tching, or attempts at ornamentation: the simpler the style the better; even the slit on the saddle-flap for the pocket is now frequently dispensed with. A safety pommel-band is sometimes fastened from the extreme upper forward end of the right saddle-flap to the top of the right pommel, thence to the left. This lessens the likelihood of a skirt becoming caught.

[Sidenote: Stirrup]

On no account should a slipper stirrup be used, but a safety stirrup without any padding, and one which does not work by having the bottom drop out, as these are apt to come to pieces when least desired, leaving the foot without any support. The best kind have the inner half-circle jointed in the middle and working on a hinge at both sides, so that it can open only on being pulled from below, as in case of a fall. Next to this in safety comes a plain, small racing stirrup.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAFETY STIRRUP, CLOSED]

[Sidenote: Girths]

The Fitz-William web girths are the best for a woman's saddle, white being used in preference to darker shades. There are braided raw-hide and also cord girths, the former being very serviceable, but they do not look so well as either of the others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAFETY STIRRUP, OPEN]

[Sidenote: Saddling]

When the saddle is in position, free from the play of the shoulders, the first girth is taken up, then the back one, and kept clear of the horse's elbows, that his action may not be impeded. Although pulling the girths excessively tight is to be avoided, it will not do to leave them loose, as a woman's unevenly distributed weight might cause the saddle to turn. Any wrinkles in the skin caused by the girthing should be smoothed away by pa.s.sing the fingers between the girths and the horse. Then the stirrup-leather is buckled, after this the outside leather strap that keeps the saddle-flap in place, and finally the balance-strap, which must be fairly tight, a.s.sists in keeping the saddle in position. Before mounting she should always glance at the saddle and bridle, and be sure that they are properly put on; otherwise her ride may be rendered uncomfortable, if not dangerous.

XIII

SOMETHING ON DRIVING

[Sidenote: Desirability of Instruction]

Ninety-nine women out of every hundred are firmly convinced that instruction is by no means necessary to their driving safely and in good form. Four men out of five labor under the same delusion. It is a sad error, that leads to numberless failures, and many accidents which might so easily be avoided if the services of a competent teacher were employed at the beginning. Having seen others drive without any apparent difficulty, the novice conceives the notion that there is nothing to learn which cannot be mastered without a.s.sistance after one or two attempts. If such a one escapes a bill of damages, it should be credited to the ministering care of her guardian angel. She may indeed escape accident; she may learn to start without dislocating the neck of every one in the trap, and get around the corner without an upset; but she will never learn to _drive_. There is something more for her to know than that she must pull the off rein to turn to the right and the near one to go to the left, though this appears to be the extent of knowledge deemed necessary.

Women, even more than men, require a thorough understanding of what they are doing, for they lack the strength to rectify a miscalculation at the last moment. The ignorance, indecision, and weakness frequently displayed by women in driving are what so often render them objects of apprehension to experienced whips.

It is folly for any woman to flatter herself that she needs only a little practice, and that the rest "will come." If she has not begun correctly, practice will only wed her to the faults she must have acquired.

a.s.suming, however, for the sake of argument, that, after having discounted her call on an all-protecting Providence and stricken with terror her long-suffering friends, she manages to guide the family nag along the turnpike without the aid of a civil escort to clear the road before her--what of it? She hasn't learned anything; her form is execrable; and in case of an emergency she is quite as unprepared as when she took up the reins weeks before, with the ill-conceived notion that she was not of the common clay, and that, a whip, rather than a rattle, had been the insignia of her infantile days.

How much better, safer, and more sensible to acquire good form than by its neglect to become an object of ridicule to those who, by their knowledge of driving and exposition of superior horsemans.h.i.+p, are ent.i.tled to criticise others who have disregarded proper instruction, and, wise in their own conceit, relied on their ignorance for guidance.

[Sidenote: Vulgar Display]

Some women there are who drive only because they consider it the "proper thing." Absorbed in the opportunity for display, and ignorant of the fitness of things, they array themselves in the treasures of their wardrobe, more likely than not to be a gay silk, and, with every discordant ribbon and flounce of their _bizarre_ costume loudly challenging the attention of the on-lookers, they sally forth perched on the box of a spider phaeton, Tilbury, or dog-cart, indifferent to, because ignorant of, the incongruity of their turnout, unconscious of the signal they have flung to the breeze, which unmistakably proclaims their lack of early instruction.

[Sidenote: Bad Form]

These are they who in the handling of their animals instantly call to mind the puppet-shows of our childhood days, and fill us with an almost irresistible desire to look under the box-seat and discover who is working the invisible wires. Every movement is spasmodic--the arms work as though an alternating electric current were constantly being turned through them--the hands finger the reins nervously; and if the vehicle happens to be a two-wheeler, the unhappy driver looks as though every jolt of the poorly balanced cart would send her into the road from her very insecure seat.

Another harrowing spectacle is that of the woman leaning forward, a rein in each hand, with her arms dragged almost over the dash-board by her horse's mouth, a look of direful expectancy in her eyes, and a much be-flowered and be-ribboned hat occupying unmolested a rakish position over one ear, where it has fallen during her hopeless struggle with the reins.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WELL-BALANCED CART]

[Sidenote: Costume]

It is strange women should not have a sufficiently clear idea of the fitness of things to realize that elaborate toilets of silks, laces, and flowers, and large hats, although appropriate in a victoria, are inconvenient and totally out of place when driving a sporting-trap, such as a dog-cart.

A plain, neatly fitting, but not tight cloth suit, with a small hat, which will not catch the wind, is far more serviceable and in better taste. However, she should avoid the other extreme affected by the woman who desires to appear masculine and "sporty," and who, showing a large expanse of s.h.i.+rt front, wears a conspicuous plaid suggestive of a horse-blanket.

This specimen of feminine "horsy-ness" invariably drives with her hands held almost under her chin, and her whip in as vertical a position as herself. She is as powerless to control her animal as is the one who leans over the dash-board.

[Sidenote: c.o.c.kade]

This is the sort of woman who compels her groom, if she have one, to wear a c.o.c.kade in his hat, in ignorance of the fact that we in this country have no claim to its use. In Great Britain it is the distinguis.h.i.+ng mark of either the royal family or the military, naval, or civil officers of the government; but used here it is only a meaningless affectation.

[Sidenote: Confidence]

To achieve success, and to obtain a business-like appearance in driving, a woman must possess confidence in her power to control her horses, and it must be the confidence derived from knowledge and skill, and not that born of ignorance or fool-hardiness.

She must know what to do, and how to do it promptly, under all circ.u.mstances, and this necessitates a thorough comprehension of the sport she is pursuing.

It is to be hoped she will gain this from competent instruction, and that she will embrace every opportunity of adding to her information on the subject.

[Sidenote: The "Family-Horse" Fallacy]

A quiet, steady old horse, such as one might expect to see doing farm-work, cannot always be recommended even to a beginner, for he generally requires so little management that when he does occasionally become unruly it is so unusual that the woman is taken unawares.

Moreover, it makes one careless and slovenly always to drive a horse which goes along in a leisurely manner, without any display of life.