PART V.
HUNTING IN AMERICA.
There is a great land across the Atlantic where they do great things, and utter great sayings, and patent great inventions, and erect great buildings--and where, in short, the inhabitants beat us (as they themselves say) "all to fits!"
A mighty nation they are, too--God prosper them as they deserve; but there is one thing at least in which we can say, without boasting, we are able to beat them, and that is, in our hunting. A fox-hunt in America is a very tame and inglorious proceeding, and one which decidedly would not come under our definition of "sport."
American hunting differs in the first instance from ours, inasmuch as it is always a summer pastime. The extreme severity of the winters necessitates this, as during the cold season neither men nor horses can work.
The disadvantages of summer hunting are of course numerous. The heat is excessive, and the crops are in the ground. Most of the American farmers and graziers own their land, and the greater number of them will not suffer hoofs to cross it. This is partly from a spirit of surly independence--partly from an ignorant determination to hold with stolid obstinacy to that most erroneous belief, that the galloping of horses is injurious to grass-lands. But, anyhow, the objection exists; and as it is vain to attempt to overrule it, a compromise is effected between hunting under difficulties and not hunting at all.
The system pursued is this. A man--usually a stout-limbed peasant--is sent out, who drags an aniseeded bag across country, and over the lands and fences of such as will permit it, or who are themselves in the habit of joining in the chase. Then, when the field has assembled, the hounds are laid on, and work their way after the drag, a "bag-man" being provided to blood them at the finish. Sometimes the pack comes too close upon the dragger, and then a nasty scene ensues, which is pleasanter not described.
Fortunately for men, horses, and hounds, hunting is but little indulged in throughout America. I mean, of course, fox-hunting, for I cannot attempt to cry down the many splendid and manly hunts of other descriptions in which the Americans carry off the palm.
In many parts of the country--more especially in the States--the people so affect trotting-horses, that the matter has become a craze. It is a fact, which has more than once been proved, that four legs capable of carrying any sort of frame a mile in less than two-and-a-quarter minutes, will easily fetch a thousand pounds; and if the animal is in condition to repeat the performance several times in one day, his price will range correspondingly higher.
The usual arrangement--very seldom varied--is that the "trots" shall be mile heats; and as the horses are, generally speaking, pretty well done up at the finish, owing to pace, excitement, and temperature, twenty minutes are allowed between each heat for "cooling off" purposes.
When a horse is distanced in one of these trials, he is at once withdrawn; and the judges have the privilege, which they use, of distancing a horse for breaking--or, as we would say, commencing to run--which is, as may be supposed, a thing most difficult to prevent.
Sometimes a racehorse is hitched double with a trotter. This is called, in American parlance, a running-mate. The runner takes all the weight and draft of the "sulky," and the trotter merely trots alongside of him. It requires a very level-headed horse to keep evenly to his trot, with a runner tearing away at sweeping pace beside him, and the trial is regarded as simply one of skill, and is rarely successful. A trotter who can coolly and evenly maintain his trot when hitched with a racer, can command for his owner any amount of money, even though he be in all other respects comparatively worthless.
Races, of which many are held at Rhode Island, are as distinct as possible from trots. The courses are made circular; as much so, at least, as the lie of the land will permit, and are beautifully constructed, the grading being especially attended to. They are generally enclosed by a very high boarded fence, an admission fee being charged at the opening. This arrangement is found to answer admirably, as the amount demanded--although not an extravagant one--is sufficient to exclude a goodly number of racing roughs, whose interest in the sport is not more keen than their desire to investigate the contents of their neighbours' pockets.
Trotting-tracks are constructed upon the same principles as race-courses, but the track is harder. Sometimes, however, although not frequently, races and trots are held over the same course, and when this is done the track is carefully softened for the races, by a harrowing process, which is most carefully carried out.
Most of the hacks and hunters in use in America--a very large portion, at least, of the saddle-horses--are racers which have been rejected from the racing-stables. This is particularly the case at East Greenwich, and throughout the States. Some of these horses are "weeds," but a few of them are well worthy of the high prices given for them, being really splendid animals, in spite of the crabbing which they receive at the judge's hands before they are thrown out of the contest, and passed over to the proprietorship of dealers in hacks.
Very fine horses of the hunter class are bred in Kentucky--the Yorkshire of America--and are sold at comparatively low rates. I saw a magnificent chestnut, seventeen two in height, with grand action, and so superbly ribbed-up and built as to be capable of carrying twenty stone, which had been sold there to an enterprising Irish speculator for three hundred and twenty dollars, a good deal less than eighty pounds of our money. The animal afterwards fetched upwards of six hundred guineas at Tattersall's, to carry a top-weight millionaire with the Whaddon Chase hounds. This was, however, an exceptional case, for it is not usually an easy thing, nor even possible, to make money by trading in Kentucky hunters. A few speculative European dealers have from time to time tried it, but their efforts have not been crowned with the anticipated reward, the reason being, that travelling expenses swallow up profits. Seven days and nights of constant journeying must be gone through before the animals are brought to the Atlantic sea-board; and then there is the crossing to encounter, with its cost and perils. Altogether, it is scarcely a profitable venture, and some who have embarked in it will, I know, be quite ready to endorse my opinions upon the subject.
Stag-hunting used to be very prevalent in distant parts of America. Strangers traversing tracts of country north of the Ohio will be told this by guides and fellow-travellers, and will marvel that in such a district it could ever have been a popular sport. Anything more perilous it would be impossible to conceive, the "going" being principally up and down precipitous inclines, dotted at frequent intervals with huge boulders, half buried in the reedy grass, over which the horses blunder and stumble at almost every stride,--not unfrequently hurling their riders headlong down some dangerous ravine.
Those who have enjoyed the very doubtful pleasure of hunting at the Cape, know something of the perils of the Mimosa tree, which grows there in such deadly luxuriance. A similar danger-trap exists in the stag-hunting districts of America, the long sharp thorns proving terribly destructive to the flesh of man and beast.
It is almost impossible to escape these trees. They grow singly and in groups, with long, light, swaying branches, treacherously outstretched; and if an excited steed, or an unwary rider comes too near to one of them, no close-set company of razors could do more cruel injury, nor make greater havoc of saddlery and clothing.
When we come to regard the question of district hunting in a comparative light, few will hesitate to admit that in spite of all the drawbacks consequent upon wire-fencing, fox-trapping, and hound-poisoning, there are worse countries to hunt in than dear old England; and we who know the sweet delights of a good gallop over rich grass-lands, dotted picturesquely with the harmless beech or elm, and with nothing more dangerous to negotiate than fair broad fences and five-barred gates, need never sigh for the yawning ravines of foreign hunting-grounds, with their treacherous boulders and dangerous Mimosas.
CORRESPONDENCE.
LADIES ON HORSEBACK.
To the Editor of _The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News_.
SIR,--I have read with keen interest the article on "Ladies on Horseback" in your last number. I find several things in it which differ from my preconceived ideas, but it is impossible not to perceive that the writer, Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, speaks from an experience which makes her an undoubted authority. With reference to safety-stirrups, for instance. I have always seen that the ladies of my family were provided with them, and your contributor's objection seems not to be based upon the mechanism of the stirrup when in proper order, but on the circumstance that it is "almost invariably stiff," through neglect. I must admit that I have seen a lady hung up in a safety-stirrup; but surely it is possible to see that the stirrup will work before setting out for a ride or a day's hunting, and if the iron is large enough, so that "the padding over the instep" will not "cause the foot to become firmly embedded," are we to understand that the safety-stirrup is objectionable? Mrs. Power O'Donoghue has a poor opinion of "John the coachman, and Jem the groom," but I am lucky in having trustworthy people in my stable. What stirrup would your contributor have instead of the one with which so large a proportion of ladies ride? Another thing that I should like to know more about is the saddle recommended in the article. "Accustom yourself from the beginning to the use of a properly constructed saddle, made as straight as a board, no dip whatever," this writer says. Now I have never, so far as my recollection goes, even seen such a saddle, and may I ask what are the advantages of a thoroughly straight saddle, and what are the disadvantages of the inevitable slope or dip? I ask purely for information, for I am perfectly ready to submit my judgment and hitherto received notions to the dictum of a lady who is clearly so competent to treat the matter as your contributor. Would the lady have straight saddles also for men? is a question which incidentally occurs to me. I am far from supposing that a thing must be right because it is in general use, but there seem good reasons for the adoption of the ordinary shaped saddle, and I should be very glad if your contributor would let us know her reasons for departing from custom.
Before concluding, let me thank you for a series of articles which cannot fail to be of value to those for whom they are intended.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
H. DE V. R.
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SIR,--I feel bound to answer the letter of "H. de V. R." which appeared in your journal of last week's issue. With regard to the "safety-stirrup," there could not be much objection to it if it were made sufficiently large to prevent the padding over the instep from causing the foot to become embedded; and if, likewise, some careful and competent person were ready and willing to give the machinery of it a thorough examination immediately before entrusting the safety of a lady to such an uncertain support. But how seldom is this the case? Servants--even the most careful--are, to say the least of it, apt to overlook these important details; and when the steed is led to the door the cavalier who is to escort the lady is too much occupied in admiring his fair charge, talking to her, arranging with her where they shall ride, fastening her gloves, or performing a like office for himself, to worry his head about such an apparently insignificant thing as her stirrup. Provided he ascertains that it is the required length, he troubles himself no further about it, and probably in nine cases out of ten the dandy youth would not even comprehend the meaning of the term "safety" as applied to the article in question. No doubt it often happens that an elderly father, a matter-of-fact husband, a phlegmatic uncle, or a careful brother may be upon the spot, with wits and hands ready to avert danger; but how frequently, also, is it the fashionable stripling who escorts the lady--a cousin, or a lover, perhaps--ignorant of all connected with riding, except the pleasure of it; or the booted and belted servant, who touches his hat, and thinks he has done his duty because the saddle is clean and the horse sleek and shiny; or the riding-master, who has come out in a hurry, anxious and flurried at the last moment to see that everything _looks_ right, and who has had no time to see after such minor accessories as stirrups, or has left the matter (if he thought of it at all) in the hands of the groom, who has left it alone altogether. This being the case, I maintain that a stirrup encumbered with machinery is unsuited to a lady, because, although she may have an escort who will look after it, there is the possibility that she may not have such good fortune. Moreover, a stirrup made sufficiently large to bear padding over the instep, and yet enable the foot to slip easily in and out, must of necessity be a considerable weight, and this alone would be an objection, especially to a hunting lady, who calculates to a nicety every ounce which her steed has to carry. I have said that a small racing, or jockey-stirrup, is the _nicest_ in which a lady can ride, and I am bound to adhere to my judgment.
So much for the first portion of "H. de V. R.'s" letter. Now we come to the second.
My "poor opinion of John, the coachman, and Jem, the groom," is based, not upon their untrustworthiness, but upon their want of capacity as teachers of the equine art. I have never yet, in all my experience, met with any servant who was capable of instructing a lady how to ride; yet I have been fairly astonished to find the contrary idea quite general amongst parents in the country, who fondly hope that their daughters may one day adorn a saddle and grace a hunting-field. "I shall have Mary and Jenny taught immediately now," said a lady to me one day in the course of last summer,--"They shall have a pony a-piece, and John (the groom) shall teach them." Of course, I said nothing, my principle of noninterference standing me in good stead; but when an hour or so later, I beheld the said John disporting himself, and showing off his equestrian skill upon one of the carriage-horses, I really felt pity for the two charming little girls who were so soon to be handed over to his doubtful tuition.
And now for the third portion of your correspondent's letter: namely, the question of the straight saddle. "H. de V. R." says he has never seen any such; and I consider this extremely probable, for he will recollect my saying that a saddle such as I described should be made to order, as it is certainly not in general use--but I am not altogether singular in my advocacy of it. Peat and Co., Piccadilly, or Box and Co., Abbey Street, Dublin, will manufacture saddles of this description in excellent style, but only to order, for they have not yet found sufficient favour--or, to express it better, are not sufficiently known--to have become popular, and manufacturers therefore will not keep them in stock. The advantages of a straight saddle are manifold. Firstly, it is the only means by which a lady can learn the necessary art of riding from balance. This can be acquired by sitting _on_ a saddle, but never by sitting _in_ one. Secondly, she can, when riding upon a straight saddle, change and shift her position, which as a necessary consequence changes her weight upon the horse's back, and saves him from being galled. A noble lady wrote to me some time since, "I know not how it is; all my horses are laid up with sore backs; and yet my saddle is well padded." I guessed the secret at once; she was riding in a sort of well, or chair, from which her heavy weight could never for an instant shift, and hence the trouble of which she complained. I sent her a sketch of my saddle, with the address of the man who had made it, and she has since been a staunch upholder of my theory. Thirdly, the best figure in the world would look to disadvantage if seated in a saddle with a dip or slope; whereas a well-made woman, attired in a habit properly fitted about the waist and hips, never looks to such complete advantage as when sitting gracefully and at ease upon a well constructed straight-made saddle. Fourthly, if in taking an up-jump the horse misses his footing and struggles in an unsuccessful effort to recover himself, the lady may--if riding upon a straight saddle--succeed in slipping from it to a situation of comparative safety; but, if she has a high projection of iron and stiff leather just behind her, it bars her movement, and as a consequence the horse falls back _upon_ her, and catching her between his weight and the edge of the ditch or furrow, as the case may be, injures her spine, sometimes fatally, and frequently in a serious manner.
The question, "Do I also advocate straight saddles for men's use?" is answered by my reminding "H. de V. R." that there is no analogy between a gentleman's position upon horseback and that of a lady. What would be a necessity, or at least a _luxury_, for the one would be eminently unsuited for the other. A man's superior activity and greater liberty of motion place him ever at an advantage. And whilst upon this subject I would strongly urge upon all humane riders, especially the male portion of them, to have their saddles made high _in front_, so as not to press upon the horse's withers, causing him much needless suffering. A space capable of accommodating at least two fingers should be between withers and saddle, and were this attended to we should see fewer skin abrasions and unsightly lumps upon poor submissive animals, and less of that stuffing of handkerchiefs between cruel leather and bleeding flesh which so frequently pains the sorrowing eyes of sensitive and pitying persons.
I think I have now dealt fully with "H. de V. R.'s" letter, and must thank the writer of it for his complimentary observations, and his kindly appreciation of my labours in a cause which I certainly have very much at heart.
Apologising for trespassing thus far upon your valuable space.
I am, Sir,
Yours obediently,
NANNIE POWER O'DONAGHUE.
October 12, 1880.
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SIR,--Many readers of _The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News_ hope that Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, in her very interesting letters upon "Ladies on Horseback," will touch fully on the most important thing, viz. "the ladies' horse." One sees ladies riding all sorts; some too big, some too small, some good shoulders and no backs, others just the reverse; not one out of twenty what it ought to be. Also, up to what weight should it be? What is the average weight of ladies, and the difference in ordinary dress to the habit? It is often said that, owing to the peculiar seat, the weight being all on one side, a lady tires a horse much more than a man; certainly you often see ladies' horses going short with the near hind leg, possibly from this cause. Could not the weight of side-saddles be reduced? Those used by the Empress of Austria could not have weighed 8 lb., and she was herself a light woman. Anything on this subject will interest many readers.
I am, &c.
EQUES.
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SIR,--There is one point to which I should like to call the attention of the writer of the able and interesting articles on "Ladies on Horseback," which she appears to have altogether overlooked in her enumeration of the articles of a lady's riding attire. It is the use of a spur by lady equestrians. The recently invented lady's spur consists of one sharp point so constructed as not to injure the habit. In hunting, a spur is indispensable, and in park-riding is very desirable for a lady, who has so much less control over her horse than a man. Young girls just beginning to ride will find the use of a spur most beneficial in managing their steeds. Hired horses are never altogether to be trusted, and in the case of their showing temper or laziness, two or three pricks with a lady's spur will subdue them far more quickly than the application of a whip. I have more than once ridden a horse that was a confirmed jibber, and have always found a few determined thrusts with my spur, combined with an efficiently applied whip, never failed to bring him down. I confidently recommend all ladies, and especially young girls just beginning the art of equitation, to procure a lady's spur, and never to mount a horse without it.
I am, &c.
MABEL FLORENCE RAYNE.
The Firs, Cheltenham,
Oct. 18th, 1880.
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SIR,--I suppose it would be impossible to advance any opinions to which there would not be objections raised, but I write, not in a cavilling spirit, but as one really anxious for information, to know whether Mrs. Power O'Donoghue would seriously advocate striking a horse between the ears when it rears. Surely such a thing would be exceedingly dangerous for any lady to attempt, and, as your correspondent is writing solely for ladies, I conclude she refers to them in the present instance. I feel very strongly upon this point, because an uncle of mine, some years ago, when out riding tried this experiment at the advice of a friend. The horse (not a vicious one) suddenly reared; my uncle loosened the reins and urged it forward, but finding this ineffectual, struck it violently between the ears with his hunting-whip. The animal, maddened, I presume, by the pain, reared straight on end and fell backward; its rider being a very agile man, slipped off sideways, and thus escaped nearly certain death; but had the rider been a lady instead of a gentleman the consequences must have been fatal; and with so light a switch as a lady usually carries, a blow between the ears could only serve to irritate without producing any good effect. I would ask one more question: Why does your correspondent so strongly object to the use of the "old-fashioned slipper" stirrup? I am rather curious on this point, because I have ever since the tender age of four, when my riding experiences began, used the shoe-stirrup, and I have always thought it so safe, because my foot slips out in a second. I am aware that it is extremely unfashionable, as in Rotton Row you hardly see a lady using it; but I keep to it still, not so much with the idea of its safety, but for comfort, especially in trotting. I find it extremely difficult to keep an iron stirrup from slipping back into the instep, and, being used to rise pressing on the toes, I think that rising from the instep is more difficult and doubles the exertion of trotting. In conclusion, I must express a hope that Mrs. Power O'Donoghue will not give me credit for writing in a spirit of unfriendly criticism; but as I am exceedingly fond of riding, I feel an interest in working out this subject to its fullest extent. I am sure all lady riders must feel grateful to Mrs. Power O'Donoghue for the valuable and useful instructions contained in her interesting letters, and one has only to pay a visit to the Row between 12 and 2 in the season, to see how much they are needed by the generality of the "ladies on horseback."
I am, &c.
EQUESTRINA.
October 13th, 1880.
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SIR,--Though not an "aggrieved stirrup-maker," it may not be out of place if I, as a saddler of many years' experience and a great lover of horses, offer a few comments on the "hints and instructions" set forth in your paper for the benefit of ladies on horseback, written by one of the sex who is evidently an authority on the subject she treats so ably. There is no doubt these articles will be read with great interest by very many ladies who desire to acquit themselves well on horseback, and also by their gentlemen friends who are anxious to conduce to the safety and comfort of their fair companions in that delightful exercise, but cannot have the same knowledge to impart the theoretical instructions now given by your lady writer, whose criticisms will therefore be valuable to both. In following her remarks, it occurs to me that I may perhaps venture on a little comment without being considered too intrusive. The objection taken to children riding is no doubt formed on good grounds, but I think that with care young ladies might be permitted at a much earlier age than sixteen to acquire some practice in the saddle; it is true that young girls are liable to curvature of the spine, when allowed to ride day after day on the same side of their pony, but I have understood that this danger is obviated by changing their position to the other side on alternate days, and I should be glad to learn what are the objections to this. It seems to me rather desirable that ladies should have equal facility in riding on either side, but there may be reasons against it of which I am ignorant. This lady says that the nicest bridle for a beginner is a plain ring-snaffle, but states further that few horses will go in it; the latter remark, if correct, (which I should venture to doubt), raises a fatal objection to the ring-snaffle, as I fear that not one young lady in twenty, under amateur teaching, would be put upon a perfectly trained nag, desirable as this must be; and thus an ordinary stout mouth plain snaffle, or plain bar with single rein, would surely be preferable. I fancy it would be found of much advantage if riding was taught in the first instance without the use of reins at all, the horse simply being led by an attendant; the learner thus gets a proper balance, without depending on the bridle for support, as many are found to do. For a young girl I should like to know what is the objection to a pad, or pilch as they are called, made for use on either side. These, having no tree, are nearly level, but there is perhaps a chance of its turning round if the rider does not sit straight; for a grown girl, the properly made saddle is better every way. In common with your correspondent "H. de V. R.," I fail quite to understand how a side-saddle is to be made "as straight as a board." A saddle is made on a foundation, or tree, of wood and iron, which should be shaped for the back intended to bear it, and must be raised slightly in front for the wither and behind to clear the backbone; but it is right that the seat should be as level as possible. This is probably the lady's meaning. It is very essential that the saddle should fit the horse correctly and be of suitable size and shape for the rider; the former consideration is too often overlooked and thus entails discomfort to both. There are saddles, and saddles, as ladies often find to their cost. A very large proportion in use here, and more abroad, are put together in Birmingham and Walsall on the slop system; they will please the eyes of an inexperienced purchaser, but are formed with little regard to the requirements of the poor animals who suffer under them, or of their riders' comfort, and it is probable that these are the saddles against which ladies are very properly warned. It is really indispensable for a lady's comfort in riding that she should have a good saddle, made by a competent and conscientious saddler, whose business it is to see that it is suitable. Considering the number of years that a good saddle with care will last, it is inconceivable that the comparatively small additional price should be grudged for a perfect and satisfactory article by a maker of repute, instead of the machine-made slop rubbish, by which many a good animal is injured and the temper of his rider seriously chafed. Enough about saddles for the present, so I will go to the next point under discussion--the stirrup. Your lady rider must have been very unfortunate in her use of the safety-stirrup, which, in my opinion, does in practice usually justify its name. I have known very many instances in which ladies have owed immunity from serious accident to its use. As "H. de V. R." justly says, the mechanism of the stirrup (which is very simple) should not be allowed to get out of order by neglect; surely the lady or her friends, particularly if so "knowledgeable" as the writer of the article, might [They "_might_." That they so often do not, and that danger so frequently results from the neglect, is the grievance and complaint of our contributor.--ED. _I.S. & D.N._] take the trouble personally to see that her stirrup is not out of order from rust, and in no other way but one can it be so; the other way is that if the groom ignorantly or carelessly adjusts the stirrup for use hind part before, the inner stirrup cannot be released, and the rider's foot, in case of a fall, will be helplessly fixed in the stirrup. This eventuality, however, does not detract from the real value of the safety-stirrup, for neglect and ignorance will entail direful consequences in all ways. Next to the safety-stirrup, I quite believe that a plain steel stirrup of suitable size, with side pieces at the bottom to take sharp pressure off the foot, is the most suitable for ladies' use, and I always condemn the small padded stirrup, which is, indeed, a fruitful source of danger to lady riders.
With the rest of Mrs. O'Donoghue's dissertation I cordially agree, and believe it would be beneficial if both men and ladies practised riding without the aid of the stirrup; and the same rule applies to and is generally practised by men, as I saw a few days ago on a German barrack-ground, where an awkward squad was being trained in that manner. The art of putting a lady up is one that should be practised more than it is by horsemen; my first attempt resulted in the lady slipping down again, and on my hat, which suffered even more than my self-esteem. On one occasion in the Crimea, years ago, I was riding with a lady and her husband, the former dismounted at Mrs. Seacole's for refreshment, and on being put up again by her husband with more vigour than skill, the poor lady was sent over her horse's back to the ground on the other side, and being somewhat portly, was shaken severely. I fear many ladies have suffered in the same way from the awkwardness of their attendants, but I have seen ladies so agile as to mount from the ground without assistance--rather a difficult feat, and requiring much practice. Having trespassed so much on your space I must not proceed further now, but shall be happy to air my notions again, if agreeable to your readers and riders.
Yours, &c.
JERMYN.
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SIR,--My papers entitled "Ladies on Horseback" have called forth many letters. Some of these you have printed, some have been forwarded to me from your office, and many have been received at my own house. I shall regard it as a favour if you will permit me to reply to a few of them through the medium of your paper, as in answering one I shall answer many who have written upon the same subject.
J. V.--When the horse took head with me and leaped into the farm-yard (as depicted by Mr. Sturgess) I had no way of getting out except by the passage and kitchen of the farm-house, as the gates of the yard were locked, and the owner of the place--who was away at the neighbouring town--had the key in his pocket.
EQUES.--The reason why ladies ride "all sorts of horses" is that comparatively few keep horses of their own, and those who are without them and are fond of riding, jump eagerly at the offer of a friend's mount, whether it be suitable or otherwise. A nice horse for a lady may be thus described: Height about 15-3; Colour dark bay or brown, well-set sloping shoulders, good back, arched loins, firm and graceful neck, small head and ears, shapely clean-cut legs, and good firm feet. A horse of this description will be well up to 13 or 14 st. For a heavy weight an animal should be selected with a short wide back, powerful quarters, big healthy hocks, and stoutly-built fore-legs. The _average_ weight of ladies is about 9st. Summer costume and riding gear would weigh about equally, but velvet or sealskin would outweigh a habit. A lady seated upon a properly-made saddle, if she has been well taught, will never have her weight "all on one side." The reason why horses go short with the near hind leg is because ladies ride from the stirrup, leaning their full weight upon it, and galling the animal's back. The stirrup is meant to assist, not to _support_, the rider. Old-fashioned side-saddles are all too heavy; but a well-constructed modern saddle can scarcely be improved upon. It is a mistake to ride in too light a saddle, as it brings the weight of the body too near the horse's back. That used by the Empress of Austria weighed 12 lbs., which is about a correct standard.
LADYBIRD.--Nobody who has any regard for life and limb now rides through Dublin. All wise persons gave it up when pavement and tram-lines made the city what it is. Consequently the park is deserted, and only a solitary horseman is seen in Stephen's Green.
INQUIRER.--The shoe should be made to _fit the foot_. It is most cruel, and is a fruitful source of lameness, to pare the foot away to make it fit a ready-made shoe. If you cannot trust your farrier, change him. This advice also applies to JAMES R., but I do not undertake to answer questions respecting the treatment or management of the horse.
MABEL FLORENCE RAYNE.--I had not forgotten nor overlooked the important uses of the spur. You will find the subject treated in my papers upon hunting and hunting-costume. I do not, however, _at all_ approve of its use for beginners, as such are certain, through nervousness, to press the left heel close to the horse's side, and, if furnished with a spur, would cause him much needless pain and irritation, besides endangering their own safety.
ROBERT KEATING.--Best thanks for letter and papers.
G. ELLIOT.--For riding with a bit and bridoon, place a rein between each finger of your left hand, and hold them securely with your thumb, reserving your right hand for your whip; or take your reins in both hands, and ride your horse upon the curb, or snaffle, according to his temperament. For riding with a single rein, place the near leather under your little finger and the off one between the first and second fingers, which is as good a way as any; but I have already said that there is no fixed rule for holding reins, and a good rider will constantly change them about, and move the bridle in her horse's mouth, which prevents him hanging upon his bit.
JANE CARR.--I scarcely know whether to regard your letter as a compliment or the reverse. My labours have been _totally_ unassisted; nor has my experience of this world shown me that its occupants are sufficiently philanthropic to labour that another may reap the merit and the reward.
L. K.--The subject is not within my province. Mayhew's _Horse Management_, published by Allen & Co., 13, Waterloo Place, London, is the best I can recommend.
HUNTSMAN.--It is for ladies I am writing.
ELEANOR.--Thanks; but if I adopted one half of the suggestions offered, a strange result would ensue. Happily my papers went to press without _anybody_ (save the Editor) having had a glance at them. He generously accepted them upon their merits; but had I shown them to others I should either have altered something in every second line or have given offence to numerous well-meaning persons. When I was a child I committed to memory the inimitable fable of "The Miller, his Son, and his Ass," and have taken the moral of it as a guide through life.
GOODALL.--A short hunting-crop without a lash would do.
EQUESTRINA.--If a horse rears with me in a vicious manner I hit him between the ears, but I do not by any means expect my readers to coincide in all my views, and those who know a better plan can, of course, adopt it. If an animal rears slightly I lean forward against his neck, touch him with my heel, and speak to him. If he persists, and I see any danger of his falling back, I hit him between the ears with the butt-end of my whip, not sufficiently heavily to "madden him," nor even to cause him the least pain, but to occasion him to duck his head, which he invariably does; and if at that instant I hit him sharply with my heel, he drops at once and lashes out behind. Allowing for a moment that such a mode of action may be open to objection, is it not better (seeing that it is frequently efficacious) than sitting quietly and permitting one's-self to be fallen back upon, without making any effort to avert the catastrophe? My objection to the slipper-stirrup is founded on the knowledge that it encourages ladies to lean their weight upon it. "It feels so comfortable," I heard a lady say, "so like a resting-board beneath my foot, that I _cannot help_ riding from it." An iron stirrup with the foot well home is the proper thing to ride in; and remember it is from the instep and _not_ from the toes that you should rise. The iron should meet the waist of the boot-sole, and a long flat heel (I do not mean one of those atrocities known as a _high_ one) should be worn on the boot.
JERMYN.--Your letter almost answers itself. The pad or pilch _is_ apt to turn round, for it is only one little girl in twenty who sits straight. You judge my meaning rightly about the straight saddle, but I opine that it is the stuffing which should be arranged to guard the backbone from pressure, and that it is in no way necessary to raise the _seat_ at the back. I must again say, for the third time, that a plain ring-snaffle is the _nicest_ for a lady's use, and also maintain my opinion that few horses will go in it, according to _my_ ideas of "going." A horse who goes well in a ring-snaffle must have a perfect temper and a perfect mouth, a combination as rare in the equine as in the human tribe. For ordinary hunters and roadsters I do not recommend it, simply because they will not go in such a bridle; but I shall ever hold to my opinion that it is the nicest and the least puzzling for a beginner.
KATIE.--Not worth denying. It is one of those worthless untruths which I have long since learned to treat with contempt.
LIVERPUDLIAN.--Your suggestion is so good that I shall certainly adopt it. Nothing could be better adapted for riding in than a warm jersey, buttoned in front. Being elastic it would allow full play for the arms and shoulders, and would also display a good figure to advantage. If you, or some other, would only get up a sufficient amount of courage to turn a deaf ear to the hateful and oft-recurring "What will be said?" we might have many useful and elegant innovations of which at present we know nothing.
YOUNG WIFE.--There can be no impropriety in what you say. "Honi soit qui mal y pense?" So long as you have a good conscience and your husband's approval you need care little for what the world says.
X. Y. Z., DASHAWAY, and COUNTRYMAN.--I cannot reply to your letters.
Thanking you, Sir, for your kindness in granting me so much of your valuable space,
I am, &c.
NANNIE POWER O'DONOGHUE.
October 25.
* * * * *
SIR,--The "recently-invented lady's spur," mentioned in your last issue by "Mabel Florence Kayne," was patented towards the close of the last century, and illustrations of it, and of other spurs on the same principle, can be seen at the Patent Office. I quite concur in the recommendation that a lady should always wear a spur, and it will be seen from the last article by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue that a spur forms part of her hunting equipment; but I strongly advise ladies to wear a spur with a rowel having only five points, which should be long and sharp. The spur with one point and a spring sheath is commonly sold by saddlers for ladies' use, but is liable to break or get out of order, and is always discarded in favour of the one with a five-pointed rowel by ladies who have tried the latter. Mrs. Power O'Donoghue is doing good service to ladies by protesting against the stirrups facetiously so-called "safety." I always advise a lady to use a perfectly plain steel stirrup, but a tolerably heavy one. Why cannot the stirrup be attached to a lady's saddle in the same manner as to a gentleman's? Then, in case of accident, the stirrup and leather would come away together. An excellent bit for a lady's horse is a curb-bit, suspended in the horse's mouth by two large rings, to which the snaffle-reins are also attached. This bit is very light or very severe, at the rider's wish.
I am, &c.
SOUTHERN CROSS.
October 26, 1880.
* * * * *
SIR,--Continuing my remarks on this subject, I am bound to say that your contributor gives sufficient answer to the question of the safety-stirrup in explaining that the objection is removed providing the inner stirrup is large enough for the foot to be easily extricated; the stirrup being made in three different sizes, this is a matter easily adjusted. The shoe-stirrup referred to by "Equestrina" was in use by ladies for many years, and in point of safety I think no objection can be raised to it; the same shape of stirrup is much affected by men in South America.
The instructions in Part Second of Mrs. Power O'Donoghue's writings are very admirable, except that I do not see the utility of a lady's striking a rearing horse between the ears, with the few ounces of whip usually carried. I have known men do so with a loaded whip, and knocking a horse down to cure him of this vice, but it would be scarcely advisable for a lady to try this. I am rather surprised to see it stated as a fact that both rearing and plunging maybe entirely prevented by using the so-called anti-rearing bit martingale. It certainly may prevent rearing on the first attempt if the horse's head is kept down tightly by this martingale attached to the breastplate, but as the latter is seldom worn except for hunting, it cannot be intended to recommend it for that purpose, for it would infallibly follow that the fixed martingale would bring both horse and rider to grief at the very first fence they attempted to clear, and if the horse had sufficient liberty of action to jump freely, the martingale would be no obstruction to his rearing. I know from my own experience that a horse can be knocked down by a blow on the head. I was once doing a little private mounted practice at sword exercise, preparatory to a prize competition, and grasping my sword with thick gloves on, the weapon somehow turned in my hand, caught my mare below the ear on the bridle-hand, and knocked her completely off her legs, to our mutual amazement, though no great harm was done. I do not see what analogy there can be between the powerful Chifney bit and a rearing martingale; the effect of the latter may be secured by attaching a split martingale, with leather or spring billets, to the mouth-rings of any bit in use, snaffle or Pelham; but I believe that a horse can, if determined, rear all the same, and it certainly would not prevent plunging or bucking. For a restive or jibbing horse in saddle I have always found a short running martingale very useful; the rider should shorten and lower the right rein well down the horse's shoulder, apply the right leg and spur sharply, and turn the horse round like a teetotum until he is dizzy, then give him both spurs when his head is in the right direction. This will set him going before he knows where he is, and is a practice I have found very efficacious, but not easily applicable by ladies.
On the subject of bits, my own favourite is the Hanoverian Pelham; it will generally hold the strongest puller, and, with a light hand, I have never met a horse that would not face it. For show or park riding there is none better; it is, however, not suited to those who trust to the bridle-reins for their balance in the saddle.
"Eques" inquires "what is the average weight of ladies?" This is a difficult query, but as ladies ride at all weights between six and eleven stone, with a margin each way, I should suppose the average would be about 8-1/2 stone, exclusive of saddle, &c. A lady who is an indifferent rider would throw more weight on one side than the other, one cause of so many sore backs from side-saddles; but a thoroughly good horsewoman would sit with as level a balance as a man. The weight of good modern side-saddles is much reduced, but they cannot well be made under 14 lb., with furniture, and are usually considerably more. If the Empress of Austria uses a saddle of 8 lb. only (as some have averred), she must ride on a man's steeplechase-saddle, which perhaps would not be a difficult performance for a lady who is said to be in the habit of driving four-in-hand.
I am much impressed by the recital of your contributor's adventures and hair-breadth escapes on the saddle, particularly on the occasion she refers to when invited by a friend to ride the big bay horse. If the friend was a gentleman, I must repeat the opinion I heard expressed by a lady when reading the article--that any man who would wilfully expose a woman to risk her life on such a brute behaved disgracefully. There is no object in creation to my mind more attractive than a graceful woman controlling with ease a fine and well-trained horse; but no one with due respect for the sex would wish to see her taking the place of a rough rider.
Yours, &c.
JERMYN.
* * * * *
SIR,--Although I care nothing for anything that may be said about myself, I am ever loyal to my friends, and it seems to me hard that one of the truest of them should be spoken of as having "behaved disgracefully" by a writer who, with more impetuosity than judgment, jumps at conclusions without waiting to hear the truth. When I was riding homeward after the leap into the farm-yard, I met the owner of the horse upon the road, driving out with a friend. The moment he heard what had occurred he took me off the animal, changed my saddle to the very quiet horse he was driving, and actually, after nearly an hour's delay, succeeded in putting the harness upon the "big bay," and, having done so, drove him home regardless of his own safety, or rather of his danger, which was imminent. I do not think there are many men at his time of life, and in his delicate state of health, who would have done the same thing rather than chance a second runaway. He had _no_ reason to suppose that any such thing would, in the first instance, have happened, and I believe it was attributable to the fact that the horse had been ridden a day or two previously by a very wild rider, who had spoilt his mouth and manners, and who subsequently apologised to me for having been the cause of what occurred. I might have mentioned all this before, and certainly should have done so had I thought that such necessity should have arisen. I would remind "Jermyn" that my observations respecting the martingale were confined to my papers on _road-riding_, not on hunting, and would also thank him, with my best obeisance, for calling me a rough-rider.
I am, Sir,
Yours obediently,
NANNIE POWER O'DONOGHUE.
October 31, 1880.
* * * * *
SIR,--I must, in justice to myself, ask you to be so kind as to grant me space in your influential journal to reply to the very serious charge "Jermyn" brought against me in your issue of the 30th of the past month. I am the friend who asked Mrs. Power O'Donoghue to ride "the big bay," and yet I believe that nobody in all the world has a higher esteem for that lady, nor a truer regard for her safety than I have. Indeed there are few men in Ireland (if one) worth being called the name, who would not willingly lay down their own lives rather than imperil the life of one so universally beloved. The horse up to the day of the runaway had been perfectly quiet and most easily managed. He carried me two seasons to hounds, never making a mistake nor pulling in the least. Not being able to ride, having shortly before met with a very serious accident, I lent "the big bay" to a hard-riding young officer for a day's hunting. He unfortunately must have made too free use of his long-necked spurs, and, totally unknown to me, ruffled the horse's temper; the animal remembering the treatment he received, and finding but a feather on his back, when excited by the music of the hounds, overpowered his rider; but, thank Heaven, no serious accident occurred. I was unutterably shocked and distressed on hearing of the occurrence, and may state that on the day in question I was driving in my dog-cart, accompanied by a gentleman (late an officer in Her Majesty's service) who can vouch for the truth of my statement, when Mrs. O'Donoghue came up to me and told me of her very narrow escape. I did not hesitate an instant to say, "I will take out the horse I am driving. You know him to be a perfect mount, and I will put 'the big bay' in my trap." The lady did not wish me to do so, knowing the risk I ran in putting a horse in harness that had never been in such before. I at last succeeded in prevailing on her not to lose the day's sport, changed the saddle with great difficulty, and attached "the big bay" to my dog-cart; after a few plunges and an endeavour to get away, he settled down, and has since gone grandly. My friend, though a very bold man, would not get in with me for some time. I hope after this explanation your correspondent will be sufficiently generous to allow that I did all in my power to insure the safety of a most precious life. With regard to the term "rough-rider," as applied by "Jermyn" to Mrs. O'Donoghue, I feel assured if he knew the lady he would not for worlds have used such an expression.
I am, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
ONE WHO HAS RIDDEN TO HOUNDS FOR OVER SIXTY YEARS.
* * * * *
SIR,--I should by no means recommend a young lady to wear a spur when learning in a riding-school, but from my own experience I strongly advise all girls beginning to ride on the road never to mount their steeds without a sharp spur on their left boot. The second time I went out riding, when I was fourteen, my cob, startled by some noise, suddenly began to rear and pitch vigorously. I applied my whip sharply across his flank, but without effect. I then gave him a series of sharp pricks with my spur, which completely subdued him. Had I been without a spur I should probably have been thrown and severely injured. I should certainly prefer a spur with a rowel as "Southern Cross" recommends, but would it not be apt to tear the habit?
I am, &c.
MABEL FLORENCE RAYNE.
The Firs, Cheltenham,
November 1, 1880.
* * * * *
SIR,--A correspondent in your last number advises ladies to use a rowel spur, with five prongs, long and sharp, so, as a friend of horses, I am inclined to write an objection to their taking this advice. In the first place, from the nature of a lady's seat, her armed heel would often unintentionally irritate and annoy the horse; and in the second place many would probably use this instrument of torture too severely, and therefore cruelly. A rowel spur, with five long and sharp prongs--in fact, a jockey's spur--is a much more severe instrument than is required for ordinary riding, either by man or woman, and the advantage of the ladies' bore spur is, that it can only be applied when intended, and then is quite sufficiently severe. I have no objection to ladies, who are good horsewomen, wearing a spur, and using it, too, as severely as necessary, but I have great objections to any unnecessary pain or annoyance being given to my friends, the horses. Another lady correspondent of yours says that a spur is quite indispensable for hunting. If she means that it should always be worn in case it is required, I agree; but I have ridden a courageous high-tempered horse for years with hounds without ever using the spur.
I am, &c.
FAIR PLAY.
Glasgow, 1st November 1880.
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SIR,--As the subject of spurs and other riding equipment for ladies seems at the present time to occupy and interest many of your fair readers, permit me, on behalf of my sisters, who are horsewomen of some experience, both at home and in the colonies, and who have practically tried most known riding-costumes, to recommend, through the medium of your columns, the following as a comfortable and serviceable riding-dress for a lady, for long country rides, picnics, &c.; of course not for the Park, or a lawn meet. Habit--a short, strong hunting-skirt, short enough to walk in with comfort, with jacket of same cloth as skirt, made loose enough to admit of a jersey being worn under it if required; a wide leather belt for the waist, fastening with a buckle. This belt will be found a great comfort and support when on horseback for many hours. Hat of soft felt, or a melon-shaped hat. Pantaloons of chamois leather, buttoning close at the ankles. Hussar or Wellington boots, reaching to about four inches of the knee, to be worn over the pantaloons, made of Peel leather with _moderate_-sized heels, tipped with brass, and soles strong but not thick. A leather stud should be sewn on the left boot, about 2-1/2 inches above the heel, on which stud the spur should rest, and thus be kept in its place without tight buckling. The spur found to be the most useful after the trial of many is a rowel spur of plated steel, about two inches to two and-a-half inches long, strong and light, hunting shape, and fastened with a strap and buckle, the foot-strap of plated steel chain. This chain foot-strap looks neater than a leather one, and does not become cut or worn out when on foot on rough or rocky ground. The rowel pin is a screw pin; thus the rowel can be changed at pleasure, and a sharp or a blunt one fitted as is required by the horse one rides. The spur I mention can be obtained of Messrs. Maxwell & Co., Piccadilly, London; or of Mr. Thompson, saddler, Dawson street, Dublin.
Some ladies affect two spurs--one, the right, being fitted with a blank rowel; this is, of course, for appearance sake when dismounted. I have not often seen two spurs worn. I am not alluding to Miss Bird's riding-costume, as described in her books, _Life in the Sandwich Islands_ and _The Rocky Mountains_. She rode _à la cavalière_, in a Mexican saddle, and wearing big rowel Mexican spurs, and appears from her account to have preferred this style of riding to the modern style and side-saddle. Some years ago I saw a photograph of the Queen of Naples (I think in 1860), representing the queen mounted _à la cavalière_, wearing a high felt hat, a long white cloak, patent-leather jack-boots, and gilt spurs. Can any of your readers inform me if this style of riding for ladies is a custom of Southern Italy as well as Mexico and the Sandwich Islands?
I am, &c.
JACK SPUR.
* * * * *
SIR,--I cannot regret that my letter has given the authoress of this work, and also the owner of the "big bay" horse, an opportunity of explaining the circumstances attending her mount on that puissant but headstrong animal, and of repudiating the erroneous construction put upon it, as probably the same idea may have occurred to many other readers of the anecdote, who may not have cared to express their sentiments. I must say, however, that I am very sorry if my remarks occasioned pain to either of your correspondents. The explanation given shows clearly that no blame was really attributable to the gentleman who offered the mount, and I can well believe he never dreamt of danger with the horse in such skilful hands. No one would doubt the sincerity of the statement given, that the horse was put in harness for the first time and driven away, after such an experience of his temper; but it speaks more highly for the courage than discretion of his owner, and I can well understand the friend's hesitation to share the driving-seat, for there are few things more trying to the nerves than to sit behind a determined bolter. Perhaps I write feelingly, having been in that predicament myself three years ago, resulting in a fractured hip and permanent lameness. I will most certainly admit that the chivalrous gentleman did all, and more than was necessary, to avert further peril to the lady who had so narrow an escape. As for the obnoxious term "rough rider," to which exception is taken, it was intended to be used generally and not individually; if it has unfortunately happened that Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, whom I have never had the pleasure of seeing, took it in a personal sense, I most sincerely beg her forgiveness, and will ask her rather to accept, as applicable to herself, the earlier remarks about ladies on horseback at the conclusion of my letter, and the assurance of my belief that such a gentlewoman as she is described could never be a _rough_ rider in any way.
I am, &c.
JERMYN.
* * * * *
SIR,--The spur with a five-pointed rowel was strongly recommended for ladies' use many years ago in the _Queen_, and is worn by many: it does not tear the habit, and is not more severe than the spring-sheath spur with a point of the same length, as only one point of the rowel can prick the horse at a time; indeed, it is not so severe, as it can be applied with a very slight touch, which generally is all that is required, whilst the spring-sheath spur must be applied with sufficient force to overcome the resistance of the spring, with the result that the horse is often more sharply pricked than the rider intends. The points of a lady's spur should be long enough to be effective if the skirt of the habit intervenes, as, with any arrangement, it sometimes will do, when, if the points are too short, the horse does not feel it. I dissent from the statement of "Fairplay" that, "from the nature of a lady's seat, her armed heel would often unintentionally irritate and annoy her horse." If applied to a clumsy rider the statement is accurate, but a lady who is a moderately good rider has no difficulty in keeping her foot in the proper position, and a lady's left foot should be in the same position as a man's; whilst, as a lady has the third crutch to steady her left leg, she has less excuse than a man would have for the unintentional use of the spur; but this evil carries its own antidote, for the lady would soon perceive the result of the irritation, and become more careful. The best way to cure a boy of turning out his toes and holding on with his heels is to give him a pair of long-necked spurs, and then put him on a fidgetty horse; a few minutes' experience teaches him more than a month of lecturing. I never knew of a mishap occurring to a lady through accidentally spurring her horse, but I have known many instances of ladies being put to great inconvenience and annoyance through not wearing a spur, and I do not understand why a lady should be more likely than a man to use it with undue severity. That it is an advantage to a lady is clearly shown by the fact that a lady who once tries one always continues its use. "Fairplay" is also mistaken about the spring-sheath spur, for it is as readily applied as any other, though more force is required, which is objectionable, and especially so in park riding, when the spring of the horse to an unintentionally sharp application betrays the action of the rider. I claim to be as good a friend of horses as "Fairplay," but I have some regard for the rider as well as for the horse, and I consider that, whilst we are justified in riding horses, we are justified in using such reasonable aids as we find most satisfactory to ourselves; and I have no sympathy with anyone who objects to a lady availing herself of the convenience and assistance so readily supplied by a judiciously-used spur, which every horseman knows cannot, in very many cases, be obtained by any other means, and which he never hesitates to avail himself of. In these days of locomotion a lady loses a great deal of the pleasures of travelling, and of the opportunities of seeing the countries she may visit, unless she can and will ride such horses as she may meet with in those countries; and even in the rural districts of England there is many an old nag of the "Proputty Proputty" type, which (though not possessed of the special points of a lady's horse--"Oh! such a lovely mane and tail") will carry a lady tolerably well if he feels the spur occasionally. If "Mabel Florence Rayne" tries the rowel spur and the bit I mentioned in my former letter, I am sure she will be satisfied with them, and perhaps she will write her opinion for the benefit of others. The excellent and sensible letters of Mrs. Power O'Donoghue will probably convince people that a horse, when he has a lady on his back, is very much the same kind of animal, and requires very much the same kind of management, as when he is ridden by a man. If Mrs. Power O'Donoghue can obtain this result, she will sweep away many of the peculiar prejudices and ideas that now prevail as to all matters appertaining to ladies on horseback.
I am, &c.
SOUTHERN CROSS.
* * * * *
SIR,--In the article under the above-mentioned heading, published in your issue of the 6th November, Mrs. Power O'Donoghue recommends that horses' tails should not be docked. Dealers, when offering horses for sale, do not usually volunteer any information as to whether the horses have been docked. I wish, therefore, to inform any intending purchasers who may not know how to ascertain whether a horse has been docked, and who may wish to obtain some which have not been disfigured in this manner, that if the dock (that is, the portion of the tail which consists of bones and muscles, &c.) is in its natural state, the hair grows thickly at the end or tip of it, and there is no bare space there; but if it has been shortened by a portion of it being cut off (or docked), there is at the end or tip of it a circular space of about an inch in diameter, entirely bare of hair. When a horse has been docked, the hair of the tail scarcely grows after it has reached to within six or seven inches above the hocks. The hocks of a large horse are about twenty-five inches above the ground. It is a general custom with London dealers to cut the hair of the tail very short before offering a horse for sale, so that it does not come down lower than to a distance of about nine inches above the hocks. The buyer cannot then tell to what length the tail is likely to grow. If customers would refuse to buy horses with the hair of the tail cut short, perhaps the practice in question would be discontinued by the dealers.
I am, Sir, &c.
X. Y. Z.
London, November 10, 1880.
* * * * *
SIR,--In your paper of last week I notice a letter on the advisability of ladies on horseback adopting the cross-saddle in place of the side, that is to say, in plain English, ride astride. This I have done abroad when far beyond conventional bondage, and it is incomparably better. Your correspondent points out the evils resulting from the one-sided twisted seat, which a lady now has, and also, in the same paper, the authoress of _Ladies on Horseback_ says how impossible it is with only one foot in the stirrup to rise comfortably to a high trotter. Now I should never have dared to name such a change had it not been thus mooted. Society will shriek out and say, "Woman would be indeed out of place thus." Why? I am sure with a proper dress there is nothing to hurt the extremely proper feelings of the most modest. All who have hunted know that the _very_ short skirted habits at times display, well, say the leg of the fair _equestrienne_ most liberally. Now the dress for the cross-horse style is much the same as a bathing suit, loose Zouave drawers drawn close below the knee, and fastened tightly over the boot at the ankle; a loose tunic, long enough to come almost to the knee when mounted, lightly belted at the waist, a cape falling over the shoulders, not quite to the elbows. This is my attire when free to ride in the _only_ really comfortable way, a foot in each stirrup. Oh, no woman would ever be twisted and packed on to a side saddle again if she could help it, after once enjoying the ease and freedom, as well as complete control of her horse which a man's seat gives.
So far as exhibitions of limbs go, it is much more delicate, and there is nothing to offend the most sensitive lady in this style. Only it is not fashionable. When shall we cease to prostrate ourselves before that Juggernaut of fashion? For all paces and in every instance it is better, and the risk of accidents is reduced at _least one half_. It is a wonderful ease in long rides to _vary the stirrup length_. The military, almost straight-leg, trot, I think the easiest, but, on the other hand, some of the best riders I have ever seen abroad ride with a very short stirrup; it is a matter of habit and custom. But if the fashion were once introduced here, I know it would prove a priceless boon to ladies who love riding. Let some lady who has the opportunity once try it in her own private grounds (at first) or in some quiet, out-of-the-way country lane or moorland, and she will be surprised. It is a _new existence on horseback_, and _nothing_ indelicate about it, clad as I have named. Oh, what a difference it does make. It is twenty-three years now since I first took the idea from a book published by a lady, entitled, _Unprotected Females in Norway_, and whenever I can, I always ride so, of course abroad or even in the far north of Scotland. What a sensation in the Row would a party of ladies make thus mounted! Again, it is much easier for the horse, having your weight fairly distributed, not all perched on one side. Your seat is much firmer; leaping is, oh, so easy; in fact, your power seems doubled in every way. In case of conflict with your horse, you feel a veritable centaur compared with the side seat, where you have no grip, only the aid of the saddle, but with the aid of your own knees and a foot on each side of the horse I think I _could not be thrown_. Oh, I wish it could be initiated, dear Mr. Editor. Do use your influence in this direction. And it really looks well when the dress is well-made and tasty, and you feel so very free and at ease, can turn about any way, not pinned on to your horse, or rather on to your saddle, as ladies are. I could give full directions to make an outfit for going abroad in this style; you would smile at my saddle I know, but it is so comfortable. I can hardly bear to ride on an orthodox one now. That is the worst of it. I have been mounted on mules in this manner in Honduras, and ridden immense distances without being stiff or tired unduly. Some of these are the animals to try _your mettle and seat_, and I was only once thrown, owing to a stirrup-leather breaking. Then a lady is able to use spurs as easily as possible, no trouble about habit skirts tearing or getting in the way of the spur. With a sharp spur on each foot you can do anything with your horse, so very different from the wretched box spurs, eternally entangled in your habit or out of order. I do wish an association could be formed to carry out the idea; one or two could not do it, it must be simultaneous. For little girls it would be simply invaluable as an improvement on the present style, which really does cause distortion of the spine and a one-sided carriage when girls ride much. Do please ventilate this question, and oblige very much,
Yours, &c.
HERSILIE.
P.S.--I have taken your paper ever since October 2nd, when I first saw _Ladies on Horseback_ in it, and have been much pleased with it, and also much amused with the correspondence thereon, but I never expected to see ladies' change of seat advocated, and am so glad to-day to find that it is.
* * * * *
SIR,--Permit me to state that the object in having the screw rowel-pin in the spur, recommended by me for the use of ladies in your number of November 13th, is in order to enable the wearers to use a mild or a severe rowel, according to the requirements of the horses they ride. I am very much against sharp spurs for ladies (or gentlemen either), unless they are absolutely required; but from some experience, both at home and abroad, I am quite convinced that the wearing of a spur should be the rule and not the exception. If the rowel is moderately sharp only, no cruelty can arise, less I maintain than in the use of a whip. I strongly object to the use of the sheath spur because of its severity; it must be applied with a _kick_ to be of any use, and the effect is usually much more punishing than there is any necessity for. If ladies will use rowel spurs with _moderately_ sharp rowels, such as are usual in gentlemen's park spurs, they will find that they are in possession of a very useful aid (certainly not a cruel one), and if fitted on a neat patent leather hussar or Wellington boot, a very ornamental one as well.
I am, &c.
JACK SPUR.
December, 1880.
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SIR,--The correspondence on Mrs. Power O'Donoghue's articles has contained many remarks on ladies' spurs, but I have noticed scarcely any reference to one point which I think is worth consideration--namely, the mode of fastening. I think ladies would find it an advantage to wear what are known as "spring" or "box" spurs, instead of those fastening with the usual straps, or strap and chain. I have never seen a lady's spur of this description, but possibly they are made--if not, they easily could be. They are much the most easy to attach or remove, and there is no chance of a strap being cut in walking or otherwise, or of an over-tight buckle hurting the foot. Their principal advantage, however, is not one of mere convenience, but of safety; the absence of strap and buckle removes one element in a great danger--that of the foot sticking in the stirrup in a fall. Captain Whyte-Melville speaks from observation of the risk of the buckle catching in the angle of the stirrup-iron, and says he has never seen a spurless boot so entangled. He is arguing against the wearing of spurs at all; but the risk is avoided if box spurs be worn. Since I became convinced that the strap and buckle were a quite possible, though perhaps unlikely, source of danger, I have altogether discarded them, and have felt my feet more free in the stirrups in consequence. Box spurs are certainly not fashionable in the hunting-field, and I have often seen people looking askance at them; I suppose a particular man misses the finish that the strap gives to the boot. But I don't think that matters much, and to ladies it would not matter at all, as the difference could very seldom be detected. In getting spurs or boxes, I find it convenient to adhere always to the regulation cavalry size, because then one's old spurs fit one's new boots, and _vice versâ_. It would be well to have a uniform standard for ladies' spurs also. I have not ventured to say anything on the subject of spurs generally--my own opinion is that legitimate occasion for their use is excessively rare--and I dare say my suggestion may seem very trivial. But I do not think any precaution is trivial which lessens, however slightly, the risk of that most disagreeable and dangerous of accidents--getting "hung up."
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
OXONIAN.
Ball. Col., Oxon., December, 1880.
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SIR,--I cannot but feel flattered that my _Ladies on Horseback_ papers should have called forth so large a correspondence. I have read every letter most carefully, and on perusing that of "Hersilie," which appeared in last week's issue, it struck me, from two of her observations, that persons might suppose I had said something to advocate the style of riding of which she approves. Permit me to say, emphatically, that I have never done so, and that I fervently hope, in the interests of my sex, that such a practice may never be introduced. Modesty is, in my opinion, a woman's most exquisite attribute; once this, or the semblance of it, is lost, her fairest charm is gone. Nothing could be more ungraceful or more unwomanly than for women to ride like men; and for short women or "little girls," it would be _most_ objectionable. I maintain that a lady who knows how to sit has a far safer and surer seat on a side-saddle than a man can ever have, and that her grip of the pommels affords her infinitely greater security than a man's "grip of the knees." "Hersilie" is correct in saying that short-skirted hunting-habits frequently ride up, but she might just as well say that hunting-hats frequently fall off, and that ladies' back hair frequently comes down--giving these facts as a reason for discarding head-gear, whether natural or artificial. As a rule, nothing that is properly made and properly adjusted ever comes to grief. It is by going to cheap and incompetent habit-makers, neglecting to stitch elastics to their hats, and plaiting the hair too loosely (being also too sparing of hair-pins), that ladies are inconvenienced and made to blush. Two yards wide round the hem is ample for a hunting-habit, which should fit like a glove about the hips. First-class tailors always have a model horse, upon which they mount their lady customers, and thus secure the right position for the slope at the knee, upon which so much of the "set" of the skirt depends. A well-dressed woman, sitting properly upon a well-constructed saddle, cannot, in my opinion, be improved upon for style and comfort, and I hope it will be long indeed before ladies strive to follow in any way the customs or callings of the sterner sex. I may add that one of the chief recommendations of a box spur is that it does _not_ get out of order, nor can it possibly become entangled, unless the habit-skirt be one of those which some ladies still persist in wearing--nearly twice too long, and quite three times too wide. I earnestly hope "Hersilie" will take these observations in good part. I make them in a perfectly friendly spirit. I feel kindly towards all ladies, especially those who love horses; and so I offer "Hersilie" a warm shake-hands, and hope she will fight me as much as ever she likes--in a friendly way, of course!
Now, a word to "Jack Spur." I think he is under a mistake in averring that there is any severity in the sheath spur. He says it must be applied with a _kick_. As I always ride with one, and never with any other description, I must entirely differ from him in this opinion. A slight pressure is alone necessary. No gentlewoman would be guilty of kicking her horse. I strongly object to rowels, as I hold to the belief that almost anybody--except a really first-class _équestrienne_--would be likely to hurt or worry the horse in an unnecessary manner.
Strange to say, I had only got thus far in my letter when the post brought me a communication from Stirling, signed "Reform," begging of me to advocate ladies riding upon the cross-saddle. Were it not that the writer says so many nice, kind things of myself (for which I beg to thank her) I should be really angry at the tremendous display of zeal thus wasted upon so unworthy a subject. It is true that a lady's seat on horseback prevents her pressing her horse up to his bridle as a man can, _unless_--but there _is_ the unless--she knows how to do it. A good stout hunting-crop, properly used, will admirably fulfil the duties of the second leg; but in all my experience, and it is a pretty wide one, I have never seen more than two lady riders who had any idea of making a horse gallop or sending him up to his bit. I do not mean riding his head off--we unfortunately see too much of that; but pressing him up to his work, and riding him with firm, _accomplished_ hands, such as are only to be obtained by good teaching, long and constant practice, and real love of the art. To give some idea of the hazy notion which most persons have about riding, a lady who came to call upon me in London, and who certainly meant to be most kind and polite, said, as we sat at our afternoon tea, "I am looking at your hands; how well-developed they are, from _pulling your horses_, I suppose!" She thought I was offended when I told her that my riding gloves were No. 6, and that I never pulled my horses; but I am not captious, nor would it be possible to take offence with one who so little intended to cause it.
The offer which I made at the conclusion of my _Ladies on Horseback_, to answer private inquiries, has led to such a host of letters that, although I regularly devote one hour every morning to the task of replying to each in turn, I find it impossible to keep pace with the work. Will you, therefore, sir, with the kindness extended to me upon a former occasion, suffer me to answer a few of my correspondents through the medium of your columns.
RICHARD R.--One measure three times daily, with a good double-handful of Indian corn mixed through it.
CAPTAIN SWORDARM.--The oats will require two waters. The grains should swell and separate, like rice boiled for curries.
EVELYN HARKESS.--Your parcel has not reached me. My tailor will endeavour to please you.
JANE V.--A very cruel practice.
REFORM.--You will see that I have acknowledged your letter. Judging by the postmark it should have come to hand three days ago, but you gave the wrong address, and it went on a seeking expedition. "Dublin" will at any time find me. This is also for "Quilp," "B. Max," and "Violet Grey."
ELLA.--Your horse is evidently a rough trotter, and can never be pleasant to ride. Try to exchange or sell him.
MARY PERPLEXED.--The pommels of your saddle are most likely too far apart; that is, the leaping head is placed too low. If you cannot change it, ride with a longer stirrup-leather. I have been lately shown the preparation for an improved side-saddle, by Messrs. F. V. Nicholls & Co., of 2 Jermyn Street, comprising a patented arrangement for the third crutch or leaping-head. I think that this will be a great boon to those ladies who, like myself, have suffered inconvenience and accident from the leaping-head being a fixture, and not in the position required to afford a proper degree of support, and at the same time to admit of the stirrup-leather being used of correct length for an easy, secure, and graceful seat. The improvement of the new saddle consists in a sliding socket or apparatus, by which the leaping-head can be moved freely backward or forward to any position, and instantly fixed firmly by the rider herself, thus enabling a lady to alter at any time the length of her stirrup, and yet gain every requisite support from the third crutch. Another little innovation by the same experienced saddlers in riding bridles, an adaptation of my favourite double-ring snaffle. The loose rings of the snaffle have some extra loops, appended to which is a short noseband, acted upon by one rein, giving a powerful effect in stopping a runaway horse, whilst the use of the other rein singly has the pleasant and easy nature of the ordinary snaffle-bridle. The principle of this bridle, which is called "the improved Newmarket snaffle" is, of course, equally applicable to the use of persons of either sex.
GILES.--Have the shoe taken off and give him rest.
URSA MAJOR.--There is no real cure for ringbone. Do not waste your money.
CLAUDE, EMMA VANE, N. PARKES, HENRY B., RHODA, NELLIE K., and thirty-one others, write to me for--photographs! I am sorry that "for lack of gold" I cannot supply a kindly public with my pictures, and I am not vain enough to state publicly where they may be had.
NIMROD.--Pleader was purchased from me last week by the Earl of Eglinton. It will, therefore, be unnecessary for me to reply to any further inquiries respecting him. I named his price and made no change, nor was I asked to do so.
CROPPER.--You were evidently sitting loosely, and thus suffered for your carelessness. You will not be caught napping the next time.
ANXIOUS, MARTHA, and a host of others have asked me a very familiar question, "How I learned to ride?" I have hitherto avoided answering, rather than introduce a name whose owner did not wish me to do so. But I think I may hope to win his pardon. Most, if not all, my skill in the saddle is mainly due to the kind and untiring patience of my dear old friend and teacher, Mr. Allan McDonogh, who--despite his threescore years and ten--was, up to the time of his lamentable accident, ever ready to act as my pilot and instructor.
ENQUIRER.--Ride a steady horse, and your nerve will come back again. Mine did, after a much more terrible mischance.
CORSICAN BROTHER.--It is not true.
CRITIC.--You only discovered one mistake, but there are really _three_ in my story, "In Search of a Wonder," which appeared in the Christmas Number of this journal. In place of "hustled me out _of_ a sort of enclosure," read "_to_ a sort of enclosure." Also, "suddenness" requires two n's, and "carr_a_ttella" is the correct way to spell a word which signifies a small cart or rough carriage peculiar to the Piedmontese. These are all printer's errors, and should have been corrected by me, but I revised my proof in a crowded coffee-room of a London hotel, with at least a dozen persons talking to me as I did so, and thus, being also pressed for time, a few mistakes escaped my notice.
To you, sir, and to all my friends, best wishes for the New Year, and many grateful thanks for more kindness than I can deem myself worthy of.
Yours obediently,
NANNIE POWER O'DONOGHUE.
Dublin, December 1880.
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SIR,--In case no one more able than myself answers "Hersilie's" letter in this week's number of your valuable paper, will you allow me, in the name of many lady riders who "can" use the side-saddle, to write and protest against the idea cropping up of our riding like men? I cannot help feeling justly indignant with those who try to introduce such a radical change, for, surely, we are already too much inclined to follow all the ways and pursuits of the opposite sex without so far forgetting ourselves as to wish to ride as they do. I do not want to criticise what one is often obliged to do in foreign lands; there it may prove a necessity, for the riding is not simply for pleasure, but often the only means of transport, and the horses may not be fitted for our saddles, nor we accustomed to their paces; but, in England, the idea of a number of ladies fantastically dressed and mounted like men must shock many of your readers. I hope "X. Y. Z.," who first wrote in favour of this change some weeks ago, may pardon me if I say that the ladies of his or her acquaintance who, in consequence of only one stirrup, cannot avoid inclining the head and shoulders too much to the left, &c., and in addition gall their horses' backs, had better not attempt to ride at all. What is a prettier sight than a neatly-dressed Englishwoman riding a horse, "as a lady," and should we retain the same respect we now get if we gave up, in this particular, the few feminine tokens left to us. Why not let us accept the male attire altogether? It would be far more to our comfort in getting about on foot, and if one change is so advisable, surely the other is quite as sensible. I agree with "Hersilie" in thinking that the habits of the present day are indelicately short, and I cannot see that ladies ride any better showing their boots and with their arms akimbo than they did a year or so ago, when their feet were covered and no daylight showed between their arms. I come of as "horsey" a family as any in England, and have ridden ever since I could sit upright; but I never experienced, or knew that my sisters experienced, any of the troubles "X. Y. Z." and "Hersilie" complain of. My father, who was our sole instructor, put us on any animal that he thought likely to suit his own riding, and no matter where we were, in the hunting-field or elsewhere, the least deviation from sitting square would bring from him the sharp reprimand of, "What are you doing? Bring that left shoulder up, and don't let me see any daylight between your arms!" He also insisted that our stirrups should be short, even to discomfort, until we got used to it; but this prevented any chance of our hurting the horse's back, which most frequently comes from a lady riding with a long stirrup, and when she trots having to seek her stirrup, which constantly moves her saddle, and makes her as well look most awkward and one-sided.
If not trespassing too much, may I say one other little word in the interest of the horses I love so well? Over and over again, lately, have I seen the advice given in your paper that we should never be without a spur. Now, sir, if my experience can have any weight, I will say that I have hunted and ridden across country in all parts of Gloucestershire all my young days, that I was put on horses whether they or I liked it or not, both kind, unkind, or violent ones, and I am thankful to say that the idea of my wearing a spur never entered my father's head nor mine. It seems to me such an underhand way of punishing one's horse--a real feminine species of torture, for no one sees the dig, dig, dig, but there it is all the time; and many a horse, I firmly believe, comes to grief with its rider simply because, not understanding its power, she taxes it beyond its strength. Not one horse in twenty will refuse, or need either whip or spur if he knows his mistress, and if he does he is not fit for inexperienced riders.
I wish every girl was taught as I have been, "that a horse can do no wrong." This made me study the peculiarities of every animal I was put upon, and I have never had an accident of any kind. Every horsewoman who loves riding must be proud of the feats accomplished by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue in the side-saddle, but would she be admired or respected as she is if she turned out as a man and rode as men do? It is being able to sit square and ride straight on a side-saddle, that we should be vain of, and not wish to make a change, which could only bring Englishwomen down in the estimation of all those who are now so justly proud of them on horseback.
I am, Sir,
Yours, &c.
THE LADYBIRD.
December 18, 1880.
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SIR,--Will you allow me to make one or two remarks upon a letter I read last night in your valuable paper? It is from a correspondent speaking of the ill effects produced by the use of side-saddles.
In the first place your correspondent should remember that the back of the horse, as well as the shoulder, is soft and tender when not in condition, that is, in constant work, and not fit for either riding or driving long distances at once, without damage. Get the back carefully and well seasoned, or accustomed to the side-saddle, during the time the horse is getting into condition for the hunting-field, and use a leather saddle-cloth under the saddle; let it be long enough, and not the shape of the saddle, and have all properly put on the horse, and you will not come to grief with six or seven hours' work, or before the lady is tired; that is, provided the lady will sit well down and steady in her saddle, and keep her horse as much from trotting as possible. Her horse must learn to canter slowly both to cover and home, it will be much better for the horse and much easier for the lady when she is accustomed to it; she will not be troubled any more with horses with sore backs. Another remark from "X. Y. Z." is, it is said that curvature of the spine sometimes ensues from children being taught at too early an age to ride on side-saddles. I fear the mistake is by the said children not having been taught how to sit or to put themselves in form for their own comfort, but left to sit as they like on horseback and get bad habits they cannot get rid of, never throwing the weight of the body in its proper place. Then, as to the remark about the riding-habit on the pommels, that disadvantage either has, or ought to have, passed away a long time ago; for I am well satisfied that a lady can so dress herself for the hunting-field in boots, Bedfords, and plenty of flannel that she can keep herself warm and comfortable without a great, strong, heavy, long riding-habit. Let the habit be short and very light, and by no means bound round the bottom part with anything strong, but left so that it will give way either in a fall or in leaping through a high fence. I wonder if Mr. Lovell had his knife in his pocket when he saw his daughter suspended by the habit, which would neither tear nor be removed; had it been of light, thin material, and short, the sad accident would not have occurred. I am satisfied a little care and proper attention will put all things right of which your correspondent complains.
I am, &c.
O. P.
December, 1880.
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SIR,--In your issue of the 4th December, "Farmer" writes that his horses are fed upon oats which have been soaked in cold water, and that he has the corn thus prepared because he could not easily manage to have a steaming apparatus for cooking the food in the way that is recommended by Mr. Edward Mayhew M.R.C.V.S., in his _Illustrated Horse Management_. The plan that I have adopted during the last two months has been to have the oats put in a pail (made of oakwood) in the evening, and to pour upon them from a kettle a sufficient quantity of boiling water to rise a little above the oats; a sack is placed over it to keep in the heat, and the oats are then left to soak during the night; on the following morning the husk is so much softened that it will yield to the pressure of the thumb and finger. In this state the oats are more easily digested by the horse, and it is better for his teeth than to have to bite a hard substance. A wooden pail is preferable to a zinc one, because it does not conduct the heat from the oats so much as one of the latter description does. A lid would be, perhaps, better than a sack. The pail should not be filled with the oats, because the latter will swell when soaked. In the stall in our stable there is no water-trough at the side of the manger, and in order that the horse may have water within reach during the day and night, a zinc pail is placed in and at the end of the manger, and the handle of it is secured by a chain to the iron bars forming the upper part of the partition between the two stalls. In the loose-box, a pail containing water is suspended by a chain to some iron bars placed inside the window.
I am, &c.
X. Y. Z.
London, December, 1880.
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SIR,--I cannot but feel flattered that Mrs. O'Donoghue has so frankly and kindly invited me to "break a lance" with her. I do, with both my hands and with all my heart, reciprocate her "warm shake-hands," and, vizor down and spear in rest, ride full tilt at her in fair and open fight to do my poor _devoirs_, if you will allow me once again to enter the lists in your paper. If Mrs. O'Donoghue will read her paper in your number for November 27th she will find these words: "My companion was in ease while I was in torture." Why was this? "Because he had a leg on either side of his mount, his weight equally distributed, and an equal support upon both sides; in fact, he had, as all male riders have, the advantage of a double support in the rise; consequently, at the moment when his weight was removed from the saddle, it was thrown upon both sides, and this equal distribution enabled him to accomplish without fatigue that slow rise and fall which is so tiring to a lady whose weight, when she is out of the saddle, is thrown entirely upon one delicate limb, thus inducing her to fall again as soon as possible."
Again, in the very next paragraph, Mrs. O'Donoghue says, "A man will be able to stand in his stirrups for a considerable time, even to ride at a gallop, so doing because he transfers his weight equally to his feet; but how rarely do we see a lady balanced upon one leg! The sensation is not agreeable, and would, moreover, be unpleasantly productive of wrung backs." These are verbatim extracts from "Part Three continued." I think my preference for a leg on each side of my horse, and a distribution of my weight equally on to each foot, is most eloquently and forcibly justified by Mrs. O'Donoghue when she wrote the above. I did not suggest, or at any rate did not mean to suggest, that she advocated a cross-seat for ladies, but that she unmistakably pointed out the great advantages of such a seat her own words abundantly testify. Again, some of the healthiest children I have ever seen are poor little gipsy girls, who, from being able to mount a donkey, have always ridden astride when once past the pannier period of their nomadic life. Also, some of the short, stout peasant women of Normandy ride thus, as well as the Indian squaws, and certainly these will compare favourably as to robust health with their side-saddle sisters of civilisation; to say nothing of the South American ladies. We have also the testimony of many lady travellers as to the superiority of a cross-seat when horseback is the only mode of transit. I cannot admit that in any case, even for "short women" or "little girls," it would be "most objectionable," that is, from a hygienic point of view. On the score of modesty, _de gustibus_, &c. &c. But then I allow a great latitude on such a point (our highest order carries the truest motto, _honi soit qui mal y pense_). In fact, I do not regard it as a question of modesty at all; simply of convenience, efficiency, and comfort. Mrs. O'Donoghue also says how rare it is to meet with a perfect lady's horse. "In all my wide experience I have met but two." Why? because a lady (and mainly on account of her side-seat, as I believe) is heavily handicapped as compared with a man in her choice of a horse, or, I should say, in her requirements from her horse. Every remark in the whole of the papers, "Ladies on Horseback," as to kindness, temper, and gentleness in the treatment of a horse I most cordially endorse, and I have to thank the fair authoress for the pleasure I have had in their perusal.
A word or two in answer to "The Ladybird." In reply to her opening remarks, I merely observe, "use is second nature," and had she happened to have lived before "Anne of Bohemia" introduced side-saddles she would have had no room for "indignation"; possibly in that case she would have always ridden pillion. Oh! if we could only once realise how much we are the slaves of fashion, how soon would the yoke be broken! Contrast the crinoline of 1857 and the umbrella-case attire of 1877; put a fashionable belle of the latter alongside her sister of only twenty years earlier mode. What a satire on taste, on modesty so called! But I would also ask "Ladybird" (if it be worth her while) to read again my letter of the 18th, and she will find I did not complain of the side-saddle, which I have an idea I _can_ use, but pointed out its great inferiority (which I maintain) to the cross-saddle. The best test perhaps is the foreign one. Mount a horse without a saddle, but properly bitted, and then decide which is the more natural and easier seat; in one case you feel an appendage; in the other almost part of the horse. In the name of womanhood I repudiate the suggestion of an "underhand way of punishment," being "a real feminine species of torture." Perhaps it is, under the skirts of a habit, possible to "dig, dig, dig," for no one sees, truly; but surely no lady could, or would, spur her horse for the sake of tormenting him; in my attire at any rate it would not be unseen. The extraordinary teaching that a "horse can do no wrong" is an axiom with which I cannot agree. I have been mounted on horses that "could do no right," or if they could do it would not. And it has taken me all my time and taxed all my energies to prevent them from doing the things which they ought not to do; for I do object to a horse attempting to erect himself in a perpendicular attitude, either from a fore or aft basis, when I am on his back, and I rejoice to know that I have (in such cases) on each foot a sharp spur to use with him as a cogent argument in convincing him that ordinary progression on four legs is infinitely better than saltimbantique performance on two--at least from my, his rider's, point of view. On a well-bred, highly-trained animal a spur is scarce ever required to be used, but even then the emergency may arise. I really laughed outright when I read what you, Sir, said of the "shoals of letters" arriving from fair correspondents "desiring to ride" as "Hersilie" suggested, but this only convinces me that there are many ladies who feel that it would be--just exactly as I described it--"a new life on horseback." I could add much more on the subject, but have already trespassed too long on your space. I only repeat, let any lady once fairly try it, and she will always prefer it. I do not for a moment imagine she will always do it. I admit we must conform to custom, and I strongly deprecate individual eccentricity, especially in a lady. I shall continue to read all that appears in your paper on this and kindred topics with deep interest. Again, I specially thank Mrs. Power O'Donoghue for her genial and kindly expression of goodwill, and again heartily shake the shadowy hand she offers. I quite believe a No. 6 gloved hand can control a horse as well as any 7, 7½, or 8, if it only be possessed of the cunning. And thanking you, sir, for your kindness, allow me as a woman to have the last word, and again assert, "the cross seat is much the better."
Yours, &c.
HERSILIE.
Ambleside (_pro tem._), Dec. 1880.
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SIR,--Kindly permit me to say a few words in reply to "Hersilie's" letter, which appeared in your issue of last week. I am referred to my own paper in your number for November 27, but "Hersilie" does not quote correctly, or perhaps the error is the printer's. I think I said "My companion was _at_ ease, whilst I was in torture." Now, I merely related the incident with which these words were associated in order to instruct ladies how to avoid the double rise--not to advocate for a single instant their riding upon a cross-saddle. I am quite ready to reiterate my statement that the position of a man enables him to ride a rough or clumsy trotter with infinitely greater ease than can a woman; but women should not, in my opinion, ride such _at all_, nor should I have done so, as related in your paper of November 27, were it not that my host, an immensely heavy man, had none but big rough horses in his stable, and I was obliged either to accept a mount upon one of them, for at least _once_, or give offence to a dear kind friend, which I would not do to avoid even a greater amount of inconvenience than I experienced upon the occasion in question.
The cross-seat is not the only thing which ladies may envy the sterner sex, without at the same time advocating the propriety of encroaching upon their privileges. For my own part I never yet set out to walk on a wet or muddy day without sincerely envying every man who passed me, his big boots, tucked-up trousers, and freedom from the petticoats and furbelows which encumber us and make us feel miserable in the rain; yet I certainly never felt the _smallest_ desire to adopt his costume. Nor have I ever seen two persons, or two big dogs, engaged in fighting, that I did not envy the man who rushed between the combatants and stopped the unseemly exhibition; yet I decidedly experienced no wish to do it myself. It would not be my place. Men have their costume, their avocations, their sayings and doings, their varied callings in the world, and women have theirs. Each should be separate and distinct from the other. A manly woman, or a womanly man, is, in the eyes of all rightly-judging persons, a most objectionable creature. There are many things which a woman may legitimately admire, and, in a certain sense, _envy_, yet with which she should never desire to meddle, unless she is ambitious to merge her womanhood in the semblance of man. The cross-saddle is one of these. It may do very well in the wilds of a country whose inhabitants are from childhood accustomed to it, and where all ride alike, but not in civilised England. As well seek to advocate the dress (or undress) of the Indian squaws, as to endeavour to introduce their style of riding into a land whose daughters are as modest as they are fair.
"Hersilie" says:--"I do not regard it as a question of modesty at all, simply of convenience, efficiency, and comfort." The subject is one upon which a woman can touch but very lightly, yet may I affirm that if all women were to lay aside their chief charm, and simply go in for "convenience, efficiency, and comfort," society would present fewer attractions than it at present does? I shall leave "The Ladybird" to answer for herself, but I cannot help saying that I think "Hersilie" is _hard_ upon her. She and I have met but once, yet I know that she is gentle and highborn, and worthy of nothing but the love of which her own Christian heart is composed.
You, sir, must also fight your own little battle, and tell "Hersilie" she is not to "laugh outright" at any of your "Circular Notes." She may laugh, of course, at small fry like myself, but I really _can't_ have my Editor laughed at! nor my sweet "Ladybird" crushed!
And now, having said so much, I once again offer a shadowy hand to my adversary, and hope that though at present we see one another but darkly, we may yet do so "face to face," and meet as friends.
A word, with your permission, to correspondents:--
EVELYN HARKESS.--I have discovered your parcel. I thought you were sending it addressed to _me_. You shall have the contents in a few days.
FLINK.--There is never one worth buying, although unwise persons bid fast and high. Try a private source, and beware of imposition.
R. KING.--The horse is sold.
H. DUNBAR, SHAMUS O'BRIEN, W. HATFIELD, and ROSE MARIE.--Your questions are of too personal a nature. If time permits I will answer privately.
IGNORAMUS.--Dose him with aloes until he is dead sick; then put a saddle on him, with a sand-bag at either side, and ring him for an hour. I warrant he will allow a man upon his back after this, nor will he seek to dislodge him either. It is much better and more humane than the whipping and spurring which is so grievous to a sensitive looker-on.
HUGH.--Apply to Mr. Chapman, Oaklands, Cheltenham.
I. STARK.--How shall I thank you? but I know not when I can ride again. Your recipe, if effectual, would be indeed invaluable. I shall look for a purchaser for your cob.
MAY-BLOSSOM.--The nicest modern saddles have no stitching about them. Call at 2, Jermyn Street.
NIMROD II.--I have nothing that would suit you, nor do I ever sell my horses, unless under exceptional circumstances. I am, of course, flattered that so many are desirous of possessing what I have ridden, but my stable is _extremely_ limited. See my reply to HUGH.
HANNAH POWELL.--I shall answer by letter.
SYNNORIX.--I said in a former letter that there was no cure for ringbone; I have since heard of one which I consider invaluable, and the lady who possesses it would sell it for a trifling sum. Apply to Mrs. Slark, Rose Cottage, Bletchley. I hope URSA MAJOR will see this reply to SYNNORIX, and will profit by my advice, which is to apply at once for the cure.
K. C., REDCAR.--I am pleased you found my system effectual, but are you sure you did not carry it out too rigorously? Few would have such courage.
JOCKEY.--An authority says Fairyhouse, and I dare say he is right, although there is a double at Punchestown--a big one--at which many a good man and true has come to signal grief. I saw a fine young racer killed there last year.
To EDITH, PAUL PRY, JANE BURKITT, CONSTANCE HAYE, and MOUSQUETAIRE, many thanks. If you write to the Editor he may perhaps give you information as to the possibility of what you ask.
Yours obediently,
NANNIE POWER O'DONOGHUE.
* * * * *
SIR,--As I learned from a recent letter from that most amiable and talented lady, Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, that her teacher has been the fine old sportsman, Allen McDonogh, I need wonder no longer at her having become the very brilliant horsewoman which undoubtedly she is. A finer or more graceful horseman than her teacher was, has never lived. Since growing years and increasing weight prevented him from riding his own horses he has brought out very many crack gentlemen riders within the past twenty years, some of them quite shining lights. Amongst some may be enumerated his great friend, Captain Tempest, 11th Hussars; Captain Prichard Rayner, 5th Dragoon Guards; Mr. Laurence, 4th Hussars; Captain, now Major, Hutton, 1st Royal Dragoons; Captain Brown, of the Royal Horse Artillery, who unfortunately was killed a few years since crossing the railway returning from a steeplechase meeting held near London; Captain Ricardo, 15th Hussars; Lieutenant-Colonel McCalmont, 7th Hussars; Captain Soames, 4th Hussars; and the ever-to-be-regretted Captain the Hon. Greville Nugent; and last, but by no means least, Mr. Thomas Beasley, besides many others, all these gentlemen, excepting Mr. Laurence, having their first winning mount on Mr. McDonogh's horses. As professionals, he brought out Paddy Gavin and George Gray, the former of whom, when scarcely more than a child, and weighing but 4 st. 7 lb., rode and won the Prince of Wales' Steeplechase, at Punchestown, on Blush Rose. I think I may be permitted to mention two of Mr. McDonogh's daring feats. When riding Sailor in a steeplechase, over an awfully severe country, close to the town of Bandon, Co. Cork (where started, amongst nine others, the celebrated horses Monarch and Valentine, the latter running second, two years later, for the Liverpool Grand National, and the former sold soon afterwards to the great Marquis of Waterford for a large sum, showing that the company at Bandon was by no means a contemptible lot), in this race, the distance of which was 4-1/2 miles, Sailor fell four times, each time unseating his rider; yet so active was his pilot in those days that he was as quickly in the saddle as out of it. At his fourth and last fall, the horse chested the bank, flung his rider some distance from him, and having a tight hold of the bridle reins, the throat-lash gave way, and the bridle came off the horse's head. As Sailor was getting on his legs, Mr. McDonogh jumped into the saddle, and setting his horse going was soon in pursuit of the leaders. There were in the 1-1/2 miles that had yet to be travelled nearly ten awkward double-posted fences. The third last impediment was a narrow lane--called in Irish a "boreen"--with an intricate bank into and out of it. The riders of Valentine and Monarch had bridles; consequently they could steady their horses and jump in and out "clever." Not so Mr. McDonogh, who had nothing to guide his horse but his whip. Steering the animal, however, for the "boreen" he put him at his best pace, and without ever laying an iron on it, he went from field to field and landed alongside the leaders. The riders of the other horses, seeing he had no power to guide his mount, endeavoured to put him outside a post that had to be gone round to make the turn into the straight line for home; but the young jockey, stretching his arms almost round his horse's nose, by some means got him straight, and, making the remainder of the running, won easily. Valentine's rider at the scales objected to Sailor for not having carried a bridle, but Mr. McDonogh was able to draw the weight, and was declared the winner amidst the wildest enthusiasm. The other extraordinary performance occurred one day on his pet mount, the celebrated Brunette, at Cashel. When riding Mountain Hare the previous day over the same course he was crossed by an old woman at an ugly up bank. The horse struck the woman in the chest and very nearly put an end to his rider also, who, in the fall, got his collar-bone and six ribs broken. The late Dr. Russell, of Cashel, was quickly by his side, and telling the Marquis of Waterford of the serious injuries Mr. McDonogh had received, that most noble-hearted man instantly sent for his carriage, which, with two post-horses, speedily took the invalid to the hotel in Cashel. The collarbone being set and ribs bandaged, he passed a miserable night. Brunette was in a race the next day, and as he would allow no man to sit on her back, he got out of his bed, mounted the mare, and, bandaged as he was and in great pain, won the race. Lord Waterford's Regalia was second, his lordship jestingly remarking that if he had known Brunette's master would have ridden her he would have left him lying at the bank, In conclusion, Mr. Editor, permit me to say that we Irish are charmed with Mrs. O'Donoghue's writings, as also with your most interesting and beautifully got-up paper.
Yours, &c.
MAURICE LAWLOR.
Battlemount, Ballytore, Co. Kildare.
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SIR,--Notwithstanding the enterprise of the large number of ladies who, you say, desire to ride after the fashion of the Mexican senoras, I venture to hope that the present custom of riding in a side-saddle will not be departed from by ladies, except in case of necessity; and I point out that in India, South Africa, and all the Australian colonies the side-saddle is always used, though there can be no doubt that if there was any real advantage in the Mexican style it would be readily adopted in new countries. Many persons appear to be quite unaware of what the lady's seat in the side-saddle should be. I describe it thus: let a man seat himself properly in his saddle, shorten the left stirrup two or three holes, and then, without moving his body or his left leg, put his right leg over the horse's wither; the man will then be seated on his horse precisely as a lady should be seated in her side-saddle. A lady's seat in a side-saddle, of the size suited to her, is extremely firm; any one who has not tried a side-saddle with the third crutch has no idea of the firm seat that a lady has. I was quite astonished when I tried it, and I believe that, after practising for a day or two to get the balance, I could ride any horse in a side-saddle that I could ride at all; whilst the exploits of ladies show clearly that a change of style is not required for the purpose of obtaining a more secure seat. One of the greatest difficulties that ladies have to contend with in this country in learning to ride is that they often get such poor instructors. Many of those who call themselves riding masters are little better than grooms, and the people who offer to turn out accomplished horsewomen in twelve easy lessons for £2 2s. must know that, except in a few cases of natural special aptitude, they cannot do much more than teach a lady how to avoid tumbling too quickly out of the saddle. On the other hand, a lady who has been through a full course of instruction from a good master, has little to learn except those matters of detail which experience alone can teach; but far better than any professional instruction is that constant and careful supervision from a good horseman, such as Mrs. Power O'Donoghue and "The Ladybird" mentioned in a late issue, one who will not be afraid of being called a "bother" when he points out and corrects every fault, however small. I consider, sir, that you have given good advice to ladies when you say, "I think a lady should wear a spur," though she may not often find it necessary to use it. In your last issue two experienced ladies give their opinions on this subject; one disapproves of the spur, the other says she always wears one. Everyone will agree with "The Ladybird" that when it is "dig, dig, dig" all the time, such use of a spur is improper; for though a sharp stroke is required sometimes--for instance, Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, when describing her flight into the farmyard, says: "I dug him with my spur"--the proper way to apply a spur is, in general, as described by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue in your last issue, by pressure. The term "box spur" is usually applied to spurs that fit into spring boxes or sockets in the heels of the boots; a spur with a spring sheath over the point is usually called a "sheath spur"; for hunting, anything that will act as a goad will answer the desired purpose, but for park or road riding the spur should be one with which a very slight touch or a sharp stroke can be given, as may be required. I know that the spur with a five-pointed rowel is preferred by ladies who have tried it to any other; but, whatever spur is selected, a lady should take care that the points are long enough to be effective when the habit intervenes. I think, sir, with you, that a lady should always wear a spur; and I notice in this correspondence, the ladies who denounce the use of a spur almost invariably say that they have never tried one; whilst ladies who have once experienced the advantage and convenience of it, never willingly mount a horse without one. There is not any real mystery about ladies' riding or ladies' horses; almost any horse that will carry a man will carry a woman, and the latter, when on horseback, ought to be provided, as nearly as possible, with the same aids and appliances as are required by the former. It is not every lady who can indulge in the luxury of a three-hundred-guinea saddle-horse, and the treatment that may answer with such a horse is not necessarily suited to an ordinary hack; yet some of the handsomest and most highly-trained ladies' horses in the Row are ridden with a spur, and it is only proper that they should be; they have been trained by the professional lady riders with a spur, and they are accustomed to receive from a slight touch of the spur the indications of the rider's wish; whilst as to the common livery-stable hacks, it is often painful to ride them until they feel that you are provided with spurs, when their whole nature appears to change, and you can enjoy a tolerably pleasant ride. "The Ladybird" says she was taught "that a horse can do no wrong." As a matter of theory the idea is a very pretty one, but I can only say, as a simple matter of fact, that I have often known a horse exhibit a very large amount of what the late Mr. Artemus Ward called "cussedness"; and I know of nothing that, when a horse is in that frame of mind, will bring him to his senses so quickly, so effectually, and with so much convenience to the rider, as a sharp spur. In far-off lands, I was once nearly two hours doing a distance of some seven miles on a new purchase. I was then without spurs; but the next day, when I was provided with them, the same animal did the same distance easily and pleasantly in about forty minutes. I very much dislike to see a lady use a whip to her horse: and, as I have always proved spurs to be a great convenience, I recommend a lady to wear one, and to use it _when necessary_ in preference to the whip.
I am, &c.
SOUTHERN CROSS.
December, 1880.
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SIR,--Since I have come to London I have been asked so many questions respecting the reason why ladies so often "pull their horses," that I feel I may accomplish some good by answering, or may at least assist in doing away with a very crying evil. My opinion is that there is usually but one reason, viz. because the horses pull them; but for a woman to pull against a pulling horse only increases the evil. It is a fallacy, and can never accomplish the desired end. A determined puller cannot, under any circumstances, be suitable to a lady, and should never be ridden by one, unless she be a sufficiently good rider and have sufficiently good hands to make the horse's mouth, which is not the case with one woman in five hundred, or, I might almost say, one man either. Horses that pull have been almost invariably spoilt in the training. Occasionally a fine-mouthed animal will be ruined by an ignorant or cruel rider, but I must say, in justice to my sex, that they are seldom guilty of doing it. The fault lies amongst men. Many women are ignorant riders; but, thank God! the blot of cruelty rarely defaces their name. Women are naturally gentle, kindly, and--_cowardly_; three things calculated not to injure a horse, except it be the latter, which enables him to discover that he can be master if he please. Doubtless there are cruel women, also, who cut and lash, and tug and spur, and treat heaven's noble gifts as though they were mere machinery, and not flesh and blood like ourselves; but how often shall I say, in answer to the numerous cases cited to me, that in writing upon this or any other subject I speak of the rule, not of the isolated exceptions. When a man begins to break a horse he regularly prepares for combat. He sets himself to work with a resolute determination to fight and be fought, as though he had a strong rebellious spirit to deal with and conquer, instead of a loving, kindly, timid nature, which needs nought save gentleness to make it amenable to even the rudest hand. The man begins by pulling; the horse, on the schoolboy "tit for tat" principle, pulls against him in return; is sold before his education (bad as it has been) is half completed; is ridden out to exercise by grooms with heavy iron hands; is handed over to the riding-school and to carry young ladies when every bit of spirit has been knocked out of him, except the determined one of pulling--pulls resolutely against the feeble hands striving to control him; is pulled and strained at in return, and becomes in time a confirmed and unmanageable brute. I wish I could persuade ladies _not_ to pull their horses. In a former number I endeavoured to tell them the proper method of managing or dealing with a pulling animal: neither to drop their hands to him, nor to pull one ounce against him. He will be certain after a few strides to yield a bit, when the hands--hitherto firm, should immediately yield to him, thus establishing a sort of give and take principle, which will soon be perfectly understood by the intelligent creature under control. We do not half appreciate our horses. Every touch of our fingers, every word we utter, every glance from our eye is noted by the horse, and is valued or resented as it deserves. So many animals are made unruly by the undue use of a severe curb that I strongly advise a trial of the snaffle only, holding the curb-rein loosely over the little finger, so that it may be in an instant taken up in case it prove necessary, which, in my opinion, it rarely will. To illustrate my meaning, on Monday last I rode a mare for a lady, who was very desirous of ascertaining whether the animal was capable of carrying a lady with safety. The groom, who was to accompany me, was evidently extremely nervous. He told me, as we started, that the mare had never done any saddle work, except with a very wild young gentleman-rider, who had bitted her severely, and yet found her difficult to manage; and he implored me earnestly to keep a good hold of the curb. I found that she hung desperately upon her bridle, kept her head between her knees with a strong, determined, heavy pull upon the bit, and rough, jerky action, which was most unpleasant. When I got her into the Row she nearly pulled my arms out in her canter--the tug she had upon the bridle was quite terrific; and, evidently prepared for the accustomed fight, she put back her ears and shook her wicked head angrily. I rode her from Palace Gate to Hyde Park Corner in the same manner as I have sought to impress upon my lady readers--namely, not pulling one atom against her, but keeping my hands low and firm, and yielding slightly to her in her stride. By the time we had turned at the Corner she had quite given up fighting. I then dropped the curb, and rode her entirely upon the snaffle. The effect was magical. She lifted her head, ceased pulling altogether, and went along in a pleasant joyous canter, going well up to her bridle, but not attempting any liberties whatever, In an hour's time, as you, sir, who were riding with me will bear testimony, I was holding her with _one hand_, stooping forward, and making much of her with the other, an attention which she evidently regarded as a pleasing novelty, and highly appreciated. Finding her slightly untractable during the ride homeward I once more lightly took up the curb. It maddened her in a moment. She turned round and round, ran me against a cart, and behaved so excitedly that it required my best skill, confidence, and temper to restore her equanimity and steer her safely (using the snaffle only) to her destination. On dismounting I observed to the groom that considering the amount of exercise and excitement through which she had passed, it was wonderful she had not sweated. His answer was that she was always fed upon cooked food, and that the chief sustenance of the horse which he himself was riding--a remarkably fine three-year-old--was boiled barley. I have never, myself, tried this feeding, but if looks and condition may be regarded as recommendation, it must be most excellent.
I am, Sir,
Yours obediently,
NANNIE POWER O'DONOGHUE.
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SIR,--I have been very greatly interested by the remarks on saddles, spurs, &c., made by your lady correspondents. My husband is a large ranchero, or cattle-farmer, on the Rio Grande, between Mexico and Texas, and naturally I have had much experience of hard as well as long-distance riding. Having been accustomed to hunting when I was a girl, I came out here with an exaggerated idea of my skill in horsemanship. My first ride in Mexico was one of three hundred miles, which we did in seven days; I rode on an English hunting-saddle almost, if not quite, as "straight as a board." After the second day I found it as uncomfortable a seat as could be desired, and was glad to change it for the peon's ordinary Mexican saddle, which I found perfectly easy and comparatively comfortable to my English one. This last I have found exceedingly fatiguing and ill-adapted to a long journey, although very good for a few hours' ride after wild cattle, which is a certain approach to hunting, although the jumping is not stiff. Lately I had another saddle sent out from England, which was a little deeper, and I find it much more useful for long distances. As ladies are not in the habit of riding steeplechases, I would venture to suggest that, for hard riding, such as hunting, the saddle might rather be heavier than lighter, as I am sure that this must give more relief to the horse's back. In fact, I believe that the sore backs so often produced by ladies' saddles are more frequently caused by the saddle being too light than too heavy. I quite agree with some of your correspondents that the padded stirrup is most dangerous, as it is not easy to get the foot out quickly if anything should happen.
The principle, as stated by the Mexicans, of striking a horse between the ears is not to bring him down by _fright_, but to bring him down by _force_, so as to "stun" him. Now, do you think that any of your fair correspondents could accomplish this with a light park or hunting-whip? I may be very bold to offer any suggestions, but the lady's sidesaddle of the nineteenth century is very far from being pleasant. Why should not ladies in this age of progression begin to ride on saddles shaped like a man's, with the same seat a man uses? It would be much more comfortable, as even a stout lady could not look much more ungraceful than she does now, besides materially lessening the danger. I send you a sketch of a Mexican saddle.
I am, &c.
CAMPESINA.
San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, U.S.A.
P.S.--I would not like you to imagine that I intend to slight such an admirable authority as Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, but I should be much obliged to any of your correspondents for the design of an improved saddle, suitable alike for riding a young nervous horse and for journey purposes. I have a design for such a saddle, but I do not know how far it may be practicable. I think if ladies would give their ideas upon this subject through the medium of your columns, some real improvement might be arrived at.
C.
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Sir,--In your issue of the 27th November my letter appeared, recommending that the use of side-saddles should be discontinued. Your correspondent, "Jack Spur," mentions, in a letter published on the 13th November, that in some works concerning the Sandwich Islands, in the Northern Pacific Ocean, and the Rocky Mountains, North America, the authoress, Miss Isabella L. Bird, states that she was accustomed, while there, to ride on horseback astride.
A few extracts from her above-mentioned writings will probably interest your readers. When in Hawaii, or Owyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands, the authoress referred to accompanied some friends on horseback to the Anuenue Falls on the Wailuku river (a river which forms a boundary between two great volcanoes), and on that occasion used a side-saddle, but was afterwards advised by one of the party to follow the native fashion of riding astride. Having acted upon this advice, she was well satisfied with the result of the trial, and continued to adopt that style while in the Sandwich Islands, and also in the Rocky Mountains, where she remained nearly four months. The following extract from a letter written by her about the 28th of January, from Hilo, Hawaii, and published in _The Hawaiian Archipelago: Six Months in the Sandwich Islands_, 1875, page 66, gives further particulars of her visit to the Anuenue Falls, above referred to:--
"Everything was new and interesting, but the ride was spoiled by my insecure seat in my saddle, and the increased pain in my spine which riding produced. Once, in crossing a stream, the horses had to make a sort of downward jump from a rock, and I slipped round my horse's neck; indeed, on the way back I felt that on the ground of health I must give up the volcano, as I would never consent to be carried to it, like Lady Franklin, in a litter. When we returned, Mr. Severance suggested that it would be much better for me to follow the Hawaiian fashion, and ride astride, and put his saddle on the horse. It was only my strong desire to see the volcano which made me consent to a mode of riding against which I have so strong a prejudice; but the result of the experiment is that I shall visit Kilanea thus or not at all. The native women all ride astride on ordinary occasions in the full sacks, or holukus, and on gala days in the pan, the gay winged dress which I described in writing from Honolulu. A great many of the foreign ladies in Hawaii have adopted the Mexican saddle also" (this means that they ride astride) "for greater security to themselves and ease to their horses on the steep and perilous bridle-tracks, but they wear full Turkish trousers, and jauntily-made dresses reaching to the ankles."
After leaving the Sandwich Islands she went to the Rocky Mountains, and in a letter dated the 23rd of October, and published in _A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains_, 1879, she writes from the Colorado District, North America:--
"I rode sidewise till I was well through the town, long enough to produce a severe pain in my spine, which was not relieved for some time even after I had changed my position. It was a lovely Indian summer day, so warm that the snow on the ground looked an incongruity."
From the fact that many ladies, when in the Sandwich Islands, ride astride, and that Miss Bird found this position preferable in many respects to that which a side-saddle obliges the rider to take, I infer that ladies in England would be pleased if a change in the mode of riding were introduced.
Proprietors of circuses will perhaps permit me to offer for their consideration that by allowing this mode of riding to form a part of some of the circus performances, they might do a great deal towards causing it to be recognised by the public as the correct style, and that one great obstacle in the way of its being generally adopted by horsewomen would then be removed.
I wish also to suggest that it should be taught at several riding-schools, so that a large number of pupils may commence at the same time.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
X. Y. Z.
* * * * *
SIR,--The letters of your correspondent, Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, are very instructive and trustworthy, because founded upon practical experience. In her letter of last week she recommends the feeding of hunters upon _cooked food_. This to many sportsmen will be a new theory; not so to me, and I wish to confirm her views, but I carry them out in a more economical way. My establishment is but a small one. I cannot afford space or attendance for a cooking-house, but I believe I arrive at the same results as she does, by steeping my oats in cold water for a given number of hours, and adding a pound of Indian meal, with a handful of chopped hay and oaten straw to each feed three times a day. My horses have a constant supply of water in a manger in a convenient corner of their stables. I believe horses fed upon dry oats and hay suffer much from thirst. I observe my horses take many sups of water through the day, but take much less on the whole than when watered upon the old practice twice daily. Practically, I find my horses very healthy, strong, and enduring, and I would freely recommend the adoption of this mode of feeding hunters to my sporting friends.
FARMER.
* * * * *
SIR,--I am still so inundated with correspondence--many writers asking me precisely the same questions--that I shall regard it as a favour if you will again allow me to answer a few of them through the medium of your paper.
CONN. DASHPUR.--You and your horse were immersed in the river, simply because you did not give him sufficient head-room to enable him to take the jump with safety. In coming up to a wide stretch of water you should always leave your mount abundant opportunity to extend his head and neck, nor should you wait to do this until you are just on the brink,--it will then, most likely, be too late to save you and him a wetting. A horse stretches his neck coming up to a water-jump, partly that he may see well what is before him, and partly because his intelligence tells him that he cannot compass it if tightly reined in. Leave him his head, and if he is a hunter worth riding he will calculate his distance and bear you safely over. At the same time you must remember to give him sufficient support when he lands, or he may peck, or roll, and give you an ugly fall. A horse is much more liable to come down over a water-jump than at a fence, for the swinging pace at which you must necessarily send him at it--combined with the _absolute_ necessity for leaving him complete freedom of his head--forbids that "steadying" process, which, at the hands of an accomplished rider, usually ensures safety over wall or ditch. Questions similar to yours have been asked me by H. CADLICOTT, MAURICE HONE, and GUY. In answering one, therefore, I reply to each.
ELLICE GREENWAY.--Your MS. never reached me; you must have misdirected it,--but in any case I could not have been of service to you, as I have no time for revising other people's work, nor would my recommendation carry any weight. Publishers judge for themselves. Your papers must go in on their merits, and be accepted or rejected accordingly. I quite agree with you that declined MSS. should--when accompanied by a stamped and addressed envelope--be returned to the sender with the least possible delay. No matter how great or hurried may be the business of an office, there is in reality no excuse for inattention to this rule. The very best and busiest of the weekly journals comply with it, and persons who do not want to be treated with snobbish indifference had better not write for any other. Perhaps if you call, or send a line privately to the Editor, you may succeed in getting back your work; but do not be expectant.
KING LEAR.--The horse you name attained his victory in 1878. He carried 12 st. 7 lbs.
G. HUNT.--Beauparc; but he did not win.
P. RYALL.--At Thirsk. He fell at the second obstacle, and although speedily remounted, his chance was extinguished. Pinnace ran well, and was in great form. His defeat was a surprise, but your informant has not given you reliable details.
JAMES.--Read _Silk and Scarlet_, one of the "Druid" series. Thanks for too flattering opinion.
FORDHAM.--The course is a most trying one, and the feat was one never before attempted by a lady. I did it to show that my horse was capable of accomplishing the task, and the risk was not what you describe it, for he was too clever to put a foot astray. Major Stone of the 80th accompanied me, and gave me a good lead. The only time I passed him was when his horse refused at an ugly post and rail. It is not true that he was thrown. He rode splendidly, managing a difficult horse. There was no "crowd," and in short it is evident that you have received an exaggerated account of the affair.
J. DUNNE.--He won at Newcastle in 1879.
COLLINS W.--She was, in my opinion, unfairly handicapped, and the verdict was general respecting the matter.
DOUGLAS.--The horse was not shot for five hours after, and lay quivering all that time. The owner was absent, and four of us galloped in search of him. Nobody was to blame. Mr. W. B. Morris, 7th Hussars, was the rider, and no better ever wore silk.
MONTAUBAN.--I have already detailed at some length my objections to children riding before they have strength and judgment sufficient to enable them to manage a horse. Moreover, if a child--say a little girl--gets a severe fall, the shock to her nervous system is most likely to be a lasting one, and in some cases is never got over; whereas grown girls are less liable to fall, if they have any sort of fair teaching, and certainly have stronger nerves and firmer resolution to enable them to bear the casualties attendant upon the practice of the art.
CURIOUS.--Griffin and Hawkes, of Birmingham, by the burning of whose premises some of my most valued MSS. were lost.
JESSICA.--It is quite untrue. Her Imperial Majesty dresses and mounts in ordinary fashion. There is not one word of truth in the widely-circulated statement that her habit is buttoned on after she has mounted, nor is her jacket ever made "tight." It is close-fitting and beautifully adapted to her figure, but sufficiently large to leave her abundant room to move in. The Empress despises tight stays, gloves, and boots. Her waist is small, but not wasp-like. The absurd announcement that it measured but twelve inches (recently published in one of the weekly journals) is as false as it is foolish. Nobody could exist with such a deformity. The Empress takes morning exercise upon a trapeze. Her hair is dark, shaded to gold-colour, like a wood in autumn. The report that she dyes it is one of the many calumnies of which she is the subject, but which happily cannot harm her. She is _not_ affable; her manner is stately in the extreme, to all except those with whom she desires to converse. She speaks fair but not fluent English. This reply to JESSICA is also for FRANK KURTZ, AMY ROBSART, and ALICIA BOND.
JULIUS.--It was not I who wrote it. I got the credit of it, but did not covet the distinction.
GEORGE K.--Nobody assists me. Of course you mean as an amanuensis: otherwise your question would be an offence. I write my thoughts in short-hand, and copy at leisure for the press. My time for writing is when the house is quiet,--generally from 10 P.M. to 2 or 3 in the morning. I have answered you--but against my will, as I much dislike personal questions. Were I to reply to such in general, my entire life would be laid bare to the eyes of a disinterested public, in order to gratify a few persons, who have no motive save one of idle curiosity.
T. CANNON.--_Grandfather's Hunter_ is sold out. _Horses and Horsemen_ is to be had, but its price puts it beyond the pale of ordinary purchasers. Try Bumpus, or Mudie.
OXONIAN.--You are wrong,--nor have I asked your opinion. It is easier to criticise than to write. Having done the former, pray do the latter, and submit to others' criticism.
MARCIA FLOOD.--Two yards round the hem is amply sufficient width. I consider the price you name quite exorbitant. Try one of those mentioned by me in my chapter upon riding-gear.
Thanking you, Sir, for your kindness in granting me so much of your valuable space.
I am, yours obediently,
NANNIE POWER O'DONOGHUE.
* * * * *
SIR,--In a recent edition "Jack Spur" asks if it is usual in any country for ladies to ride _à la_ Duchess de Berri, _i.e._ as a gentleman, astride. In Mexico and the States of the River Plate this is the usual mount of the fair ones of the district, and, clad in loose Turkish pantalettes tucked into the riding-boots of soft yellow leather, a loose sort of tunic secured by a belt, and wearing the _ladies'_ "sombrero," very charming these fair _équestriennes_ look, and splendid horsewomen they are. Talk of ladies, your "Fair Play" should see the long, sharp, Mexican spurs attached to the heels of these fair prairie-rangers, and witness how unsparingly they are used. Sometimes I, who am no namby-pamby rider, and have seen my share of rough work, have ventured to remonstrate in a half-jocular manner (as became a stranger and foreigner) when riding along with a Mexican lady, who generally keeps her steed at a full gallop by the remorseless application of these instruments of punishment. But the reply was merely a silvery laugh, and "Ah, senor, here horses are cheap, and when one is finished we have plenty more for the catching. Come along!" My experience of ladies on horseback as a rule is that they are more severe than men; perhaps it is thoughtlessness, but certainly for hard riding and severe spurring I have never seen any to surpass a Mexican senora, whose favourite pace is a stretching gallop without cessation, until her steed is perfectly pumped out, and as horseflesh is of no value whatever, and no Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals exists, I am afraid I must record a verdict of cruelty against some of the most charming women I ever met. To their fellow mortals all kindness and goodness, but when mounted on their mustang they seem to forget that he can feel either fatigue or pain. Certainly the temptation is great. A horse is of no value; you seldom mount the same twice on a journey, and across the beautiful prairies a wild gallop is the pace. But I should be sorry to see an English lady dismount from her steed, leaving him utterly exhausted and pumped out, and his flanks streaming with blood from deep spur-strokes. This I have too often seen in South America. Everyone does it, and it is little thought of; but by all means let us cherish a better feeling, and not give any needless pain to that noble animal, the horse. Let the ladies avoid the use of sharp spurs; most horses ridden by ladies here are perfectly amenable to the whip and rein, and the use of the spur is somewhat inharmonious with the gentle character of our English women.
GUACHO.
St. Leonards, 1880.
* * * * *
"The correspondence upon this subject, called forth by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue's admirable papers 'Ladies on Horseback,' has been so voluminous, and appears likely to go on for such a lengthened period, that I am reluctantly obliged to bring it to a close, in order to make space for other matter."--ED. _Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News._
London: Printed by W. H. Allen & Co., 13, Waterloo Place, S.W.
WORKS PUBLISHED
BY
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
HOW TO RIDE AND SCHOOL A HORSE, With a System of Horse Gymnastics. BY EDWARD L. ANDERSON. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.
* * * * *
MAYHEW (EDWARD) ILLUSTRATED HORSE DOCTOR. Being an Accurate and Detailed Account, accompanied by more than 400 Pictorial Representations, characteristic of the various Diseases to which the Equine Race are subjected; together with the latest Mode of Treatment, and all the requisite Prescriptions written in Plain English. BY EDWARD MAYHEW, M.R.C.V.S. 8vo. 18s. 6d.
CONTENTS.--The Brain and Nervous System.--The Eyes.--The Mouth.--The Nostrils.--The Throat.--The Chest and its contents.--The Stomach, Liver, &c.--The Abdomen.--The Urinary Organs.--The Skin.--Specific Diseases.--Limbs.--The Feet.--Injuries.--Operations.
"The book contains nearly 600 pages of valuable matter, which reflects great credit on its author, and, owing to its practical details, the result of deep scientific research, deserves a place in the library of medical, veterinary, and non-professional readers."--_Field._
"The book furnishes at once the bane and the antidote, as the drawings show the horse not only suffering from every kind of disease, but in the different stages of it, while the alphabetical summary at the end gives the cause, symptoms, and treatment of each."--_Illustrated London News._
MAYHEW (EDWARD) ILLUSTRATED HORSE MANAGEMENT.--Containing descriptive remarks upon Anatomy, Medicine, Shoeing, Teeth, Food, Vices, Stables; likewise a plain account of the situation, nature, and value of the various points; together with comments on grooms, dealers, breeders, breakers, and trainers; Embellished with more than 400 engravings from original designs made expressly for this work. By E. MAYHEW. A new Edition, revised and improved by J. I. LUPTON, M.R.C.V.S. 8vo. 12s.
CONTENTS.--The body of the horse anatomically considered. PHYSIC.--The mode of administering it, and minor operations. SHOEING.--Its origin, its uses, and its varieties. THE TEETH.--Their natural growth, and the abuses to which they are liable. FOOD.--The fittest time for feeding, and the kind of food which the horse naturally consumes. The evils which are occasioned by modern stables. The faults inseparable from stables. The so-called "incapacitating vices," which are the results of injury or of disease. Stables as they should be. GROOMS.--Their prejudices, their injuries, and their duties. POINTS.--Their relative importance, and where to look for their development. BREEDING.--Its inconsistencies and its disappointments. BREAKING AND TRAINING.--Their errors and their results.
* * * * *
DAUMAS (E.) HORSES OF THE SAHARA, AND THE MANNERS OF THE DESERT. By E. DAUMAS, General of the Division Commanding at Bordeaux, Senator, &c. &c. With Commentaries by the Emir Abd-el-Kadir (Authorized Edition). 8vo. 6s.
"We have rarely read a work giving a more picturesque and, at the same time, practical account of the manners and customs of a people, than this book on the Arabs and their horses."--_Edinburgh Courant._
THURSTON & CO.
BILLIARD TABLE MANUFACTURERS.
LAMP MAKERS AND GAS FITTERS.
_BY APPOINTMENT TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, AND HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS OF WALES._
ESTABLISHED A.D. 1814.
16, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
_PRIZE MEDAL, SYDNEY, 1879, FIRST AWARD._
S. & H. HARRIS'S
57, MANSELL STREET, E.,
EBONITE WATERPROOF BLACKING
FOR HUNTING OR WALKING BOOTS.
REQUIRES NO BRUSHING.
HARNESS COMPOSITION (Waterproof).
SADDLE PASTE (Waterproof).
JET BLACK OIL, For Harness.
BLACK DYE, FOR STAINING HARNESS, And all kinds of Leather.
WATERPROOF DUBBIN, For Boots and Harness.
BREECHES POWDER, For Cleaning Hunting Breeches.
POLISHING PASTE, For Cleaning Metals and Glass.
S. & H. HARRIS,
57, MANSELL STREET, E.
H. PEAT & CO.,
173, PICCADILLY,
LONDON, W.,
SADDLERS & HARNESS MAKERS
TO THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES
The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh,
_Her Majesty's Cavalry and the Crown Agents for the Colonies._
[The following advertisements have been moved from the beginning of the book.]
SWAINE ADENEY,
WHIP MANUFACTURERS,
_To THE QUEEN, THE PRINCE and PRINCESS OF WALES and the ROYAL FAMILY_,
185, PICCADILLY,
LONDON, W.
WHIPS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION FOR RIDING, DRIVING, & HUNTING, &c.
WHIPS MOUNTED IN GOLD AND SILVER, FOR PRESENTATION, ALWAYS ON HAND.
HUNTING FLASKS, HORNS, &c.
THE NEW LEVEL-SEAT SIDE SADDLE,
WITH ADJUSTABLE THIRD CRUTCH AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS,
As recommended and used by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue, Authoress of "LADIES ON HORSEBACK," &c. &c.
This perfect Side Saddle is moderate in price, light and elegant in appearance, faultless in materials and workmanship, ensures ease, comfort, and security to the rider, and obviates sore backs with horses.
MADE TO ORDER AND MEASURE BY
F. V. NICHOLLS & CO.,
HUNTING & MILITARY SADDLERS,
Manufacturers of Harness, Horse Clothing, Whips, and Stable Requisites,
2, JERMYN STREET, HAYMARKET,
LONDON.
The Gentleman's narrow-grip "Brough" Saddle, any size and weight, from £7, complete.
The Gentleman Rider's Racing Saddle, £3 to £4, complete, very roomy, with Buckskin Flaps, &c.
THE IMPROVED NEWMARKET & ING GUY SNAFFLE BRIDLES, FOR PULLING HORSES.
Branch Business: 18, ARTILLERY PLACE, WOOLWICH.
ROWLANDS' ODONTO OR PEARL DENTIFRICE
has been celebrated for more than half a century as the best, purest, and most fragrant preparation for the teeth ever made. Health depends in a great measure upon the soundness of the teeth, and all dentists will allow that neither washes nor pastes can possibly be as efficacious for polishing the teeth and keeping them sound and white as a pure and non-gritty tooth-powder; such Rowlands' Odonto has always proved itself to be. Great care must be taken to ask for ROWLANDS' ODONTO, of 20, Hatton Garden, London, and to see that each box bears the 3d. Government Stamp, without which no ODONTO is genuine.
ROWLANDS' MACASSAR OIL
is universally in high repute for its unprecedented success during the last 80 years in promoting the growth, restoring, improving, and beautifying the human hair. For children it is especially recommended, as forming the basis of a beautiful head of hair, while its introduction into the nursery of Royalty is a sufficient proof of its merits. It is perfectly free from any lead, mineral, or poisonous ingredients.
ROWLANDS' KALYDOR
produces a beautiful pure and healthy complexion, eradicates freckles, tan, prickly heat, sunburn, &c., and is most cooling and refreshing to the face, hands, and arms during hot weather.
_Ask any Perfumery dealer for ROWLANDS' Articles, of 20, Hatton Garden, London, and avoid spurious worthless imitations._
MESSRS. JAY
_Have the honour to solicit a visit from the Beau Monde to inspect a variety of Elegant Silk Costumes, Mantles, Artistic Millinery, Hats, also Novelties in Dress, specially selected in Paris from the best Artistes representing the Fashions of the Season._
243, 245, 247, 249, 251, & 253, Regent Street, W.
W. FAULKNER,
LADIES' & GENTLEMEN'S HUNTING, SHOOTING, & WALKING BOOT MAKER,
52, SOUTH MOLTON STREET, BOND STREET, W.
_Manufacturer of the Celebrated Edinburgh Boot Varnish, Blacking, and Waterproof Leather Dressing._
MILITARY BOOTS.
The "Bective" Boots and Shoes to match Costumes.
Improved Flexura Boots.
Mountain Boots.
Skating Boots.
Lawn Tennis Shoes.
Oxford Shoes.
Slippers to any style.
LADIES' RIDING & HUNTING BOOTS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.
_The Shape of the Feet taken and Lasts Modelled on the most approved, anatomical principles, and kept exclusively for each customer._
W. FAULKNER begs most respectfully to call the attention of Ladies and Gentlemen to the BOOT TREE Branch. Boot Trees assist to keep the boots in proper shape, preventing them from wrinkling and shrinking after they have been worn in the wet; they can be cleaned better, and do not require so much blacking, thereby preventing the deleterious effect produced by its frequent application.
Lasts and Boot Trees of every description Manufactured on the Premises.
Ladies residing in the Country can have Boots or Boot Trees sent their exact size by forwarding an Old Boot by Post.
_To H.R.H. PRINCESS CHRISTIAN._
SYKES, JOSEPHINE, & CO.
"CORSETS."
280, REGENT STREET, LONDON,
AND
56A, OLD STEYNE, BRIGHTON.
RIDING CORSETS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION MADE TO ORDER.
MANUFACTORIES {RUE RAMBUTEAU, PARIS. {GREAT CASTLE STREET, LONDON.
HOW TO RIDE AND SCHOOL A HORSE
BY
E. L. ANDERSON.
_Crown 8vo. Price, 2s. 6d._
"It requires the study of only a very few pages of this book to convince the reader that the author thoroughly understands his subject."--_Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News._
"Concise, practical directions for riding and training, by which the pupil may become his own master."--_Land and Water._
"A useful and carefully-written volume."--_Sporting Times._
"It is sensible and practical."--_Whitehall Review._
"We cordially commend this book."--_Indian Daily News._
"The work is a good riding-master's book, with no superfluous words, and with plain, straightforward directions throughout. The chapter on 'The Walk and the Trot' seems to us especially practical and good."--_Farmer._
"Goes straight to the core of the subject, and is throughout replete with sound sense."--_Home News._
"Cannot fail to be of service to the young equestrian, while it contains many hints that may be advantageously borne in mind by experienced riders."--_Scotsman._
"Mr. Anderson gives good practical advice, and we commend the work to the attention of our readers."--_Live Stock Journal._
London: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 Waterloo Place.
THE ILLUSTRATED HORSE DOCTOR
Being an Accurate and Detailed Account, accompanied by more than 400 Pictorial Representations, characteristic of the various Diseases to which the Equine Race are subjected; together with the latest Mode of Treatment, and all the requisite Prescriptions written in Plain English.
By EDWARD MAYHEW, M.R.C.V.S.
8_vo._, 18_s._ 6_d._
CONTENTS.--The Brain and Nervous System.--The Eyes.--The Mouth.--The Nostrils.--The Throat.--The Chest and its contents.-- The Stomach, Liver, &c.--The Abdomen.--The Urinary Organs.--The Skin.--Specific Diseases.--Limbs.--The Feet.--Injuries.--Operations.
"The book contains nearly 600 pages of valuable matter, which reflects great credit on its author, and, owing to its practical details, the result of deep scientific research, deserves a place in the library of medical, veterinary, and non-professional readers."--_Field._
"The book furnishes at once the bane and the antidote, as the drawings show the horse not only suffering from every kind of disease, but in the different stages of it, while the alphabetical summary at the end gives the cause, symptoms and treatment of each."--_Illustrated London News._
ILLUSTRATED HORSE MANAGEMENT.
Containing Descriptive Remarks upon Anatomy, Medicine, Shoeing, Teeth, Food, Vices, Stables; likewise a plain account of the situation, nature, and value of the various points; together with comments on grooms, dealers, breeders, breakers, and trainers. Embellished with more than 400 engravings from original designs made expressly for this work.
By E. MAYHEW.
_A New Edition, Revised and Improved_, 8_vo._, 12_s._,
By J. I. LUPTON, M.R.C.V.S.
CONTENTS:--The body of the horse anatomically considered. _Physic._ --The mode of administering it, and minor operations. _Shoeing._-- Its origin, its uses, and its varieties. _The Teeth._--Their natural growth, and the abuses to which they are liable. _Food._--The fittest time for feeding, and the kind of food which the horse naturally consumes. The evils which are occasioned by modern stables. The faults inseparable from stables. The so-called "incapacitating vices," which are the results of injury or of disease. Stables as they should be. _Grooms._--Their prejudices, their injuries, and their duties. _Points._--Their relative importance, and where to look for their development. _Breeding._--Its inconsistencies and its disappointments. _Breaking and Training._--Their errors and their results.
LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.
SELECTION FROM
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SKETCHES FROM NIPAL. Historical and Descriptive, with Anecdotes of Court Life and Wild Sports of the country in the Time of Maharaja Jang Bahadur, G.C.B. With Illustrations of Religious Monuments, Architecture, and Scenery, from the Author's own Drawings. By the late HENRY AMBROSE OLDFIELD, M.D., many years Residency Surgeon at Khatmandu, Nipal. 2 vols. 8vo., 36_s._
"The work is full of facts, intelligently observed and faithfully recorded."--_Saturday Review._
"We have nothing but unqualified praise for the manner in which Dr. Oldfield's manuscript has been edited and published by his relatives. The sketches have just claims to rank very high amongst the standard works on the Kingdoms of High Asia."--_Spectator._
RECORDS OF SPORT AND MILITARY LIFE IN WESTERN INDIA. By the late Lieutenant-Colonel G. T. FRASER, formerly of the 1st Bombay Fusiliers, and more recently attached to the Staff of H.M.'s Indian Army. With an Introduction by Colonel G. B. MALLESON, C.S.I. Crown 8vo., 7_s._ 6_d._
"The style is free from humbug and affectation, and none of the stories are incredible.... Some of the anecdotes about the early life of Outram confirm the opinion of that gallant officer held by his contemporaries."--_Saturday Review._
"Records his experience in a very simple and unaffected manner, and he has stirring stories to tell."--_Spectator._
THIRTEEN YEARS AMONG THE WILD BEASTS OF INDIA; THEIR HAUNTS AND HABITS. From Personal Observation; with an account of the Modes of Capturing and Taming Wild Elephants. By G. P. SANDERSON, Officer in Charge of the Government Elephant Keddahs at Mysore. With 21 full-page Illustrations and Three Maps. Second Edition. Fcp. 4to. £1 5_s._
LATCHFORD & WILLSON,
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LONDON, W.C.,
By Appointment to HER MAJESTY, H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES, &c. &c.
MAKERS
OF ALL KINDS OF
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ALL MODERN FASHIONS, ARMY REGULATIONS, &c.
THE LORINER: Latchford on Bridle-bits and the Bitting of Horses. Illustrated, 7s.
PRIZE MEDAL, PARIS.
_Just Published, Price 2s. 6d._,
A SYSTEM OF SCHOOL TRAINING FOR HORSES.
By E. L. ANDERSON,
AUTHOR OF "HOW TO RIDE AND SCHOOL A HORSE."
"He is well worthy of a hearing."--_Bell's Life._
"There is no reason why the careful reader should not be able, by the help of this little book, to train as well as ride his horse."--_Land and Water._
"Each successive stage of the school system is carefully traced, and anyone accustomed to the management of horses will therefore be able to follow and appreciate the value of Mr. Anderson's kindly method of training."--_Daily Chronicle._
London: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 Waterloo Place.
HOUSE! STABLE! FIELD!
W. CLARK'S ELASTIC WATERPROOF POLISH, for Hunting, Shooting, and Fishing Boots; also for Ladies' and Gentlemen's ordinary Walking Boots and Shoes.
W. CLARK'S BROWN BOOT-TOP FLUID, for restoring Brown Top-Boots to their original colour; also a Cream for Polishing, making them equal to new.
W. CLARK'S BREECHES PASTE, for softening and preserving Hunting Breeches, Gloves, &c.
W. CLARK'S BOOT-TOP POWDERS, of various colours, White, Pink, Rose Pink, Straw, Salmon, Natural, Flesh, Cream, Drab, Melton Brown, three colours of Brown, all of the newest description.
W. CLARK'S LIQUID SHOE BLACKING, the best in the world for softening, preserving, and superior brilliancy.
W. CLARK'S WATERPROOF HARNESS BLACKING requires neither Oil nor Dye.
W. CLARK'S Newly-invented PASTE, for Harness, Patent and Enamelled Leathers. This preparation does not wash off, it renders the leather soft, and produces a polish superior to any of its kind in existence.
W. CLARK'S PLATE POWDER, for Cleansing and Restoring Plate, Brass, and Metals of every description.
W. CLARK'S SADDLE PASTE, for Softening, Preserving, and Beautifying Saddles, Bridles, and every description of Brown Leather, &c.
W. CLARK'S METROPOLITAN POLISH. This article is used for Ladies' and Gentlemen's Patent, Enamel, Bronze Glace, Morocco, Kid Boots and Shoes, producing a superior polish.
W. CLARK'S PATENT KID REVIVER, for cleaning Black Kid Boots and Shoes, making them equal to new, also for reviving all kinds of Black, Blue, and Dark Silks, removes grease spots.
W. CLARK'S NE PLUS ULTRA RAVEN JET FRENCH VARNISH, for Ladies' and Gentlemen's Evening Dress and ordinary Walking Boots and Shoes, producing a most brilliant polish, warranted not to crack or soil the finest Cambric.
W. CLARK'S BRASS PASTE produces a fine polish upon Brass, Copper, Tin, Pewter, Britannia Metal, Coach Glasses, and Windows.
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W. CLARK'S EMBROCATION FOR HORSES AND CATTLE, gives immediate relief in all cases of Lameness, Sore Throat, Influenza, and Rheumatism.
W. CLARK'S
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Has been before the Public for 12 years, giving the greatest satisfaction, the cheapest and best in the market.
A one-handed Machine for Heads, Ears, Necks, Quarters, Stomachs, Stifle, and all difficult parts; also extensively used in cutting the human hair in hot climates, where it is required to be cut close.
SADDLERY, HARNESS, HORSE CLOTHING &c.
Saddlers by Appointment.
URCH & CO.,
(ESTABLISHED 1835,)
84, LONG ACRE, LONDON, W.C.
MANUFACTURERS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION OF SADDLERY, HARNESS, &c.
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL.
_A LARGE ASSORTMENT ALWAYS KEPT IN STOCK._
URCH and CO.'S PATENT DOUBLE SPRING BAR for Releasing the Stirrup Leather when thrown, can be seen at the above establishment "in working order."
_By Appointment to H.M. THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND._
_By Appointment to H.M. THE QUEEN OF DENMARK._
REDFERN,
LADIES' TAILORS,
By Special Appointments
_To H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES and H.I.H. THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA_,
26, CONDUIT STREET,
Bond Street, London, W.
SPECIALITIES--
RIDING HABITS,
_From specially prepared Melton Cloths, &c._
JOHN REDFERN and SONS would particularly draw the attention of Ladies to their Improvements in the cut of Riding Habit Skirts, on the proper set of which depends the whole effect of the Habit. These improvements, while maintaining a tight, well-fitting appearance, give perfect comfort and safety to the rider.
DRIVING COATS,
_From Waterproofed Box-Cloths, Faced Cloths, Tweeds, &c._
These, together with J. R. and Son's Improved Newmarket Coats, will be found most useful for driving to meet and for constant wear.
Branch Businesses at Cowes, Isle of Wight, and 242, Rue de Rivoli (Place de la Concorde), Paris.
"The most noted Firm of Ladies' Tailors in the world, and, be it said, the most original."--Extract from _Court Journal_.
_By Appointment to H.M. THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND._
_By Appointment to H.M. THE QUEEN OF DENMARK._
REDFERN,
LADIES' TAILORS,
By Special Appointments
TO H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES AND H.I.H. THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA,
26, CONDUIT STREET,
BOND STREET, LONDON, W.
SPECIALITY--
YACHTING & TRAVELLING GOWNS.
*** From original Colourings in Cloth and Serge, &c.
_The Firm personally superintend every order, and a perfect fit is guaranteed._
N.B.--On the occasion of the visit to England of H.S.H. the Princess Helena of Waldeck, in March 1882, John Redfern and Sons had the honour of making for Her Serene Highness.
On the visit of H.I.M. the Empress Eugenie, accompanied by the late Napoleon III., J. R. and Sons had a similar honour.
On the visit of H.I.H. the Crown Princess of Germany, J. R. and Sons had the honour of making for Her Imperial Highness and all the Princesses.
On the visit to the Queen of T.R.H. the Princesses of Hesse Darmstadt, J. R. and Sons had the honour of making for their Royal Highnesses.
On the visit to Her Majesty of the Daughters of H.R.H. the late Princess Alice, J. R. and Sons had a similar honour.
Branch Businesses at Cowes, Isle of Wight, and 242, Rue de Rivoli (Place de la Concorde), Paris.
"The most noted Firm of Ladies' Tailors in the world, and, be it said, the most original."--Extract from _Court Journal_.
LADIES' RIDING BOOTS.
ESTABLISHED 1839.
N. THIERRY,
ESTABLISHED 1839.
LADIES' AND GENTLEMEN'S
BOOT & SHOE MANUFACTURER,
LONDON, {70 QUADRANT, REGENT STREET, W., {AND 48, GRESHAM STREET, E.C.
MANCHESTER, 2, St. Ann's Sq.; LIVERPOOL, 5, Bold St.
_Complete Illustrated Price Lists Post Free._
NO INFERIOR ARTICLES KEPT. ALL GOODS WARRANTED AND MARKED IN PLAIN FIGURES.
THE LARGEST STOCK OF BEST QUALITY GOODS IN ENGLAND ALWAYS READY. 26,000 PAIRS TO CHOOSE FROM.
NOTE.--_To order, 2s. per pair extra for fitting and keeping special lasts._
LADIES' SPURS, Silver Plate, Strap, & Buckle complete, 9s, 6d.
_PRICE LIST of a few Leading Articles, Ladies' Department_:--
BOOTS.
Button or Lace 17s. 0d. Do. do. Hessians, from 19s. 6d. Do. do. Cork Clumps 24s. 0d. Do. High Glacé Louis XV. Heels 27s. 29s.
SHOES.
Oxford Tie, Morocco 14s. 0d. Do. do. Glacé 16s. 0d. Do. Richelieu, Louis XV. Heels 23s. 0d. Patent Court Heels and Bows 8s. 6d. Glacé Kid, Embroidered. 11s. 6d.
A GREAT VARIETY of very Fashionable Ladies' Dress Shoes in Glace Kid or Satin (various Colours), Embroidered Jet, Gold, Steel, or Bijou.
A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF CHILDREN'S BOOTS AND SHOES,
AND EVERY VARIETY OF GENTS' RIDING, WALKING, & DRESS BOOTS & SHOES.
Goods sent on approval on receipt of satisfactory references (a London tradesman preferred), or cheque for the amount. An old boot or shoe should be sent as a guide for size, paper patterns and other measurements being of little use. Goods that do not suit will be exchanged or the money returned.
FIVE PER CENT. DISCOUNT FOR CASH.
_PLEASE NOTE--70, REGENT STREET QUADRANT, as there is another house of the same Surname in the street._