In the Riding-School; Chats with Esmeralda

t have made

, boys will be b

hosses i

rt

ust insist on having a certain horse, no matter ho much inconvenience it may create, and, if possible, you should order him twenty-four hours in advance, stipulating that nobody shall mount him in the interval, and, while waiting for him to be brought from the stable, you should proclaim that he is a wonderfully spirited, not to

on who knows," or "a man who rides a great deal." meaning somebody who is in the saddle twenty times a year, and duly pays his livery stable bill for the privilege, and you would confide in some other exercise rider, if possible, in the hearing of seven or eight pupils, that your master was not much of a rider after all, that the "natural rider is best," and you would insinuate that to observe perfection it was only necessary to look at you. If, in addition to this, you could intimate to any worried o

whip and heel starts him into a trot and coming up beside Nell you start off her Arab, and both horses are rather astonished to be checked. What do these girls want, they think, and when you fall behind again, it takes too strokes of the whip to urge Abdallah forward, Arab is unmoved by your passing him, and you find the breadth of the ring dividing you and Nell. You pause, she turns to the right, crosses the space between you, turns again and is by your side, and now both of you begin to see what you m

g your master's horse keep pace with them, and because they often go in pairs at the music rides, and you must not expect that an ordinary livery stable horse would be as easily managed. It is rather fashionable to sneer at the riding-school horse as too mild f

aught to tramp a treadmill round,

body, William." Enter "William," otherwise Billy Buttons, whom the gentleman covetous of a flyer soon finds to be enough for him to manage, because William, although accustomed to riders awkward through weakness, is not used to the manners of what

shoulders and held firmly between your scapulae; you could not go forward without almost breaking your neck, could you? No more could Billy, if his rider would let out his reins, bend his elbows, and hold his hands low, almost touching his saddle, but, as it is, he goes on, and if he should rear by and by, and if his rider should slide off, be not alarmed. The three-legged trotter is not the kind of horseman to cling to his reins, and he will not be dragged, and Billy is too

you must raise your wrists a little, and the same time turning them inward. The horse will take a step, you must instantly sit up straight, lower your hands, and then repeat the movement until he has backed far enough. Four steps will be quite as many as you should try when working thus by yourself, because you do not wish to form any bad habits

in school, provided one rides enough. They cannot trot a rod, but they have often been in the saddle half a day at a time in Spanish America, whence they come, and they can 'lope,' as they call it, for hours without drawing rein. They sit almost, but n

that best?"

s scientifically, and that is what I hope that you two will do by and by. There's

e a horse a tidbit of some ki

ps them there so long as to inconvenience others who wish to dismount. Besides, careless pupils, like that girl, have a way of tossing a paper bag into the ring after the horse has emptied it, and although

ttle girl wants "her dear Daisy; she never rides anything else, and she hate

and Daisy is not fit to be in the ring to-day," says your mas

l have A

is rid

I wan

yourself and let her have Abdallah. You do it; your master puts you on Jewel, and sends the wilful little girl away on Abdallah, and then comes up to

warning about your whips upon Nell, who has a fancy for carrying hers slantwise across her body, so that both ends show from the bac

ith the lash pointing outward, to tickle Miss Nell's horse, and to make you look like an Americ

frankly; "I'm no judge. I don'

unreservedly. "Child," he says, "I never, never before sa

really don'

s so. Now just hear this

, the curb tied on her horse's neck, and is clasping it by the centre, allowing the rest to hang loose, so that Clifton, supposing that she means to give him liberty to browse, is look

e too long," s

at I am holding them so as to make them to

you are holding them so that you might as well have none. Shor

I always hold my reins in the middle when I'm driving, and my horse

harness with two shafts t

od thing to have some kind of a l

but shorten your reins. Take one in each hand. Leave about eight in

n Clifton wanders up beside Abdallah, she sweetly asks Nell, "Is this your first lesson? Do you think this horse is good? The master wants me to pull on my rein

n to think that you can go no further, you are suddenly endowed with new strength and can make two more rounds. "A good half mile," your master says, approvingly, as you fall into a walk and pass him, and then yo

ides him like a lamb, and you escape up stairs to laugh. But you have no time for this before the merciful young woman enters to say that she is going to another school, where she can do as she pleases and have better h

ought there was nothing but fun at riding-

part of the fun. And we are fun to the ol

up from the ring together, and, not seeing you, hidden behind your screens, two, in whom you and Nell have alr

't like the setting of these diamonds that you had gi

u instantly detect an accent of surprise and a determination to play

iamonds, and now I'm puffectly infatooated with them, don't you know! My!" she screams, catching sight of a church clock, a

er which one of the other ladies is heard to say very distinctly: "I remember that girl as a pupil whe

al name. Poor little goosey! She has simply spoiled her chance of ever becoming a regular pupil, no matter how much she may desire it. No riding master will give lessons to a person who behaves so

'm going to ride a new horse every time, if I can get him, and I'm going to do what I'm told, and I shall not stop trotti