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RIDING

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 319 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RIDING , the See also:

art or practice of locomotion on the back of an See also:animal or in a vehicle (the verb to ride originally meant " to travel," or "go," as the derived noun road means " a way"). Where no vehicle is specified (e.g. " riding a See also:bicycle "), the word is associated with horseback riding, for exercise or See also:pleasure, The origin of the use of the See also:horse as a means of transport goes back to prehistoric times. The See also:fable of the See also:centaurs, if the derivation from KEPTE V, to goad, Tavpos, See also:bull, be accepted (but see CENTAUR), would indicate the See also:early existence of See also:pastoral peoples living on horseback, like the See also:modern cowboys (cp. " cow-punchers ") or gauchos of See also:North and See also:South See also:America. Archaeological discoveries in See also:India, See also:Persia, See also:Assyria and See also:Egypt show that in the polished See also:stone See also:age See also:quaternary See also:man had domesticated the horse, while a See also:Chinese See also:treatise, the Goei-leaotse, the fifth See also:book of the Vouking, a sort of military See also:code dating from the reign of the See also:emperor Hoang-Ti (2637 years B.C.), places the See also:cavalry on the wings of the See also:army. The See also:Hebrews understood the use of the horse in See also:war (See also:Job xxxix. r8-2g), as did the Persians (See also:Cyrus at the See also:battle of Thymbra), Greeks and See also:Romans. The Greeks and Romans, especially the former, were skilled horsemen, and feats on horseback were a feature of their See also:games. They used no See also:stirrup, but had both bridle and See also:bit. They rode bareback, or on a See also:cloth or skin.strapped to the horse. When roads were poor and vehicles cumbersome horseback was almost the only method of travel for both sexes. With the introduction of See also:steam-locomotion and the improvement of roads, however, riding has become to a large extent a See also:sport, rather than a See also:necessity.

There are different styles of riding adapted to the different purposes for which horses are ridden—on the road, in the school, See also:

hunting, racing, See also:steeple-See also:chasing and in the cavalry service—just as there are different horses more suitable by conformation, breeding and training for each. In western See also:civilization there is a traditional difference between the riding of men and See also:women, in this particular, that men ride astride and women on a See also:side-See also:saddle. But in the following observations we See also:deal generally with the more important features of riding as practised astride. After securing an animal of the right height, See also:weight and disposition, with a saddle of a length of See also:tree and a breadth of seat that fits the rider and that is lined to See also:fit the back of the horse, with a bridle bitted to his mouth, the first step is to See also:mount. Having taken up the reins, the rider should stand at his horse's near (See also:left) See also:shoulder, facing towards the tail, and in that position hold the stirrup with his right See also:hand for the reception of his left See also:foot. By See also:standing at the shoulder the rider is out of harm's way in the event of the horse kicking while he mounts. Ladies generally have the aid of a See also:block or a See also:groom's or escort's hand beneath the left foot. But a woman should be able to mount without aid, by lowering her stirrup, so that she can reach it from the ground, and then raising it again when she is seated in the saddle. Riding astride is sometimes recommended for women. The See also:chief See also:argument in its favour — symmetrical development of the figure—is, however, lost if the growing girl be taught to ride on a side-saddle of which the pommels can be shifted to the off side on alternate days. Having gained the saddle, the necessity arises for seat and hands. Here See also:good instruction is imperative at the outset.

The See also:

great desideratum in a seat on horseback is that it should be See also:firm. A rider with an insecure seat is See also:apt to be thrown by any unexpected See also:movement the horse may make; and, without a firm seat, the acquirement of good hands is well-nigh hopeless, because, when the See also:balance is once disturbed the insecure rider will have to depend on something else for the See also:maintenance of his seat, and this generally takes the shape of riding on the horse's mouth," a practice as cruel as it is ugly. Having gained the saddle, the rider should adjust the stirrups to the proper length, depending on the See also:kind of riding, the length of his See also:leg and the roughness of the horse's trot. Sitting well in the See also:middle of the saddle, the thighs turned in, and the heels See also:drawn somewhat back, the stirrup leathers may be let out or taken up until the tread of the stirrup is on a level with the inner See also:ankle See also:bone, and at this length, when the rider stands up, his See also:fork will easily clear the See also:pommel of the saddle. For maintaining his seat the horseman should depend upon his thighs and knees only, and not upon the See also:knee and See also:calf; a proper seat should be a mixture of balance and grip; a man riding by balance only is sure to be thrown, while to grip with all one's might during an See also:hour's ride is to undertake as much exertion as should last for a whole See also:day. The position of the foot exercises much See also:influence on the See also:security of the seat; it should be opposite the girth, parallel with the See also:barrel of the horse, with the heels depressed. A good seat on a horse should not be strong merely; it should be graceful; above the loins the See also:body should be loose, so as readily to adapt itself to every See also:motion of the horse, but it should be upright. Beginners are advised to practise riding with and without stirrups; thus, let the See also:pupil who has ridden See also:half an hour in a saddle with stirrups have a cloth substituted for the saddle for about ten minutes, care being taken to observe the rules alreadylaid down for the position of the legs; in this way the proper seat will be strengthened. The proper See also:adjustment of the reins is the next thing to be attended to, and as the management of these depends so much upon the seat being firm and See also:independent of the bridle the acquisition of a firm seat is certainly half-way towards the acquirement of good hands. An excellent way to start a pupil is on a sure-footed horse without bridle, the See also:master governing him by a leading See also:rein until the pupil has acquired a firm seat and can be trusted with reins. Assuming that a See also:double-reined bridle is used, the third See also:finger of the left hand should be first inserted between the snaffle reins; then the little, third and second fingers should be between the curb reins, the two outside reins being the curb, and the two inside ones the snaffle. In this manner of holding the reins the snaffle is not so likely to slip, while the curb can be easily slackened or drawn tighter.

As military riders use the curb only the position of snaffle and curb as just explained is reversed in the cavalry service. The snaffle reins should be drawn up gently until the rider feels that he has an equal and See also:

light hold of his horse's mouth on both sides, with just so much pressure that the slightest movement of the left or right rein would cause him to turn to the left or right respectively. The arms from the shoulder to the See also:elbow should hang naturally, See also:close to the sides, and the arms from elbow to See also:wrist should be about parallel to the ground, the wrist being kept loose, so as to yield gently with every motion of the horse. The rider sitting in the position described, square to the front, with his shoulders well back, will be riding with fairly See also:long reins, one of the secrets of good hands. When the horse is in motion the hands should not be held rigid,. as the horse's mouth would thereby become dead, and the horse would lean unpleasantly on the hand; but the rider should give and take, without, however, entirely relaxing the hold. In See also:order to encourage the horse to walk the See also:head must not be confined, but a light feeling of the horse's mouth must be kept up. Should the horse, unasked, break into a trot, never snatch at his mouth, but restrain him gently. To trot, See also:press the legs to the saddle, and raise the bridle hand a little, and, after a moment's sitting close, begin to rise (" pose ") in See also:cadence with the See also:action of the horse. The rising to the trot should be performed easily; the legs must not See also:swing backwards and forwards, nor should the hands be jerked up and down. To start the canter, which should always be done from the walk and not the trot, take up the curb rein a little and turn the horse's head slightly to the right, at the same See also:time pressing the left leg behind the girth; the horse will then See also:lead with the off (right) fore leg, which is generally preferred; but a well-broken hack should lead with either leg at command, and if he be cantered in a circle to the left he must lead with the near leg, as otherwise an ugly fall is likely to result from the leg being crossed. Galloping is a See also:pace not to be generally indulged in by road or See also:park riders; when it is, the hands should be kept See also:low, the body thrown back, and an extra grip taken with the knees, as nearly all horses pull more or less when extended. Hitherto only road or park riding has been considered.

When a See also:

person has become a See also:fair road rider he has made some progress towards being a hunting man. But if first principles are disregarded, and a follower of hounds believes in the See also:system " it doesn't See also:matter how you ride so long as you stick on," he will not only always be a "sight" but a menace in the hunting See also:field. Few self-taught riders attain to excellence; they may keep a good See also:place in hunting, if possessed of plenty of courage, and mounted on a bold and not too See also:tender-mouthed horse, but they never will be riders in the proper sense of the word. Hunting and Riding to Hounds.—For See also:practical purposes the chief difference between a park seat and a hunting seat consists in the shortening of the stirrups some two or three holes. The seat of the hunting man is the most important of any connected with amusement; he must sit firm, so as not to be thrown off when his horse leaps, or makes a See also:mistake, and he must be able to See also:save his horse under all circumstances, and to make as much of him as possible. As with road riding, so with hunting, the actual length of the stirrups will depend a good deal upon the shape and action of the horse, but the nature of the animal and the peculiarities of the See also:country ridden over will also have something to do with their adjustment. A puller will compel the rider to shorten his leathers one or perhaps two holes—a course that may also be rendered necessary in a hilly country, for, in going down See also:hill, the stirrups, if kept at the See also:ordinary length, will generally feel a great deal too long. The rider's body must be always close to the saddle in leaping, for if he were jerked up, the weight of say only a to-stone man coming down on the horse a couple of seconds after he has negotiated a large fence is sufficient to throw the animal down. Nothing but actual practice with hounds can See also:teach a man how to ride where all kinds of going and obstacles of various sorts, natural and artificial, have to be encountered in a day's hunting. For example, the country gone over is seldom level springy See also:turf; it is up hill and down See also:dale, across See also:ridge and furrow, over ground studded with See also:ant-hills (which, unlike See also:mole-hills, are often very hard), over ploughed or boggy See also:land. Each of these varieties requires a different method of riding over, and nearly every horse will require different handling under similar circumstances. It will therefore be seen that much depends on the rider having good hands.

This qualification, though generally understood, is difficult to define. A rider with good hands never depends upon his reins for retaining his seat ; nor does he pull at the horse's mouth so as to make him afraid to go up to his bit; nor again does he ever use more force than is necessary for the accomplishment of what he desires to perform. But besides all this, there is an unaccountable sympathetic some-thing about the man with good hands that cannot be described. Pullers appear to renounce pulling, refusers take to See also:

jumping and clumsy horses become nearly as handy as a See also:trick horse in a See also:circus: Though hands can to a great extent be acquired by care and practice, yet in the highest See also:form this is a See also:gift and cannot be learned. There are different kinds of " fences, as all obstacles are generic-ally called. First, there is See also:timber, such as See also:gates, See also:stiles and rails; the first two are, nine times out of ten, awkward jumps, as the take off is either poached by See also:cattle, or else is on the ascent or descent. Hedges vary according to the See also:custom of the country in which they are found : they either grow in the See also:soil of the field, and are protected by a ditch on one side, or are planted on a See also:bank with a ditch on one side or sometimes on both. Then again there are such large See also:banks as are found in See also:Wales, See also:Devon and See also:Cornwall. Lastly come See also:water jumps, which are met with in two forms: the water is either within an See also:inch or two of the See also:top of the bank, so as to be about on a level with the field through which it flows, or there may be a space of some 6 or 7 ft. from the bank to the water. For the successful negotiation of See also:brooks a bold horse is required, ridden by a bold man. No fence that is ever encountered stops such a large proportion of the field as water; even a clear 6 ft. of it will prove a hindrance to some, while anything over to or 12 ft. will in See also:general be crossed only by a very few. Some horses, good performers over any description of fence, will not jump water under any circumstances; while the See also:chance of a See also:ducking deters many from riding at it; and, however bold the horse may be, he will soon refuse water if his rider be perpetually in two minds when approaching it.

The pace at which a See also:

hunter should be ridden at his fences depends upon the nature of the fence, and the peculiarities of each individual horse. With some very good jumpers—they can hardly be called good hunters—to steady them is to bid for a fall, while with some very See also:clever hunters to See also:hurry them is to bring them to grief. With ordinary horses, however, it is a good general See also:rule to ride at fences of all descriptions as slowly as the nature of the obstacle admits. In grass countries, where " flying fences " are found, the See also:rate of See also:speed must of necessity be quicker than when about to take a See also:Devonshire bank of some 7 ft. high, but even at a flying fence the rider should steady his horse so as to See also:contract the length of his stride, in order that he may measure the distance for taking off with greater accuracy. Flying fences consist of a hedge with or without a See also:post and See also:rail, and with or without a ditch on one or both sides; consequently a horse has to jump both high and wide to clear them. But in jumping a See also:gate, or a See also:flight of rails, as ordinarily situated, there is no width to be covered, and to make a horse go through the exertion of jumping both high and wide when he need only do one is to See also:waste his See also:power, added to which to ride fast at timber, unless very low with a ditch on the landing side, is highly dangerous. All hedges on banks, banks and doubles must be ridden at slowly; they are usually of such a See also:size as to make flying them impossible, or at least undesirable. Horses jump them on and off, and in taking them at a moderate pace there is a chance of stopping on the top and choosing a better place to jump from, or, if needs be, of returning and taking the fence at another place. Cramped places will have to be jumped from a walk or even at a stand; for instance, a tree may be in a See also:line with and close to the only practicable place in a fence; it then becomes necessary to go See also:round the tree before a run at the place can be managed. So, too, with places that have to be crawled over between trees, or with dykes to be crawled down. In jumping an ordinary hedge or ditch at moderate speed, there is of course a moment of time during which the horse is on hishind legs, and in theory the rider should then lean forward, but. in practice, this position is so momentary, and the lash out of the See also:hind legs in the See also:spring is so powerful, that it is best not to lean forward at all, because of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of getting back in time for the See also:reverse movement, when the rider should be preparing to render the horse some assistance with the bridle as his feet See also:touch the ground. When a line of willows indicates the whereabouts of a See also:brook, the horse should be well collected, a clear place selected, so far as circumstances allow, and the pace increased, though in See also:short strides, up to the very brink.

If the hounds jump at the brook, even though they fail to clear it, the rider may take it for granted that at that place the leap is within the capacity of any ordinary hunter in his stride; hence if, when going at three parts speed, a horse's feet come just right to take off, the See also:

mere momentum of his body would take him over a place 15 ft. wide. The experience of a single day's hunting will teach the–novice that gates are far oftener opened than jumped; it is therefore necessary that a hunter should be handy at opening them. Many accidents have arisen from horses rushing through a gateway directly the latch is released, or from their jumping a gate at which they have been pulled up to enable the rider to open it. The horse should be taught to obey the leg as well as the hand, and, by a slight pressure of the leg, should throw his haunches round to the left or right as occasion may require. Racing (see also HORSE-RACING).—The qualities possessed by a good See also:jockey, either on the See also:flat or across country, show the value of early instruction in riding. After having been some time in a training See also:stable, a lad is put on a quiet horse at exercise; his stirrups are adjusted, and the reins knotted for him at a proper length. He subsequently rides other horses, each with some peculiarity perhaps, and, to keep his place in the See also:string, a sluggard must be kept going, and an impetuous one restrained; they cannot both be ridden alike, but they must both be ridden as a jockey should ride them. In this way the lad learns the principle of holding a puller, getting pace out of a lazy one, and leaving well alone with a See also:nice See also:free but temperate mover; he learns to do everything in a horsemanlike manner, and when he has raised' himself to the See also:pitch of a " See also:fashion-able " jockey, he will frequently be called upon to ride several horses a day at See also:race meetings. A jockey must therefore, more than any other civilian rider, have a hand for all sorts of horses, and in the See also:case of two and three See also:year olds a very good hand it must be. The same ability to adapt himself to circumstances must be possessed by the steeple-See also:chase jockey, who should possess See also:fine hands to enable him to handle his horse while going at his fences at three-See also:quarter speed. In most details the nearer a hunting man approaches to a steeple-chase jockey the better; but in the matter of the seat it must be remembered that a jockey's exertions last but a few minutes, while none can tell when the hunting man may finish his day's See also:work; the jockey can therefore ride with more See also:absolute grip during his race than the rider to hounds. See also See also:HORSEMANSHIP; HUNTING; CAVALRY; RACING AND STEEPLE-CHASE; and•See also:POLo.

End of Article: RIDING

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