Horsemanship [pp. 593]

1871.] HO]? SEAIA NSHIP. 593
time narrowly escaping contagion from being chained to a leper, and
subsequently kept with some fifty other prisoners in the same quarters
with a woman afflicted with the small-pox, owing their immunity from
infection to the free use of tobacco; then tormented by fear of being
devoured by a lioness, which was brought into the prison for that
purpose, but was allowed to die of starvation; the Pacahm-woon, the
Burmese generalissimo, having concluded to bury the white prisoners
alive at the head of his army, he was only prevented from carrying
his threat into execution by his arrest by order of the king on a
charge of treason. His punishment was terrible. After being
dragged and beaten through the town, he was trodden to death by
elephants.
The victorious advance of the British army, and the demand of its
general for the instant surrender of his countrymen confined in Burmese prisons as an indispensable condition of peace, resulted in the
release of Gouger. He had reason to be grateful for his liberation
from a protracted imprisonment, which, in its combination of physical
privation and peril, with unceasing and intense anxiety of mind, is
one of the most remnarkable on record.
ALEXANDER YOUNG.
HORSEMANSHIP.
cc ON which side of a lady.equestrian should her escort ride, and
why? " is the question that came to me from a pleasant
"Neighborhood Club" in one of our suburban towns, which is but
little less, in fact, than an extension of Fifth Avenue into the hills of
Westchester.
The cavalier, to be in the right, should be on the left. If on the
right, he is in the wrong. In other words, the gentleman should al ways be at the lady's left hand, having her on his right. I use the
word always in its full force, applying it to all countries, whatever the
local law of the road (excepting only momentary exigencies), and to
both styles of riding, whether the barbarous, awkward, and dangerous
sideway style for which we are said to be indebted to Ann of Bo hemia, or the easy, safe, and natural mode practised by the wife and
daughters of the Turkish pacha, the Tartar chief, the South-American
Gaucho, or the North-American Comanche, and, within a few years,
by the wife of a President of Peru and other ladies of Lima.
And now for the why.
To meet this branch of the question, let us start from first prin ciples.
Until the fashion changes-and it is likely to last some years
longer-a man's right hand is his handiest hand. It may be called
his working hand, and the left his holding hand, on saddle-duty. On
horseback, then, the left becomes the bridle-arm, while the right is
free for "detached service" with lasso, lance, sabre, or riding-whip.
The theory of horsemanship holds that, in riding, and especially
in riding with a lady, the man is master of his steed, and, under all
ordinary circumstances, can guide and control him with his bridlehand alone, leaving his right arm free for any service that may require it. It also assumes that he rides, not merely to accompany the
lady, but to protect and assist her in any emergency. And this assumption is an admission not only of his supposed superior mastership of his horse and greater strength, but of his more natural, and,
therefore, safer seat in the saddle.
His duty, then, being to guard and aid the lady with his best arm,
where should the horseman be placed to render the most efficient
service? Unquestionably at the lady's left hand, where she is within
the readiest and most effective reach of his right. Riding in that position, he can readily place his hand on her bridle-rein, and aid in
controlling her horse without interfering with the management of his
own. He can converse with her more comfortably for herself, as she
can, from her position in the saddle, easily turn her head to her left,
while turning it to her right would be awkward and irksome.
On her left he protects her riding-skirt from the contact of passing vehicles, to which, under our law of the road, she is exposed if
he rides on her right; and he also prevents her skirt from flying in
the wind. At her left he is in the best position to prevent her falling
from her horse, whether from the horse's "bolting" or "shying," one
against the other, or from the turning of her saddle through slack
ened or breaking girths, as, with her sideway-seat and the pressure
of her foot on the stirrup, her saddle is very much more likely to
turn to the left-toward him-than to the right. This turning of the
saddle, through carelessness of grooms, or the slackening of girths
after a horse has been ridden a while, is by no means infrequent, but,
in my own experience, I have never known an instance of its turning
to the right.
Again, riding at the lady's left, her escort is in the only proper
place to render effective aid in case of a fractious or runaway horse,
either bya powerful hold on her bridle-rein, or, in-the last emergency,
by throwing his strong right arm around her and lifting her from her
saddle.
This last feat is almost, if not absolutely, impossible while riding
at the lady's right. To say nothing of having to use, in such an at tempt, the comparatively weak and awkward left arm, the lady's per son and long skirt would have to be drawn over and across the side saddle and the back of her horse. On the other hand, from her left,
with the strong right arm to support her, she has only to clear her
right leg from the saddle-horn, drop her reins, and-lifted easily from
her seat-her horse passes on from under her.
I have not only practised this in teaching a young lady to ride,
but I have seen it handsomely done in actual runaway experience on
the road. The lady's horse ran, her saddle turned-to the left, of
course-and the pursuing cavalier galloped up on that side, threw his
right arm around her, cleared her from her horse, and landed her un harmed on the ground.
The minor reasons sometimes urged against the gentleman's riding
on the left, or why he should ride at the right of the lady, are scarcely
worthy of remark. As there is no telling when the contingency may
arise requiring his best and most knightly service, the mounted cava lier should consider himself as strictly on duty, and be always at his
proper post. All lesser considerations should give way to that. Up on the lady's right he cannot assist her as effectively as when she is
on his right. He cannot seize her bridle-rein, except by crossing his
right arm awkwardly over his left, or by shifting his own reins and
giving his weaker left hand to her service, and he cannot draw her
from her saddle and across her own horse with his left.
Some urge that on her left he is likely to be crowded unpleasantly
or dangerously against the lady's feet..Not very likely, if he is a
horseman, and the horses, as they should be, trained to their work.
It is assumed that he is a horseman, or he should not be riding with
ladies, and, if he is, he can readily keep his horse in proper position;
and, if he does strike against her horse from her left, he can hardly
cause her to fall, which she might readily do in a similar case from
her right.
The objection that, being on her left, he is likely to soil her skirt,
is not worth notice. The idea of the skirt is that it is a mere over
all (often literally such, even now, in the country), of some inexpen
sive material to keep her dress from soiling, and a well-groomed horse
is not likely to soil it seriously.
The mistaken practice, so long in vogue in New York, of having
the gentleman ride on the lady's right, is supposed to be a senseless
imitation of the alleged English habit in that respect. I say senseless
imitation, because, if such is the English fashion, we have adopted it
in disregard of the fact that their law of the road is "Keep to the
left," and they ride on her right, it is said, to protect the lady from
passing vehicles. But, if such is the English custom, I hold it to be
wrong, despite their law of the road. In "keeping to the left," so
that meeting vehicles pass her on her right, a lady-equestrian is not
particularly exposed, as there is no skirt on that side to catch, and
her horse will look out for himself that he is not struck. There is,
therefore, small need for her cavalier there.
Since the opening of our Central Park I am pleased to note that
some of our New-York equestrians are dropping the cockneyism of
having the lady on the left. There are more out who know how to
ride and where to ride.
To recapitulate. My answer, then, to the club question is, in
brief, that the gentleman should ride on the lady's left, because it is
where his aid is most required and can be best rendered. It is his
only proper position as a true horseman on escort duty with ladies.
Our law of the road, horsewomanship, ladies' saddle-horses, and
bridles and bits, are branches of this subject on which I may venture
a note or two hereafter.
A. STEELE PENN.
1871.]
H O R SEMAEXSArIP.
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