For many years two styles of riding have prevailed in Western Europe—the English and the continental or school system. The two are usually supposed to be somewhat antagonistic, so much so that the followers of each are not unapt to regard the other with feelings of more or less dislike, not to say contempt; the one side being sneered at as pedants, the other despised as barbarians. To the unprejudiced both seem somewhat unreasonable.

The English method, originating in the national taste for field sports, has developed a race of horsemen worthy of that noblest of animals, the thorough-bred horse. The chief essential for the race-course and the hunting-field, however, being high speed on lines that are practically straight, the tendency of Englishmen is to leave their horses very much alone, provided they can gallop and jump and are sufficiently under control not to run away, the rider usually keeping a pretty even pressure on the bit and making comparatively little attempt to regulate the animal's action by the use of his own legs.

The school, on the other hand, is the nursery of cavalry; and, for the army, speed is not so much needed as uniformity of movement and general handiness in rapid and complicated evolutions. Hence the great military riders of the continent have aimed at bringing the horse under complete control, and to this end they have applied themselves to the problem of mastering his hind legs, which are the propelling power, and therefore the seat of resistance. And it is precisely this subjection that horses dislike and try to evade with the utmost persistence. To accomplish the result, the rider is taught so to use his own legs and spurs as to bring the animal's hind legs under him, and thus carry him forward, instead of letting him go forward in his own way, as the English do. By balancing the effect of leg and spur upon the hind quarters, against the effect of hand and bit upon the mouth, the horse is brought into a position of equilibrium between the two, either at rest or in motion; he is then in complete subjection, and can be moved in any direction at his master's will. This is the basis of the whole manege system, and it is thus that horses are made to passage, to piaffer, or even to trot backward.

The objection to the method is that, as equilibrium is gained, initiative is diminished, and this, together with the pedantry of the old-fashioned professors of the haute École, served to bring the whole theory into disrepute.

Looked at impartially, nevertheless, it must be admitted that each system is well adapted to accomplish its own peculiar objects, and thus it seems at least reasonable to suppose that ordinary people may be the better for learning something from both.

Amateurs, and especially ladies, do not expect to confine themselves to the silk jacket or even to the hunting-field, any more than they propose to give haute École exhibitions in the circus. What the majority of men and women need for the park, the road, or even for hunting, is well-bitted, well-gaited animals, with light mouths, broken to canter on either leg, and easily gathered for a jump.

But such horses when bought are not to be ridden off-hand. To begin with, the finer the training the more likely the beast is to turn restive if the rider leans on the reins. A seat independent of rein and stirrup is therefore the first requisite. Secondly, supposing the seat satisfactory, no one can know, by the light of nature, how to stop a highly-broken horse, to say nothing of making it change its leg or gather for a jump. A certain amount of the art of management must therefore be learned to make an accomplished rider.

Now, beginners can get a seat in one of two ways. As children in the country they may be brought up on horseback, as they often are in the Southern States and in England, in which case the difficulty will quickly settle itself; and this is doubtless best if practicable. But supposing it to be impossible, a pupil may be well taught by exercises in the school, just as officers are taught at West Point or at Saumur. One thing alone is certain: seat can never be acquired by desultory riding or by riding exclusively on the roads or in parks.

Next, as to management. Without doubt the English dash and energy—in a word, rough-riding—is the first essential for any one who hopes to be either safe or happy on a horse. It is the foundation, without which nothing can avail. It means seat, confidence, and decision. Yet there is something more that may be learned without at all impairing these qualities. To handle the horse rapidly and neatly, a control more or less complete must be established over his hind legs. In no other fashion can the thing be done. To attain this, it is not necessary or even desirable to go into all the niceties of the haute École. Horsemen want to arrive at certain practical results for their own safety and comfort, and the problem to be solved is, how to accomplish them by rational and gentle means.

Ladies certainly do not care to passage in the streets, but they do want to know how to stop their horses cleverly when they take fright, to turn their corners neatly at the trot without danger of a fall, and to avoid instantly any obstacle they may unexpectedly meet. It is also well to understand something of the simpler methods of regulating gaits. All these things may be learned best by studying the rudiments of the school system, and it is with rudiments only that this treatise pretends to deal.

During the last twenty-five years many hand-books on equitation have been written for men, but few for women. This is the more remarkable as a woman's seat is such that she can not produce the same effects or use the same means as a man. Instruction for him is therefore largely useless for her. Men astride of a horse hold him between their legs and hands in a grip from which he can not escape, and can direct and force him with all the resolution and energy they possess. Women, sitting on the left side, must supply the place of the right leg as well as they can. They are, of course, obliged to resort to various expedients, all more or less artificial and unsatisfactory certainly, but still the best they can command. Yet it is for these very reasons far more important for women than for men to understand the art of management, since they must rely entirely on tact, skill, and knowledge, not only to overcome the difficulties of the cramped and unnatural seat imposed on them by fashion, but to supply their lack of physical strength. Still, there is no reason for discouragement, for that these obstacles can be surmounted by intelligence and patience, and that women can learn to ride on something like an equality with the best men, the number of undoubtedly fine horsewomen sufficiently proves.