idst the thunderous applause of
the audience! I should have liked to have seen that spur-man punished
for cruelty to animals, for if the performance went on, as I believe it
did, every night, that horse's near side must have been in a shocking
condition! It is by no means an unusual occurrence for high school lady
riders to be securely tied to their saddles.

We must remember that a hunter has to carry his rider for several hours.
Hunting is not steeplechasing, and if a reluctant fencer cannot be
sufficiently roused by a touch of the whip, I fail to see what is to be
gained by spurring him on the near side, and thus giving him a direct
incentive to refuse to the left. Besides, as it is the opinion of some
of our best horsemen that nine out of every ten men who hunt would be
better and more safely carried if they rode without spurs, I certainly
think that no lady should subject her hunter to "the insult of the
spur," especially as she can inflict the punishment only on the near
side, and thus provoke a defensive attitude which she has no
compensating power to successfully resist.

Some years ago I rode in a jumping competition at Ranelagh. There were
about twenty men and one lady besides myself among the competitors. The
lady found at the last moment that she had forgotten her spur, and a
servant was sent to her trap for it, as she said she could not ride
without it. She used her spur, but was unable to get her horse over even
the first fence! Lufra, a well-known prize winner at the Agricultural
Hall and elsewhere, won the Cup, after a strong contest against my horse
Gustave, who was given a red rosette for being second. Gustave had never
jumped in a competition before. He was ridden in a plain snaffle, and
the only mistake he made was in just tipping the raised gate with his
hind legs. He was evidently unaware that it had been raised, for when I
took him at it again, just to show the ladies that he could jump it, he
cleared it beautifully, and his temperate style of fencing was greatly
admired.

CHAPTER X.

FIRST LESSONS IN RIDING.

The walk--Turning--The halt--The trot--The canter--The gallop--Jumping--
Reining back.

THE WALK.

A horse which is held by a groom for a lady to mount, will generally
start off at a walk without any given signal to do so, when the servant
leaves his head, unless his rider desires him to remain at the halt,
when she would give him a command, by saying "whoa!"; and when