Page:Horsemanship for Women.djvu/114

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HORSEMANSHIP FOR WOMEN.

haunches towards any one with whom you may be talking or from whom you are to take leave. To be able to do this easily and gracefully you must have him well "collected" and "light in hand."


ON WHICH SIDE TO RIDE.

The next question that arises is on which side of her escort a lady should ride. This point, so much discussed and disputed in this country, is scarcely raised in England, where the universal habit of turning to the left makes it, under almost all circumstances, safer for her to be on his left, in which position he finds himself always interposed between his charge and any passing vehicle, whether it come from before or from behind. In this country, however, we have adopted—nobody knows why, unless it is because the French do so—the rule of keeping to the right, and yet without changing our manner of riding and driving, so that the result is often awkward and even dangerous. The teamster who used to walk on the left of his horses, so as to lead them out of the way when occasion required, still walks on the left, which now puts him in the middle of the road; the coachman still sits on the right, though the probability of contact has changed over to the other side; the lady's seat is still on the left side of the horse, which obliges her to choose between the danger of being caught by passing wheels or crushed by the horse of her escort. As there is no reason in the world, whether