Ir may be well, at starting, to state the objects with which this little book has been brought before the public interested in horses, and at the same time, in order to prevent misapprehension, to say, that the author has not the slightest intention of setting up any one kind of seat or style of riding as a model for all riders. On the contrary, he is fully persuaded that each of these has its own merits, and, as our French neighbours would say, its own raison d'être-that is to say, has been adopted for good and sufficient reasons, so far as each individual rider possessed an insight into the true essentials of the case, and has been able to distinguish these from what is merely matter of fashion or supposed convenience.
Some men, and these are the naturally good or born riders, possess the sort of knowledge in question instinctively, and frequently without being able to account either to themselves or others for the way in which they have acquired it, or give satisfactory reasons for the adoption of their methods. Such men are most usually, although not invariably, of the peculiar build,