v -wJD v V 4* JpSbtt 1 * St XE JK — xv* rJ^egE W >jHp Js tgaf&* /I Sk |?S® # W&’ jfflm l: i •. 'iJp Vs If'■ Mr S» gm . ^31 L J$r%; 'n>=^Jd^V^ Vs ^Hw^sl/SK^'’ rSL •; *5 ''jijvjyr \ \ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Getty Research Institute https://archive.org/details/academyforgrownhOObunb_O A N A C A D E M Y FOR GROWN HORSEMEN, CONTAINING THE COMPLETEST INSTRUCTIONS FOR WALKING, J GALLOPING, TROTTING, | STUMBLING, and CANTERING, | TUMBLING. ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPER PLATES, AND ADORNED WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR. By GEOFFRET GAMBADO , Ef qi RIDING MASTER, MASTER OF THE HORSE, AND GRAND EQUERRY T,0 THE DOGE OF VENICE, u To turn and wind a fiery Pegafus, And witch the world with noble Horfemanfhip.” Shakespeare, DUBLIN: PRIHT’ED FOR WILLIAM ALLEN, AT HIS MAP AND '“PRINT WaRE-HOUSE, NO* 32, NEW BUILDINGS, DAME-STREET. MDCCLXXXVIII. 1 f*4^ *<*4^*4 •♦•<••♦ *<♦♦•«■ •«■•< 4*4-<*»4«4*« '4 •4"4 *<~4^<-**«4-« * •*••<••< «4-<»<>*4-4*f <•< * £»••»*•>>*« •>•>-*• *••>»•>••>•«*•♦•♦•*•**••*• I TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Lord Viicount T o WNSHEND, GENERAL of his MAJESTY’S FORCES, And Colonel of the Qjj een’s Regiment of Dra¬ goon Guards. T O your Lordfhip, as commanding a regiment of cavalry, a Treatife of Horfemanfhip comes immediately in the line of your profeflion; I therefore, humbly conceive, that con- fideration alone would authorile me with propriety to requeR your patronage and protection, for this my adopted foundling ; to which petition I am further induced by the patriotic hopes of being ufeful to my country: for having with regret obferved, that both your Lordfhip, and the corps under your command, if one may adge by appearances, are totally ignorant of the graces and lu- perior advantages attending Mr. Gambado’s fyItem, I have flat¬ tered myfelf, that on a perufal of it, you will not only adopt it yourfelf, but alfo ufe your intereft to introduce it into the fervice.—What might not be expected from the Britifli Cavalry thus improved } I might IV D ED I CATION. I might here enter into a train of common-place compliments, and flourifh away on the laurels your Lordfhip might by this means gather, in addition to thofe already acquired ; but I will not offend your delicacy : belides, laurel is a tree not cultivated in thefe piping times of peace; I fhall therefore conclude this epiftle, with my fincere willies, that your Lordfhip may long, very long, in health and fpirits, enjoy your BAYS, IVith the great eft RefpeSt , Tour Lordship^ Moft ole die nt Humble Servant , Si? TIMBER iftj 1787. The E b 1 t o r. The Editor has to lament that the firji pages of onr Author s work ) are amongjl thofe miffing • hut as the Author himfelf in his Preface , fee ms to have arranged bis firing of infractions^ the Editor thinks himfelf jufijied in placing thofe firf that relate to the choice of a horfe , B V mSUL', Ib&L ibjb.*tQ 1 ^gg^aiMisa —- , _ t _ ■■-_ _ =w**v» %j^wrw^r==a==== - VW" fragment OF THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE T H E R E needs no apology for putting forth this little volume ; there would, on the other hand, need many for with- holding it iiom the publick. Philanthropy has induced me to make known to the world, the following rules; by oblerving which alone, Horfemanfhip may become a lafe and pleafing amufement: and I doubt not, but every true judge of the noble art, will acknowledge the excellence of my inftru£tions ; and every true lover of it ap¬ plaud my public fpirit, in circulating them abroad for the benefit of mankind at large. **##*#*# I have had fome difficulty in fixing upon a title for my work : A Vade Mecum is quite hacknied out : A School is become of late years, a term, entirely applied to comedies ; and for Every Man his own Horfeman, an ingenious profeffior in Dublin affined me, it was a bull. 1 have therefore adopted Academy; I think it is happily chofen, properly expreffive, and has, I think, been affixed to but one work of genius, viz. The Academy of Compliments, a publication., which, thanks to our prefent politeneis, is now lcarcely remembered. The FRAGMENT of the AUTHOR’S PREFACE. • • • Vlll The Academy for grown Horfemen, is a work that has coll me much labour, and the application of fome years, to complete. But when I confider the vail utility it may be of to my fellow creatures ; that they are to profit by it, and not myfelf: u Sic vos non vobis y feriis aratra Loves S' I flatter myfelf I have not walled the midnight oil in vain, u and I look with pleafure on my book, giving it to the world with the fatisfa£lion of a man who has endeavoured to deferve well.” May many be the necks it preferves for nobler purpofes ! ® ® ® ® I am happy in having met with an artiA, who has illuflrated my ideas of horfemanfiiip completely to my wilhes, and I here beg leave thus publickly to acknowledge my obligations to him. @ @ @ & © As I {hall be as concife and explicit as poflible, in the valuable xnfiru-**4< v >*-«'<'*^'* <■♦•>»*•£♦♦-£-*>£ t *-4+*y* 4+ t* -f* >* 4+ >*■ v* >* <* V* k* ?-* vi ]r* .-$* <• i J 1 Jf ' <*< < ■*••* W •• <•*•< 4 •< 4>«-4 * 4 * •< 4 < 4 < < < * < < % « .4 , « * f ,.., t , , r- ,.,,,,,, ,. , , . r- i, * * -, r ■ .*■>'*• ^ g T H E E D I T O to ■ p fx . i 4 V^- T> M A_J A D E R. ~*^>vv> > >»»»^»>;. I T is to the fame propitious ftars, which refcued the creatures with the Craws from perdition, that we are indebted for the recovery of the fragments that compofe this moft invaluable work. Fortune indeed was moft laviftt in her fmiles upon the Editor, by throwing at once before his fight, in an obfcure alehoufe near Limehoufe Hole, on their firft landing, the moft extraordinary bipeds that perhaps ever vifited this country; and to his much greater aftonifhment, fome manufcript fheets of his unfortunate friend, Mr. Geoffrey Gambado. On comparing notes (by figns) with thefe ultramarine beings, he concluded, and with much reafon, that the above-mentioned fheets were thrown over board by the author (in hopes mankind might yet profit by the recovery of fome of them) at the moment the veftel that contained him, was going to the bottom ; which it is well known was the cafe, in the Gulph of Venice, a few days previous to the catching of the Craws; and in this furmife he foon found he was nearly right. Two particular circumftances muft yet be noticed. The title- page ftiles Mr. Gambado Mafter of the Horfe, Riding Mafter and Grand Equerry to the Doge of V enice ; and fo in truth he was ap¬ pointed in the year of our Lord ‘785- Living in the habits of intimacy with him that the Editor did, he is competent not only to decide what his views were, but what w r ere his fentiments of the Equeftrians of his own country, previous to his embarkation for Italy. C That X The EDITOR to the READER. That he held in utter contempt the mode of riding commonly adopted in England, was obvious, from his never riding like any body elfe; and upon the Doge of Venice honouring him with the above appointments (and honorary it was fuppofed they were only meant to be) he was fo elated, that he inftantly packed up a port¬ manteau, bought two faddles, as many bridles, fix pair of fpatter- dafhes with fpurs affixed, a large roll of diaculum plaifter, two pair of patent ftirrups, with his MS. works, (and providentially a few drawings from which the plates in this little volume are engraved;) and in a few hours put himfelf on board a veffiel for Triefte, which failed immediately, and was loft a few leagues from Ragufa. A failor (one of the few that efcaped by putting himfelf in a fiffi-kettle, and tying it round his middle, having previoufly painted it * green) has informed the Editor, that he faw the laft of Mr. Gambado ; and his end was as fingular as his life had been. The veffiel being ex- peded to go to pieces every inllant, he drank a quart of hot punch, and cam? coolly on the deck; and having firft called up all the for¬ titude he was able, he next called up his fervant with all the faddles and bridles that could be got; and having mounted himfelf on the larged:, and taken a bridle in one hand, and a paper cafe in the other, defired to be thrown into the fea. This was complied with, but the informant adds, that the boatfwain being fomewhat delirous to fave his life likewife, haftily jumped up behind the unfortunate Gambado, and he apprehends that the faddle, although new and large, was not mailer of his additional weight, for it dropt with fuch precipitancy as to throw our Author out of his feat, and his foot catching and hanging in the f ftirrup, foon put an end to his moital careei. And it mull be confelled that he made his exit en parfait cavalier ; and an honour to his leather he was.J The boatfwain was faved by laying fall hold on the crupper. It is imagined Mr. Lunardi has fallen in with this man-JV. B. Not into the Sea. | His patent ftirrups were probably packed up, or the Author would at leaft, have had a fwim for it. + An honour to his Cloth—is applied to many a drunken Parfon ; and I do not fee why. T* Geoffrey, Leather is more fuitablc. The The EDITOR to the READER. XI The Editor (befides the friendfhip he entertained for this great man,) cannot help thinking it is a thoufand pities, he fhould have been loft in fo foolifh a manner. But fuch was his rapture at the honours conferred on him by the Doge, and fuch his difguft for Britifh horlemanfhip, that delicacy reftrained his friends from ac¬ quainting him there was no fuch thing as a horfe to be found in all Venice; and yet they have not a doubt, if he had been apprized of this circumftance in time, he never would have embarked for that capital at all. When the Craws were fir if picked up in their pleafure-boat, it was obferved they were all over white patches ; upon examination It appeared that they were fheets of paper artfully faftened round them with firings of fea-weeds, and the failors, from the impulfe of curiofity, lifting fome of them up, difcovered hand-writing under¬ neath. It fhould feem that thefe modefl creatures had undoubtedly picked up the papers floating on the furface of the ocean, and con¬ verted them to the fame ufe our firft parents did the fig leaves. This is however but a conjecture of the Editor ■ who certainly met with the fragments of his friend’s intended book, in the fame place where he firft faw the Craws, and where he was told the circumftance of their having worn them. It is left to the deeper fearchers into the wonders of nature (and who are now puzzling to refolve from whence the ladjies and gentle¬ man now lodging at Mr. Becket’s, the trunk-maker, in the Hay- market, can poflibly come;) to determine whether the prefervation of the following fheets, is owing to an innate modefty in the creatures with monflrous craws, or to their natural admiration for learning, and a wifh to preferve fheets, although adorned with characters totally unknown, and unintelligible to them. It was neceflary for the Editor to explain how he came poflefled of the few materials that compofe this work. Having done this, he his only The EDITOR to the READER. • • XU only to add, that he has recovered a part only of the Author’s pre-* face, a few drawings, fome notes, an anecdote or two, and about twenty pages of inftruCtions to grown horfemen; but fo broken and unconnected, that had he attempted the putting them together, he muff have formed a book of his own : Having however, a thorough fenfe of the fuperior abilities of the original Author, he wifhes rather to give them to the public in fcraps as he received them, but arranged to the bed; of his ability. And he may be bold to add, that as morgeaus choice as thefe, would not fall every day into their mouths, were they to hold them inceffantly open, the public will fwallow them with avidity, and digeft them, either immediately, or at their leifure. The notes that are preferved, are written in a hand unknown to the Editor, and are evidently the remarks of fome good-natured friend of Mr. Gambado. By the ingenuity of many of them, and their peculiarity of ftile, they bear ftrong marks of the malferly pen that produced the annotation to the firft editions of Mr. Bell’s Shakefpeare. The portrait of the Author, prefixed, is engraved from a drawing bv another of his friends, done from memory; it is like, but a likenefs that tinclures of the prejudice of friendfhip. Jeffery was not fo fiim, nor was his eye fo poignant; nor was he ever known to be pofiefied of a pair of boots himfelf, though he often mentions boots in his writings. Of late years, many portraits of celebrated men have been given to the public from memory : Mr. Mafon has favoured us with a mod; formidable likenefs of Gray the Poet ; another eminent writer has treated us with one of the noted Charles Price ; and we are now furnifiied, with by no means, a fmall refemblance of Jeffery Gambado. Of Jeffery, or as he himfelf defired it to be wrote, Geoffrey Gam¬ bado, little is known of the defcent: but that his father was a The EDITOR to the READER* \11L taylor, he himfelf has allured me, and that he lived in Devonshire is no lefs certain. Being a prodigious horfeman (his customers living all at a conflderable distance from him) I make no doubt but it was in allufion to him, that the term of u riding like a taylor” took its rife. A term Still particularly applicable to the natives of that county. The inhabitants of Yorkshire and the vicinity of Newmarket may turn it into ridicule if they pleafe, but it was meant as highly com¬ plimentary and honourable to that valuable body of men. Was not the flying highwayman a taylor ? were not three parts of General Elliot’s dragoons, taylors ? and was not he who made that danger¬ ous excurflon to Brentford, a taylor ? We are told in a preliminary advertifement to the Tale of the Recefs, that a the breaks in the dory only tend to heighten the pathetic.” A hope attends the editor, that the breaks in the en- fuing work will only ferve to give the reader a greater reliSh for what remains of it, and prevent the glut generally accompanying u too much of a good thing.” D AN ■ - • • ✓ . • “J A N A G A D E M FOR GROWN HORSEMEN. T H E World has been fo long milled by the falie notions of Horfemanfhip adopted, and indudrioudy circulated by New- cadle, La Foffie, Pembroke and Berenger; lo infatuated by the fan- tadick tricks of Sir Sidney Meadows, and fo blinded by the airy coolnefs of a Percival and his imitators, that it may poffibly prove a difficult talk to convince any one perfon in this wrongheaded age, that the theory of the fird mentioned gentlemen, and the practice of the latter, are entirely founded in error, and calculated merely to break the necks of his Majedy’s mod faithful lubjeds. I ffiall endeavour to prove, and I flatter myfelf to conviction : that the above mentioned authors are grofsly midaken in all their opinions upon the noble art andfcience of horfemanfhip ; that even their ideas of the proud animal himlelf are partial and ill-founded; that the French Parrocel, and the Flemiffi Wouvermans, drew luch horfes as never exided; and that when we do meet with a horfe, that in the lead refembies their defigns, he is bad and dangerous in the extreme. & ® @ ® @ €• It is a melancholy truth, that our breed of horfes is terribly de¬ generated, but indeed the national talfe is fallen od' proportionably; nothing i6 An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. nothing now is to be feen but bred horfes ; every apprentice mud bedride a bit of blood. A bit of blood ! and well may they be termed fo, for neither flefh nor bone have they to boaft of. #######* There is indeed one breed of horfes dill extant, which might, and indeed ought to, be brought into more play. I mean what is vul¬ garly called the dray horfe. # This, I profefs, is a noble animal, and admirably calculated to make a figure either on the road, or in the field. Scarce one of them but is mader of thirty done or up¬ wards. What a fublime fcene would it be, to fee fourfcore or a hundred of thefe animals on the full dretch over a piece of wheat, to catch fight of a hound ! It would require the pen of Homer to defcribe luch a fpeftacle. On the road, what dangers do we incur from the weaknefs of our horfes! The pitiful fpider-legged things of this age dy into a ditch with you, at the fight of a pocket handkerchief, or the blowing of your nofe ; whereas mount one of thefe, and the world cannot alter your route :—Meet a higler’s cart, he will dop it, either with his own head or your leg ; fall in with a hackney coach, and he will carry you dap dafh againd it. # As a purchafer, it is immaterial whether you go to Tatterfall’s, or Aldridge’s, to Meynell’s Hunt, or his Majedy’s, it is probable you will be taken in wherever you go. * * * * * Or rather dra- horfe. The moft ufeful animal in the creation, and refpetted by all antiquity. His name is immediately derived from the Greek verb Spx*>, i. t.drao , to do or to work ; becaufe it was found that he could do more work than any other horfe. The vehicle drawn by him was alfo well known to the Greeks by the name of dray , or rather dra ; and it was in this carriage, and not in a waggon, as is vulgarly fuppofed, that Thefpts carried his ftage and aftors. Hence the title of dra -raa and dra- matic, univerfally applied to all theatrical pieces. The Greek critics refer the invention of fuch works to the Done-tribes, becaufe this very word drao was peculiar to the Doric dialect. If this account be correft, thofe tribes were alfo, without doubt, the firft breeders of dra-horfes ; an encomium of high value among a people who derived many honourable epithets, as well as proper names, from ikill and zeal in breeding and managing horfes. To An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. T 7 To define a perfecl horfe is nearly impoffible, and to tell you where to buy one, completely fo. However, I fhall endeavour to defcribe fuch outward beauties and active qualifications, as are requifite to the compofition of one ; and fhould fuch a phoenix fall in your way (and the tafte of thefe times are fo vilely perverted, I believe you have a better chance at prefent than you would have had fome years back) I hope you will not let him flip through your fingers. $§j. 0 @ ® ® The heighth of a horfe is perfeblly immaterial, provided he is higher behind than before. Nothing is more pleafing to a traveller than the fenfation of continually getting forward; whereas the riding a horfe of a contrary make, is like fwarming the bannifiers of a lfair- cafe, when, though perhaps you really advance, you feel as if you were going backwards. Let him carry his head low, that he may have an eye to the ground, and fee the better w r here he fieps. The lefs he lifts his fore legs, the eafier he will move for his rider, and he will likewife brufh all the ftones out of his way, which might otherwife throw him down. If he turns out his toes as well as he fhould do, he will then difperfe them to the right and the left, and not have the trouble of kicking the fame Hone a fecond time. ® @ @ A bald face, wall eyes, and white legs (if your horle is not a grey one) is to be preferred : as, in the night, although you may ride againft what you pleafe, yourfelf: no one will ride againfi: you. His nofe cannot projeT too much from his neck, for by keeping a conflant tight rein on him, you will then fit as firm as it you were held on. E A horfe’s 18 An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. A horfe’s ears cannot be too long: a judicious rider fleers his courfe, by fixing his eyes between them. Were he cropt, and that as clofe as we fometimes fee them now a days, in a dufky evening the rider might wander the lord knows where. ® ® @ $§> ® ® I have found many perfons who have purchafed horfes of me, very inquifitive and troublefome about their eyes; indeed as much fo, as if their eyes were any way concerned in the adion of the animal. As I know they are not, I give myfelf very little trouble about them. If a rider is in full pofleflion of his own, what his horfe has, is per¬ fectly immaterial; having probably a bridle in his mouth to dired him where to go, and to lift him up with again, if he tumbles down. Any gentleman chufing, indeed, to ride without a bridle, fhould look pretty fharp at a horfe’s eyes before he buys him: be well fatif- fied with his method of going, be very certain that he is docile, and will flop fhort with a ^ a Wohey,” and after all, be rather fcru- pulous where he rides him. Let no man tell me that a blind horfe is not a match for one with the beft of eyes, when it is fo dark that he cannot fee: and when he can, it is to be fuppofed the gentleman upon his back can, as well as he; and then, if he rides with a bridle, what has he to fear ? I flatter myfelf, I have proved as clear as day, that eyes are of little confequence; and as I am, no doubt, the firfl: author that has made it known, my readers, if they lofe no time, may mount themfelves at Aldridge’s or the Rhedarium, as well, and for half the money, they would have done, before I let them into this fecret. Be fure to buy a broken knee’d horfe whenever he falls in yout way: the bell bit of flefh that ever was crofled will certainly come down one day or another ; whereas one that has fallen (and fcarified himfelf pretty much) never will again if he can help it. # I have fearched Chambers and Johnfon for this Wohey ! but cannot find him. I do not recollect fuch a word in all Shakefpeare, and he dealt at large in the language. Neither is it to be met with in Matter Bailey’s delicate Collection of Provincialifms. What is Wohey ? Spavins, An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. *9 Spavins, fplints, corns, mallenders, fallenders, &*c. &c. being all curable, are beneath your notice. A few of thefe little infir¬ mities in your Aable, is always a fubjedt of converfation, and you may, perhaps, now and then want one; it will likewife juftify you to your lady, in embelliffiing your bookcafe with Bracken, Gibfon, Bartlett, and Griffiths ; excellent authors in their way, and extremely lifeful! for you will have no occafion to be fending for an apothecary upon every trifling ailment in your family, but will know yourfelf how to make up a good flout and effectual dofe of phyfic for your wife or fervants, in the goofeberry feafon, and at the fall of the leaf. I would recommend a long tail, it it is to be had for love or money ; if that is not to be got, buy a horfe with a rat tail, if pof- fible; though inferior in point of convenience to the former, there is a je ne fgai quoi of comicality about it, that inclines us to merri¬ ment whenever it makes its appearance. There is one inconvenience attending long tails in fummer (when the poor animals have rnoft need of them ;) and that is, horfes full of grafs are very fubjedt to fcourings ; in this cafe ride your horfe with his tail in a bag, or elfe he may annoy you. Having defcribed for my reader a horfe, and I hope he likes him, I would fain form as complete a horfeman, and having fo done, my ambition would be gratified, my end anfwered, and I would never ride again myfelf, as long as I lived. © ® © © © © © Few writers on this fubjedt have thought it neceflary to pre- fcribe any peculiar mode of drefs to equeflrians. I am fuch a zealot about the propriety of their appearance, that I think too much cannot be faid on the fubjedt. Heav’ns! how are the laws degraded fince * ao An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. iince the abolition of full bottoms ^ in our Courts of Juftice : I at¬ tribute the encreafe of thievery to it, and firmly believe, that ten men are hanged for every inch curtailed in a Judge’s wig. The Editor can only attribute the Angularity of the ten or a dozen lines that follow, to their having been written after dinner ; Mr. Gambado being fond of pufhing the bottle about brifkly. His annotator feems to think the fame; indeed, if he was the author’s friend, he was a very impartial one, for his criticifms pretty often border on the fevere. Bias, I think it is, that obferves, the tout enfemble fhould be at«> tended to in every thing; he judicioufly remarks, that a beautiful woman ill-dreif would be much better, undreft; and he fays much the fame ot rabbits and onions, but I forget how he brings that to bear. The clear headed reader will foon perceive I have an eye at him ; and having provided him with a fteed, I would wifh to make his rider a match for him; for your rider is half the battle.f Touching the apparel then, I will begin at top. Wear a wig, if poffible, and fhould you be a fportfman, and hunt * He might have added, how are our Ladies improved by the adoption of them. t Was ever fo much abfurdity crammed into fo few lines! Our author could not be, ipfe, he, when he wrote this ! Bias, talk French! O coelum in terra ! and be judge of a Lady’s drefs too! and underftand cookery likewife! Why, Mr. Gambado, you really endow him with more talents than fell to the lot of the admirable Crichton ; and you forget, do you, how he brings that to bear ? and fo do I too, upon my word. As to your having an eye at the reader, I don’t believe it: like our honefi friend Homer, I fancy, this was your time, to have been put to bed. Half the battle, how vulgar ! Our immortal bard, as they call him, in his highefl vagaries never was fo lotv as this f the An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN; 2 I the * foreE, the larger and whiter it is, the fafer for you : for fhould your horfe prove, what is properly termed too many for you, and make off, nothing but the fingularity of your appearance can reEore you to your difconfolate family, j The hallooing and hooting of the boys that this will occafion, will enable your friends to trace you through moE of the villages you may have part; and at the worif to know, in what part of the country to have you cried. >/ I never admired a round hat, but with a large wig, it is infup- portable ; and in truth, a mold puerile ornament for the head of a fober man. In windy weather you are blinded with it; and the in¬ genious artift I have employed to decorate this work with his deligns, has very forcibly pourtrayed the inconvenience, and even danger of a hat of this fort, to a man of bufinefs. f By a man of bufmefs is not meant a Lord of the Treafury or a Commiflioner of Accounts, but what is called on the road, a rider, a bog-man or bagifer. A cock’d hat, befides this advantage over its competitor, and the dignity it gives to the moE unhappy countenance, has fo many others, that it is wonderful to me, it is not univerfally worn, but more par¬ ticularly by equeErians. If in windy weather, you are blinded, in rainy, you are deluged by a round hat; whereas one properly cock’d, will retain the water till you arrive at your baiting place, and keep your head (which riding may have heated) agreeably cool; having much the fame effeft on it, that a pan of water has upon a flower pot. ® © © © & & it* Let your boots be fomewhat fhort, and the knees of your breeches but juE reach the joint, fo that the flap of your faddle (and obferve a * The flag hunt in Eppiog Foreft on Eafter Monday is fuppofed to be the moft ftriking and fuperb chafe in Europe. To this, the author probably alludes. t The author is here philanthropically amiable; and if the reftoring a long loft hulband to the arms of his fpoufe, has any claim to public reward, we fticuld not grudge it a moment to his white wig, whilft we are lavilhingly bellowing it on ufelefs quackeries. t Would it be a very bold alTertion to hazard, that, by a Lord of the Treafury or a Coiximiffioner of Accounts is not meant a Man of Bufinefs ? perhaps not. E Engle 22 An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. Angle flapped faddle is the genteeleft) may be continually curling up, and chafing you between the confines of the boots and breeches, by which means, you will be fatisfied that your leg is in a proper pofition. ® @ ® ® @ © Much of the author’s friendly advice, as to drefs, is wanting ; but the editor recolle£ls he was a warm advocate for the riding in black plufh breeches in fummer : and ever recommended a coat of pompadour or fome confpicuous colour, for the fame obvious reafon, that he thought a large wig of fuch moment. You may wear fpurs, if you are not afraid; and the exercifing them a good deal, will keep your blood in proper circulation, and prevent your toes from being cold. V Be very careful to fpur your horfe in the fhoulders only; there he has moft feeling, becaufe he has moft veins; befides, by fpurring at his body, five times in fix, your labour is loft; if you are a ftiort man, you Ipur the faddle cloth; if you are leggy you never touch him at all, and if middling, you only wear out your own girths, without your horfe being a bit the better for it. Elegance of pofition is to be confidered as particularly eflential to every gentleman that appears on horfeback in publick. And I fliall endeavour to point out, what moft immediately conftitutes it. The mode of leaning the body pretty forward over the pommel of the faddle, in a walk or a trot, has been too little in pra&ife of late years, An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. 23 years, and it is high time it fhould be revived. There is an ap¬ pearance of airinefs in it, that embellifhes the figure of a rider very much indeed ; particularly, if he be mounted on a long backed horfe, who throws his faddle well forward, and is unencumbered with a crupper: here, he exhibits an elegant picture of carelefs in¬ difference, and feems, contemptuoufly, to leave all the world behind him. By the bye, I have obferved many a worthy citizen fent on a Sun¬ day into Hyde Park, cruppered up as tight as need be: but be very fhy of a crupper, gentle reader, if your horfe naturally throws his laddie forward. It will certainly make his tail fore, fet him a kick¬ ing, and very likely bring you into trouble. Expet to crede . /If then, you bend your body well forward, your rump flicking properly out behind, with your legs projected, I fhall have hopes of you; you cannot, I think fail, of foon equalling my moft fanguine expectations; and, after having attained this excellence, (an excellence, let me tell you, arrived at but by few, and thole, men of the firft knowledge and fcience, fuchas the Fellows of Colleges, the Livery¬ men of London, or, perhaps the crew of a man of war) I would advife you, without delay, to attempt another ftep towards equeftrian per¬ fection ; that is, on riding either eaftward or weftward, to make your toes point due north and fouth, or vice verfa. Thus your fpurs may be brought into play, with little or no ex¬ ertion; and thus, in turning fharp round a poft, your horfe may be prevented from hurting himfelf by running againft it.* The lbanding up in your ftirrups, whilft trotting, in the above pofition, has a moft elegant and genteel effeCt; and I would have you make an effay to accomplifh it, no doubt you will fucceed, il you have the genius I take you to have. * More Philanthropy. A horfe 24 An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. A horfe has various methods of getting rid oi his man; at prefcnt, I will only advert to one. If your horfe tumbles down with you, he will fometimes get up again, and ihould you not do the lame in concert with him, and your foot remain in the ilirrup, he may probably extend your airing whilft you remain in that aukward poiition; and however defirous you may be to remain behind, on you mull go, during his pleafure. Now, of all the ways of con¬ veyance that I have had a tafte of, this is the leall agreeable; if it Ihould be the fame to you, provide yourfelf with a pair of patent ftir- rups; with them, your attachment to your horfe may be as Ihort as you pleafe ; they have done wonders ; can I fay more? I am happy in being able to bear teftimony of their aftonilhing efficacy in the cafe of a friend of mine, the Rev. Mr. C-, A. M. when of Pem¬ broke College, Cambridge; by tranfcribing his own words at the conclufion of an advertifement, he inferted in all the papers ad- drelfed to the patentee. Having purchafed a pair of his fhrrups, and falling, one afternoon, as he was accuftomed, from his horfe, he fays “ but thanks to providence, and your noble invention, my leg and your Jlirrup coming off at the fame inilant, I el- caped unhurt.” To what a pitch of perfedion is human in- genuity arrived ! 0 {g* ® ® ® ® The being able to guide a horfe, is a matter of fomc moment on the road, though it may not be fo any where elfe; and I would advife you always to ride with a lalh whip; it fliews the fportfman, and will affift you much in your fteerage. If your horfe bears too much to the right, of courfe you drop the reins entirely on that fide, and pull them up ffiarp with both hands, on the other; but if that does not anfwer, you mull refer to your whip, and a good fmart cut over his right cheek and eye, will foon fet him ftraight again. This is the mode you will fee adopted by every judicious An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN, 25 judicious pig-driver,* and I am told, that a pig is efteemed by judges, to be tar more averfe to direct progreffion, than a horfe. Lucan informs us, that the Maffilians f rode without bridles, and guided their horfes with a fwitch: u Et gens quse nudo reddens Maffilia dorfo u Ora levi fledit, froenorum nefcia virgaA Lue, u Without a bridle on the bare back,” u Make with a dick their horfe or mare tackC Virgil fays the fame of the Numidians: “ Et Numidce infreni cingunt.” JE n. 4, a See Numidians, on horfes unbridled approach," Good riding this; but as to the fwitch, I’ll maintain it, that a whole or a half hunter J would be more efficacious ; and as to the riding, good as it is, if Julius Casfar did not cut out both Maffilians * A very /^-judicious remark this : were a pig to be driven in a hard and (harp, or a YV eymouth, and a horfe in a packthread tied to his hind leg, it is a matter of doubt with me, whether the latter would drive fo handy as the former. As pigs now can play at cards as well as horfes, I think it is but fair to fuppofe them capable of dancing a minuet with equal aaivity and grace : whatever Mr. Altley may al¬ ledge to the contrary. The author is very hard upon pigs. f Our author feems fond of a bit of foreign language, his Latin, I fuppofe, he was fupplied with by the parfonof the parilh * his French, 1 know, he got from his father’s journeyman, who (according to the old man’s own phrafe) was taught to dpcate coats at Paris. The Maffilians are here lugged in, tor the fake of the Latin verfes, or to cry down the ufe of bridles ; but, as I am one of thole gentlemen, who had rather ride with a bridle, than without one ; and, as he mull ranfack the blackguard clafficks for feraps of quotations, I will meet him, and as Sir Sampfon Legend fays in the play, “ Try whether my blackguard or his lhall get the better of the day. F.rmi tine frrenis. t Whips, fo denominated. G and 2 6 An ACADEMY for GROWN HORSEMEN. and Numidians I’ll be d—d and the reader will agree with me, when I produce my authority for his horfemanfhip, which is no lefs a chara£ter than Montaigne. a On dit de Caefar, qu’en fa jeuneffe, monte a dos fur un cheval et fans bride, il lui faifoit prendre carriere les mains tournees derniere le dosf’f It is extremely wrong to put a gentleman on a reftive horfe,J when he is going out on bufinefs, or invited to dinner in the neighbour¬ hood. In the firft inftance, if a man is not pundlual, his credit is lowered; and making an apology for his horfe will feldom be ad¬ mitted; nor will any one make allowances for a gueft, if his horfe has ibopt and turned round five thoufand times with him, in Eve hundred yards, fhould the turtle be fpoiled, or the venifon over-roafted. In fuch cafes, gentle reader, I fhould difmount and walk; but if you are averfe to that, and you find that the bead will not go for¬ ward, let him have his whim, and go backwards, only take care to point his head the wrong way, § he will carry you pleafant enough fo; but you muff keep your own head well employed over both fhoulders, or it may not anfwer at laft. Be provided with a horfe block, it is a fine aflifiant in mounting, and I am amazed any gentleman fhould be without one. The only danger I know attending it, is, that in your eagernefs to mount, you- * Hey day ! a new method this of laying down the law. If you go on thus, Mr. Author, the law will take you up in return j and it will coft you lome Ihillings before you come to the end of your book. t “ It is faid of Caefar, that in his youth, being mounted on a horfe’s bare back, and without a bridle, he could make him perform his paces with his hands behind him.”— Mont aigne. t A Grange epithet this, and I wonder who coined it ; tell me of a rufty horfe, and I fliall know what it means, for I know what rufty locks are and rufty weather-cocks. § I clearly fee the author’s meaning here ; if he travels backwards, and the nag’s head was the right way, he would never get his dinner, and it mull be wrung not to go when invited.—Re