ELEANOR.--Thanks; but if I adopted one half of the suggestions offered, a strange result would ensue. Happily my papers went to press without _anybody_ (save the Editor) having had a glance at them. He generously accepted them upon their merits; but had I shown them to others I should either have altered something in every second line or have given offence to numerous well-meaning persons. When I was a child I committed to memory the inimitable fable of "The Miller, his Son, and his Ass," and have taken the moral of it as a guide through life.
GOODALL.--A short hunting-crop without a lash would do.
EQUESTRINA.--If a horse rears with me in a vicious manner I hit him between the ears, but I do not by any means expect my readers to coincide in all my views, and those who know a better plan can, of course, adopt it. If an animal rears slightly I lean forward against his neck, touch him with my heel, and speak to him. If he persists, and I see any danger of his falling back, I hit him between the ears with the butt-end of my whip, not sufficiently heavily to "madden him," nor even to cause him the least pain, but to occasion him to duck his head, which he invariably does; and if at that instant I hit him sharply with my heel, he drops at once and lashes out behind. Allowing for a moment that such a mode of action may be open to objection, is it not better (seeing that it is frequently efficacious) than sitting quietly and permitting one's-self to be fallen back upon, without making any effort to avert the catastrophe? My objection to the slipper-stirrup is founded on the knowledge that it encourages ladies to lean their weight upon it. "It feels so comfortable," I heard a lady say, "so like a resting-board beneath my foot, that I _cannot help_ riding from it." An iron stirrup with the foot well home is the proper thing to ride in; and remember it is from the instep and _not_ from the toes that you should rise. The iron should meet the waist of the boot-sole, and a long flat heel (I do not mean one of those atrocities known as a _high_ one) should be worn on the boot.
JERMYN.--Your letter almost answers itself. The pad or pilch _is_ apt to turn round, for it is only one little girl in twenty who sits straight. You judge my meaning rightly about the straight saddle, but I opine that it is the stuffing which should be arranged to guard the backbone from pressure, and that it is in no way necessary to raise the _seat_ at the back. I must again say, for the third time, that a plain ring-snaffle is the _nicest_ for a lady's use, and also maintain my opinion that few horses will go in it, according to _my_ ideas of "going." A horse who goes well in a ring-snaffle must have a perfect temper and a perfect mouth, a combination as rare in the equine as in the human tribe. For ordinary hunters and roadsters I do not recommend it, simply because they will not go in such a bridle; but I shall ever hold to my opinion that it is the nicest and the least puzzling for a beginner.