It is not very easy to do, and you need not be discouraged if you cannot effect it after many trials.  Some masters will tell you to strike your horse on the shoulder, and some will prefer that you should strike him on the flank as a signal for trotting.  Those who prefer the former will tell you to carry your whip pointing forward; the others will tell you to carry it pointing backward, and many masters will say that it makes little difference as long as it is carried gracefully, and as long as you understand that it takes the place of a leg on the right side of the horse.  General Anderson, in “On Horseback,” lays down the rule that a horse should never be struck on the shoulder, as it will cause him to swerve, but use your master’s horses in obedience to his orders.

Now, then, one, two, three, four!  One, two, three, four!  You don’t seem to be astonishing anybody very much, Esmeralda!  Again, one, two, three, four!  Never mind!  Sit down and let the horse do the work.  Keep your left heel down, and your left knee close to the saddle.  Not close to the pommel, understand, but close to the saddle.  Try and imagine, if you like, that you are carrying a dollar between the knee and the saddle, after the West Point fashion, and do not fret overmuch because you are not rising.  If you were a cavalryman riding with your troop, you would not be allowed to rise, and to sit properly while sitting close is an accomplishment not to be despised.  “Ow!” What does that mean?  You rose without trying?  Watch yourself carefully, and if such a phenomenon should occur again, try to make it repeat itself by letting yourself down into the saddle, and then rising again quickly.  But keep trotting!  Count how many times you trot around the ring, and mentally pledge yourself to increase the number of circuits at your next lesson.  And—­“Cluck!”

Sit down in the saddle, Esmeralda!  Lean back a little, bring your left knee up against the pommel, keeping the lower part of the leg close against the saddle; keep your right knee in place and your right foot and the lower part of your right leg close to the saddled; guide your horse, but do not otherwise exert yourself.  How do you like it?  Delightful?  Yes, with a good horse it is as delightful as sitting in a rocking-chair, but, if you were a rider of experience, you would not allow your horse to enter upon the gait without permission, but would bring him back to the trot by slightly pulling first the left rein and then the right, a movement which is called sawing the mouth.  The poor creature is really not in fault.  He heard the cluck given by that complacent-looking man, trotting slowly about, and not knowing how to use his reins and knees in order to go faster, and he said to himself:  “She is tired of trotting and wants a rest; so do I,” and away he went.  If you had been trying to rise, you might have been thrown, for the greatest danger that you will encounter in the school comes from rising while the horse is at a canter.  The cadence of the motion is triple, instead of in common time like that of the trot, and you will soon distinguish the difference, but eschew cantering at first.  If you once become addicted to it, you will never learn to trot, or even to walk well.