Riders should not throw their right shoulders back, as they are apt to do, when they first take the reins in one hand. The right arm should hang by the side, with the hand by the side of the thigh; or, if holding the whip, it may be kept a little lower than the left, in order not to obstruct the operation of the bridle. We have already said, that we think it best to ride with the snaffle alone, and use the curb only occasionally. In this case, the curb reins may have a slide upon them, and may hang on the pommel of the saddle, or the horse’s neck. When the rider, however, holds the curb as well as the snaffle, having both, as is most usual, in the left hand,--while the curb reins are placed as above described of the snaffle reins, the snaffle reins are placed within them; that is, the left snaffle rein enters under the second, and the right under the first finger, and both pass up through the hand, and out of it, over the fore-finger, precisely as do the curb reins, except that they lie at first above, then within, and lastly, under them.--(Plate XXXVII. fig. 4.) [Illustration: _Plate XXXVII_ _Page 133._ The Rein-hold.] Shifting the reins should be done expertly, without stopping the horse, altering the pace, breaking the time, or looking to the hands. When the snaffle reins are held in one hand, the method of shifting from the left hand is as follows:--Turn the thumbs towards each other; carry the right hand over the left; in place of the little finger of the left hand, put the fore-finger of the right hand downwards between the reins; lay the reins smoothly down through the right hand, and place the thumb upon the left rein between the first and second joint of the fore-finger.--(Pl XXXVII. f. 5.) To shift them again into the left hand, it is only necessary to carry the left hand over the right; to put the little finger of the left hand downwards between the right and left reins; to place them smoothly upward through the hand, and to let the ends hang over the fore-finger, as at first.--(Plate XXXVII. fig. 6.) When both curb and snaffle reins are held in the usual method, we shift them into the right hand in a similar manner, by turning the thumbs toward each other; carrying the right hand over the left; putting the fore-finger of the right hand into the place of the little finger of the left; the second finger of the right into the place of the third finger of the left; and the third finger of the right into the place of the second finger of the left; and laying the reins smoothly down through the right hand.-- (Pl XXXVII. f. 7) When we shift the reins again to the left hand, we put the fingers of the left hand into the places we took them from, and turn the reins smoothly upward through the hand, and over the fore-finger.--(Plate XXXVII. fig. 8.)