Confidence is a necessary possession for the beginner in almost any sport.  It is so much easier to do anything if we are quite positive that we can.  Probably, because you are a girl and are modest, you will have to assume this attitude, but in horseback riding, for example, an instant of fear while on the horse’s back will “give you away” to the beast.  Since he is as keen as a dog to know when you fear and dislike him, he will undoubtedly take advantage of it.  If you are quite positive that you can learn to ride and that the horse under you is harmless, you will keep a firm hold on the reins instead of clinging to the saddle horn in a panic.

The trying part of learning to ride is that the first day’s experience is painfully stiffening.  This applies to almost any unusual exercise.  But to withdraw on account of that you may as well resign yourself to taking exercise no more severe than that afforded by a rocking chair.  It does not pay to stop when you are stiff.  Sticking to it is the only way that will train those hitherto unused muscles to perform their duties with no creaking of the hinges.  A good night’s rest is the utmost limit of time that should intervene between each trial.

A girl has the physical disadvantage of less endurance than a boy, and she does have to care for herself in that respect, and leave untried some forms of exercise that would be overexertion for her.  A girl may “paddle her own canoe,” of course, without risk of overstraining herself, but when it comes to moving it from place to place out of the water, the feather-light canoe of poetry becomes heavy reality.  Two girls can carry a canoe between them for a short distance without much difficulty, but if one is alone it is far better to drag the canoe over the ground, which is not particularly hard on it, unless the ground is rough.  The boy’s way of carrying it balanced upside down on his shoulders requires considerable strength.

Devotees of tennis will claim first place for that among girls’ sports.  The amount of practice and quickness of thought and motion that maybe acquired in a game of tennis is remarkable; the fascination of the game itself rather than the benefits to be derived from it will hold the attention.  The main trouble is in the learning, which requires unflagging energy and constant practice.  An overmodest beginner will make the mistake of playing only against her likewise beginning friends; the result is that she takes a discouragingly long time finding out how to use her racket properly and never gets a chance to return a really good serve.

It is really just as well at some point in your practising to see some well-trained athlete do the thing you are trying to learn.

A girl can accomplish a great deal with her brain as well as with her muscles in athletics.  Some one once remarked that he learned to swim in winter and to skate in summer.  He meant that after he had in its proper season practised skill in the winter sport, his brain, during the warm months, kept repeating to the muscles those directions until by the next winter they had a very fair idea of what they had to do, and responded more quickly and easily.  It is rather consoling to think you do not lose time, but rather progress, between seasons.