Life — February 21, 1895 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts a riding instructor berating an inept pupil mounted on a sluggish horse. The instructor barks at the student to energize the elderly horse, sarcastically remarking they're not headed to a funeral. The pupil's deadpan response—"Well, you never know your luck!"—suggests pessimistic resignation about the horse's condition or their riding prospects. The humor relies on the contrast between the instructor's aggressive exhortation and the pupil's fatalistic acceptance. The visual exaggeration of the horse's poor condition and the student's uncertain seat emphasizes the comedic incompetence. The joke appears to mock both overconfident instructors and hapless, doom-expecting pupils at equestrian schools. The source attribution to "Pall Mall Budget" indicates this is from British satirical humor.