1S33.] HORSEMANSHIP IN CHILE. 153 



at last they started at a gallop. The Gaucho never appears to 

 exert any muscular force. I was one day watching- a good rider, 

 as we were galloping along at a rapid pace, and thought to my- 

 self, " surely if the horse starts, you appear so careless on your 

 seat, you must fall." At this moment, a male ostrich sprang 

 from its nest right beneath the horse's nose : the young colt 

 bounded on one side like a stag ; but as for the man, all that 

 could be said was, that he started and took fright with his 

 horse. 



In Chile and Peru more pains are taken with the mouth of the 

 horse than in La Plata, and this is evidently a consequence of 

 the more intricate nature of the country. In Chile a horse is 

 not considered perfectly broken, till he can be brought up stand- 

 ing, in the midst of his full speed, on any particular spot, for 

 instance, on a cloak thrown on the ground : or, again, he will 

 charge a wall, and rearing, scrape the surface with his hoofs. 

 I have seen an animal bounding with spirit, yet merely reined 

 by a fore-finger and thumb, taken at full gallop across a court- 

 yard, and then made to wheel round the post of a veranda with 

 great speed, but at so equal a distance, that the rider, with out- 

 stretched arm, all the while kept one finger rubbing the post. 

 Then making a demi-volte in the air, with the other arm out- 

 stretched in a like manner, he wheeled round, with astonishing 

 force, in an opposite direction. 



Such a horse is well broken ; and although this at first may 

 appear useless, it is far otherwise. It is only carrying that 

 which is daily necessary into perfection. When a bullock is 

 checked and caught by the lazo, it will sometimes gallop round 

 and round in a circle, and the horse being alarmed at the great 

 strain, if not well broken, will not readily turn like the pivot 

 of a wheel. In consequence many men have been killed ; for 

 if the lazo once takes a twist round a man's body, it will in- 

 stantly, from the power of the two opposed animals, almost cut 

 him in twain. On the same principle the races are managed ; 

 the course is only two or three hundred yards long, the wish 

 being to have horses that can make a rapid dash. The race- 

 horses are trained not only to stand with their hoofs touching a 

 line, but to draw all four feet together, so as at the first spring 

 to bring into play the full action of the hind-quarters. In Chile 



