1 6 ON THE VALUE OF BOOKS ON RIDING. 



cient precision to make the horse change the lead in 

 the gallop, but, without a knowledge of some method, 

 he would never be able to do it. All that a riding- 

 master could do would be to make the pupil under- 

 stand how to use the aids ; he could not apply them 

 for the pupil ; he could not do anything beyond what 

 the book can do, — and there are very few riding- 

 masters who can do as much. 



The value of a riding-master's example is small, if 

 it have any value. On the Continent the instructor 

 is often on foot. He is only of advantage as a 

 critic, to tell the pupil when he is wrong ; but if the 

 pupil knows what is right, as he may know from a 

 book, he can be his own critic. I do not say that 

 a book is as good an instructor as a practical teacher 

 would be, but I do say that it is better than no 

 teacher, better than an incompetent teacher. Cer- 

 tainly a pupil would not be able to ride from 

 reading a book, without getting upon a horse to 

 practise what he had learned ; neither would he 

 acquire any great proficiency by sitting in a chair 

 while a teacher expounded the rules of the art. I 

 have read nearly every important work on horse- 

 manship that has been written since Xenophon 

 thought fit to put into undying words all that he 

 knew of the art, and I am sure that I have learned 

 a great deal from them, and I would undertake to 



