60 RIDING 



a light-handed and careful groom in the stable finishing the 

 youngster's education himself. A good-tempered, willing colt 

 comes to hand in a very short time ; but it need hardly be said 

 that judgment and patience must be exercised in dealing with 

 him. We once knew a four-year-old hack, otherwise of the 

 most exemplary behaviour, who was about to be discarded and 

 sold for the presumed vice of shying without any reason. He 

 had twisted round two or three times so suddenly that the 

 owner admitted having nearly come off; and as on one occa- 

 sion the colt came home alone, there seemed reason to believe 

 that the word ' nearly ' did not quite describe the real nature of 

 the occurrence. His education was conducted on the breezy 

 downs above the owner's house, and one day a friend strolled 

 up to see how the little grey framed. Suddenly, while trotting 

 gaily along, he did, indeed, twist round in a way that at first 

 suggested a reasonless shy ; but the onlooker observed that a 

 gust of wind having come over the crest of the downs the rider 

 had hastily raised his hand to press down his hat, and it was 

 evidently the motion of the hand that alarmed the horse. The 

 rider procured a closer-fitting hat and the horse ceased to shy. 

 If the truth were known it would usually almost invariably 

 be found that a horse's bad habits are really attributable to a 

 man. 



Good hacks are more difficult than ever to find, as, com- 

 paratively speaking, so few men ride distances to covert now, 

 and very few people except country doctors keep a horse of any 

 sort for road work only. Such horse, or rather hack, should be 

 a well-bred hunter on a small scale, miniature if you please, 

 with exceptionally good, not high action in his trot, rocking-horse 

 canter at command, a free, sweeping, easy gallop, with the power 

 and will to walk five miles an hour with the reins on his neck, 

 never turning his head to right or left to look at objects on the 

 roadside. He should carry his head gaily, a trifle high perhaps, 

 but above all things he must be true-made as if built to order, for 

 though the extreme vigour which this accuracy of shape imparts 

 to all his motions sometimes makes him tiring to any one not 



