HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP 87 



may frighten the horse. The saying that horses always swerve 

 and refuse to the left, and that the reason they do so is because 

 the whip has been always used in the right hand, is open to 

 doubt, although it may happen from this cause. Whips are but 

 little used in the army except by rough riders, and when horses 

 do swerve or refuse they do so to one hand as often as to the other. 

 The object of a man carrying a whip at this stage of the break- 

 ing is not to punish his mount but merely to keep him going, if 

 he be inclined to stop, by a quiet tap down the shoulder, keeping 

 the rein the same length, which he could not do if he used his 

 whip behind the girth, the proper place when it is to be used 

 for punishment. 



In the first lessons after the horse has been backed and the 

 longeing rein taken off the main object should be to get him to 

 stride out freely in his walk, therefore the reins should not be 

 too short so as to confine him too much. I have often heard it 

 said that you cannot begin to get hold of a horse too soon, which 

 is correct enough supposing the man who is riding him to be a 

 very excellent horseman, who knows exactly how much to get 

 hold of at a time ; but there are very few who will not get horses 

 on quicker in the end by giving them as much liberty as they 

 can until the horse grows accustomed to carry weight and use 

 his limbs pretty freely under it. It must be perfectly under- 

 stood that the horse knows nothing as yet about the aids of the 

 rider's legs, and that they should not in these lessons be used to 

 keep the animal moving, for in many cases, in fact in most, the 

 closing of the legs will have a precisely opposite effect from that 

 intended, and instead of keeping him going will cause him to 

 stop altogether. 



If anything be required to prevent the horse from stopping 

 or to make him move forward if he be sluggish, a tap down the 

 shoulder with the whip or a wide motion with the hands and a 

 * click ' with the tongue will in the beginning have a better 

 effect than a closing of the legs. The rider should encourage 

 his horse to walk boldly out, and when he does so may then 

 gradually shorten his reins a little so as to get a little more 



