RACE RIDING 



143 



saddles, pulling at their horses' heads and sawing at their 

 mouths. Such a sight is common enough when inferior riders 

 are up ; the real master of his art by some mysterious means 

 governs his horse without apparent exertion, though if a rider 

 without hands were substituted, instead of going at a steady 

 canter the horse would soon be ungovernable ; with ' hands ' 

 on the reins he stretches out his head as if playing with the bit, 





Pulling at their horses' heads and sawing at their mouths. 



and bends to a touch ; put an unskilled or ungifted rider into 

 the saddle and the play seems to become earnest, the horse 

 will tear at the reins, fight with his jockey and very often get 

 the better of him. This undoubted fact that a man who is 

 small and weak succeeds without the least apparent effort in 

 holding a horse which could not be held by a rider who is 

 heavy and strong, is a sufficient proof of the existence of 



