UNSTEADINESS. 57 



idea of punishment with anything, which before might 

 have excited but his passing interest, and will become 

 more or less unmanageable from fear of his barbarous 

 rider. Or, a timid person on horseback, on seeing some 

 object or expecting to hear some noise which he may 

 think will alarm the horse, may clutch at the reins, 

 and try, in anticipation, to reassure his courage by 

 saying " Steady, lad," " Whow-ho, boy." By acting thus, 

 he will make the horse believe that something very 

 dreadful is going to happen, and will cause him to be 

 thoroughly on the qui vive against danger. When he is 

 worked up into this state by his rider, he will of course 

 be only too ready to express his fear in a form which 

 will probably be very disagreeable to the man in the 

 saddle. I recollect one morning, when I was in the 

 Bengal Staff Corps, finding that I could not ride my 

 charg;er, as there was somethino- wrong with him, and as 

 I had a very good-looking selling plater which was well 

 up to weight, I thought it would be rather fun trying 

 him at the brigade parade, to which I had to go with 

 my regiment. He did not quite like the look of the 

 sepoys at first, but calmed down very soon. The order 

 was given to fire a feii de joie, which, I may tell my 

 non-military readers, tries a horse's steadiness more than 



