IN SEARCH OF A HORSE. 



19 



customer can ride. This preliminary inquiry is of 

 great importance for another reason. An inexperi- 

 enced or timid rider will often throw his horse down 

 by the roughness or carelessness with which he 

 manages his bridle. The paces of a horse are mate- 

 rially affected by the rein : a sudden check or a 

 violent grasp of the curb, will not unfrequently give 

 a tender-mouthed horse such pain, as, to quote the 

 emphatic expression that I once heard from an 

 ostler, to "strike him all of a heap" — the abruptness 

 of the restraint impedes his action, and makes him 

 stumble over Ms own legs. 



These hints will be useful to a man who is con- 

 scious of his own deficiency ; but there are other sug- 



