Hyderabad. 123 



meal is mixed. This is a fact, to which I have further 

 alluded in Training and Horse Management in India^ that 

 persons who advocate the practice of withholding drinking 

 water from a horse until he is quite cool, should lay to 

 heart. 



At Hyderabad I held a class consisting of over fifty of the 

 Native noblemen, who are almost all fine horsemen. In fact, 

 their polo team is second to none in India. The Mahamadan 

 gentlemen are viveurs, fond of spending money, delight in 

 owning horses and racing, hospitable, and are uncommonly 

 good ' company.' The two I liked best were Sar Firaz 

 Hussain (usually called * Sir Francis ' by the English resi- 

 dents) and Vikar ul Umra. The Nizam is not much of a 

 sportsman, and appears to devote himself chiefly to his 

 domestic duties. Missing the strong hand, over them, of a 

 man like the old Salar Jung, it is little to be wondered at 

 that the turbulent crew which surround this native throne, 

 prove difficult to manage. 



I always found that I could make the best ' show ' with a 

 horse which was merely difficult to mount : for by the voice, 

 it was easy in four or five minutes to make the most unruly 

 animal of this kind stand like a statue to be mounted. Ex- 

 perienced horsemen know how terribly annoying the practice 

 of this vice may be, and how frequently it spoils the sale of 

 an animal intended for a lady (who, however well she may 

 ride, requires her horse to be fairly steady to mount), or timid 

 man. And yet nothing is easier than to make, by a few 

 repetitions of the discipline I have indicated, such animals 

 perfectly steady to mount. In all this work, we should en- 

 deavour, in the plainest possible manner, to show our pupil 

 that, if he rebels, he will be punished ; if he obeys, he will be 

 rewarded ; and that, in all cases, he is powerless to resist our 

 commands. My readers may well ask : ' If scientific horse- 

 breaking be so easy and so effective, as it appears to be from 

 your description ; how is it that there are so many spoiled 

 horses in existence ? ' I reply, that the adoption of new 



