58 HORSEMAXSHIP. 



turning in any direction. All that is required is patience 

 and system on the part of the instructor. The Bedaween of 

 the desert are not, in our acceptation of the term, good 

 horsemen. Their seat is cramped, and their bridle a 

 halter, with a piece of chain as a nose band. They have 

 neither bit nor spur, yet in full career their horses pull up 

 into a dead halt, start off again at full speed, turn and 

 wrench with all the fire and activity of a Waterloo Cup grey- 

 hound, and obey the slightest motion of their wild masters. 

 In a very few months a well-bred English horse can be 

 trained to be as observant of his rider's dumb motions as the 

 pure-bred steed of Nejd, or the equally high caste '' air 

 drinker " of the Maharaina. There is nothing the Arab can 

 teach his terse, swift, and mettlesome companion of his tent 

 that we cannot, if so minded, teach the descendants of the 

 Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Barb, and the Byerley Turk. 

 Our horses are, under kind intelligent treatment, eminently 

 teachable, but their high spirit is often broken by brutality 

 and impatience. The horse possesses great nervous sensi- 

 bility, and is easily disposed to the various impressions of 

 fear, affection, and dislike. The rider should endeavour to 

 establish a sort of mesmeric lingual influence over his horse. 

 Nothing is better calculated to calm and steady a horse, 

 to make him obedient to his master's will, to prevent an 

 accident, or to reassure a frightened animal, than the con- 

 fidence he feels in the voice he is accustomed to hear, in 

 tones of kindness, reproof, or commendation. 



" Soothe him with praise, and make him understand 

 The loud applauses of his masters hand." * 



This is the secret of the Arab's proverbial whispering in his 

 horse's ear. 



* Dryden. 



