THE WALK. 65 



ployed. The cavalry soldier must, of course, have his 

 sword-arm free for the use of his weapon — sabre or lance — 

 but with civilians there is no need for such freedom of the 

 dexter hand. 



Nothing that I know of is so well calculated to give the 

 novice unyielding rigidity of hand as to take his first lessons 

 outside a wretched stale old drone more fit to do night work 

 with a "growler" than to carry a saddle. In Australia, 

 when a bullock gets bogged, the bushman fixes one end of 

 a strong rope to his horse's tail, and the other is made fast 

 to the beast's horns, and the beeve is speedily hauled out. 

 Many of the old " crocks " provided by riding-masters — so- 

 called — have as much feeling in their mouths as in their 

 tails, and the effect of riding such jaded callosities may be 

 readily imagined. What "give-and-take" movement can 

 there be with a dead pull on a mouth as hard as the nether 

 millstone? what better recipe for destroying sensitiveness 

 of hand and elasticity of wrist ? what greater inducement to 

 the beginner to ride in the plodding slave's mouth? On 

 the other hand, there is no more certain way by which 

 to unsteady and unnerve the pupil, than to put him on 

 high-spirited, excitable, fidgety, restless horses, or on those 

 with mouths so light that they, unable to face the bit, in 

 order to get the pressure off the bars and into the corners 

 of the lips, go with their noses stretched out like giraffes — 

 '* stargazing," as it is termed. 



" Hands " such as possessed by the late Fred Archer arc 

 natural gifts. To a few, a very few, is given the power of 

 immediately adapting them to the pecuHarities of any 

 horse's mouth, and this exquisite sensibility of touch is 

 more freely bestowed on the gentler sex. This much-to-be- 

 envied power may be by long and varied practice developed 

 into a high art \ but if the germ be not implanted nothing 



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