RIDING AND DRIVING 247 



a reminder that the rider has something in re- 

 serve. The horse, by the way, is not the intellec- 

 tual animal that some think, and "horse sense" 

 ought not to be much of a compliment to a man. 

 Seven horses out of ten will become bullies, and 

 get the upper hand if they be suffered so to do. 

 There is one sense, however, that even a bullying 

 horse always preserves he knows the touch of 

 the master hand and stops his "monkey shines" 

 in very short order. But there are other horses 

 crazy horses and fool horses. The crazy horse can 

 be subdued by the Rarey or other similar method, 

 but for the fool horse there is no hope. He learns 

 nothing, remembers nothing the glue factory 

 for him is the only proper place. 



And how late in life can a man take up horse- 

 back riding ? That is hard to say. There are men 

 and men some at forty are to all intents and 

 purposes sixty, while others at sixty appear not 

 over forty. So long as a man retains a reasonable 

 amount of suppleness and agility he is not too old 

 to take up horseback riding and get great plea- 

 sure and benefit out of it, while if he began as a 

 youth and has kept it up there is no reason why 



