i6o 



CHAPTER IX. 



HANDS, VOICE, WHIP AND SPUR. 



HANDS. 



NEARLY every writer on the subject of riding is of 

 opinion that "good hands" are inborn and cannot be 

 acquired. This may be so, but the worst of hands 

 may be greatly improved by good teaching and prac- 

 tice. Continental horsemen do not, as a rule, learn 

 how to ride across country, but the majority of them 

 devote much study to the various methods of bitting 

 and handling horses, and, as far as hacking is con- 

 cerned, their horses are better broken and better 

 handled than they are in this country. I am not 

 alluding to the question of seat, as I think Britons, 

 and especially our Colonial cousins, can beat them on 

 that point ; but it is evident, as can be seen any day 

 and in any hunting field, that more study should be 

 devoted to the acquirement of good hands. A course 

 of school riding, especially on a made " school " horse, 

 which is a very light-mouthed animal, would greatly 

 lessen the clumsiness of heavy hands ; or, if such 

 instruction were unobtainable, good practice might be 



