PERSONALITY IN HORSEMANSHIP 209 



a horse gets fixed in their heads. They cannot think for 

 themselves and dislike to be told by others, because 

 their first tutor taught them all they required to know. 



Now these horsemen have helped to earn the English- 

 man a poor reputation in the Colonies. When they have 

 displayed their small amount of skill, the Colonial smiles 

 and thinks that all Englishmen are as bad, when really 

 we have in England some of the finest riders and 

 drivers, besides judges of horses, that the world has 

 ever produced. The British horsewoman oft-times is 

 unobserved in the show-ring, the reason being that her 

 qualifications are perfect. She can " hold her own " 

 either at team-driving, tandem, single, or in the hunting- 

 field. A visit to any of our horse shows will convince 

 one that we do possess a perfect horsewoman. 



I once knew of a blacksmith and wheelwright who 

 used to give exhibitions of horsemanship to the ignorant, 

 besides doing a little dealing. If a horse was a trouble 

 to shoe he would hit it unmercifully with his hammer 

 and thrash it. Shoeing was only a side-line in his busi- 

 ness and a good thing, too, for the poor horses. But to 

 suggest that he was not a horseman meant murder for 

 the person who ventured to tell him. I remember how 

 he paid a visit to the Royal City Horse Repository, 

 Barbican, and purchased a black-brown cob. Afterwards, 



