2l8 



upon itf indeed, that when it is deficient our 

 very safety is at stake. There are many oc- 

 currences in riding in which men would be 

 submitted to the greatest dangers, were it not 

 for a proper degree of spirit when it is re- 

 quired. The sportsman, on an inanimate 

 horse, exposes himself to the risk of his life ; 

 while a spirited one will carry him through 

 the greatest difEculties. The soldier's situa- 

 tion is still more perilous ; his twofold danger 

 demands all the fire and energy of which the 

 animal is capable. In parrying the sabre of 

 an enemy, however expert and courageous the 

 combatants may be, it is necessary that their 

 horses should be so too ; for to him, whose 

 horse is inferior in this respect, the conse- 

 quences are generally fatal. The alternative, 

 at best, is a wound, a prison, or a grave. 



But notv/ithstanding the necessity there may 

 be for the quality which we have here insisted 

 on, still there are others which are essential to 

 raise horses to emimence in the opinion of the 

 man of judgement. It is not merely in the firm- 

 ness of a Umb that we are to place reliance 3 it 

 is the symmetry, the proportion, that consti- 

 tutes excellence and beauty. The labouring 



