182 THE USE OF THE SPUR 



around by violent use of the legs, which the Indian and 

 an occasional civilized rider indulge in. The school-rider's 

 seat is very firm ; it must be so or he cannot acquire or 

 keep light hands ; and in addition to using his legs to 

 keep his seat, he uses them intelligently to talk to his 

 horse. The delicacy of this use of the legs is equalled 

 only by that of the schoolman's hands ; nothing but to 

 study the subject, and then to watch a master of the art 

 ride, can give any idea of what a height this delicacy can 

 reach. It is such that unless you know something of the 

 art you cannot understand what the master is doing. 

 Any one can see the skill of a rider who pilots his animal 

 over six feet of timber ; any one can appreciate " Hail 

 Columbia " by a brass-band. But it is not every one who 

 can understand what a master is doing when he makes 

 his horse piaffer ; nor can every one appreciate the over- 

 ture to "Lohengrin" at its true worth. 



The spur, moreover, by the school method is used not 

 to punish or urge on the horse, but to convey certain ideas 

 to him. Like the use of the curb-bit, in contradistinction 

 or in addition to the use of the snaffle, the spur finds in 

 the school -rider a new power one never dreamed of by 

 the rough - riding, cross-country man, or by the active, 

 hearty polo-player. There is no question that, so far as 

 the pure art of horsemanship is concerned, the fine work 

 of the high-school rider soars above any mere sport, just 

 as the "linked sweetness" of the 'cello, or the small circle 

 of the small-sword hover above the rugged blows of the 

 single-stick, or the lascivious pleasing of a lute. Whether 

 there is to any given person more enjoyment in the sport 

 or in the art is a question of each man's habits, tastes, and 

 tendencies. I am far from seeking a quarrel with these. 



Do not imagine, because you give your horse a fairly 

 delicate mouth, that this will necessarily spoil him for an 



