190 WHAT MUST HE KNOW? 



will maintain of his own accord, he ought to have an am- 

 ble, or a rack, or a running walk. A slow walker under 

 saddle is intolerable. You must have at least one loose- 

 rein gait which gets you along at a minimum of four 

 miles an hour. 



2. A quick, active, nimble trot not the extended flying 

 gait of the trotting track, but one which keeps his legs 

 well under the horse and makes speed by quick gather. 

 Many a thorough-bred with very limber fetlocks will trot 

 with a long, rangy gait in the easiest manner possible to 

 himself and his rider. But his other gaits will not be 

 collected enough if he has too rangy an action. His in- 

 heritance is long stride and quick gather, too ; but the 

 former is wanted on the track, not the road. 



3. A good canter. Some people think that the faster 

 the horse canters the better. This is all right for a cov- 

 ert-hack, who is to take you as speedily as possible to the 

 appointed place fixed for the meet, where your hunter 

 will be waiting for you, fresh and able. But a saddle- 

 beast's canter is properly measured by its slowness, not 

 its speed. I by no means refer to some of those lazy 

 brutes which can canter as slowly as they walk, and im- 

 press you as being members of the vegetable rather than 

 the animal kingdom. I mean that a horse, who feels fresh 

 enough to jump out of his skin and would prefer a sharp 

 hand -gallop, shall be able to curb his ambition to your 

 mood, and put all his action and elasticity into a five-mile- 

 an-hour canter; that is luxury. But, you object, he is 

 working a ten-mile gait for a five-mile progress. Exactly 

 so. If, my brother, you go riding in order to cover dis- 

 tance, English fashion, you are not doing saddle-work 

 proper, according to my notion. Kemember our rule : If 

 you are hunting, you must save your horse, because he has 

 got a big day's work to do ; if you are riding, even on 



