234 HANDS AND LEGS (AIDS). 



seat is indispensable for the correct application of the aids, 

 which cannot be used with precision, if the rider hangs on by 

 the reins or rolls about in the saddle. 



RIDING WITH SLACK REINS. 



When a rider has to trust entirely to the honour of his 

 mount to bear him safely out of difficulty, he ought as a rule to 

 ride more or less with loose reins, so that he may not bring 

 both to grief by undue interference with the animal's mouth. 

 We should bear in mind that horses fully understand the 

 meaning of self-preservation and can, if left alone, be trusted 

 to act with judgment and precision in times of difficulty 

 and danger ; thus women " beginners " out hunting often go 

 through many days, jumping numbers of difficult fences 

 without a fall, simply because they leave their horses' mouths 

 alone. 



Stock-driving in the Colonies and pig-sticking in India 

 furnish us with instances of the necessity at times of riding 

 with the reins slack, which is a method that is practised at the 

 expense of the staying power of the horse, by making him too 

 heavy in front. When a stockman on a trained stock horse, 

 attempts to bring in stray and half-wild cattle, his mount, 

 acting with intelligence almost equal to that of a shepherd's 

 dog, gallops down the marked-out beast, turns as it turns, with 

 the quickness of a coursed hare, and accomplishes his part of 

 the driving-in with but the slightest indication of his rider's 

 wishes. While this exciting chase is going on, the man 

 restricts himself to the use of his long stock-whip on the beast 

 as may be required, sits still, lets the reins slack, and watches 

 the object of his pursuit and not the horse, so that he may be 

 prepared for any twist, turn, or sudden stop made by the 

 latter, whose movements he is well aware, will correspond to 

 similar ones made by the former. It would be almost im- 

 possible for him, if he kept his eyes on the horse, to tell what 



