274 RIDING VICIOUS HORSES. 



prompt him to get up on end. Also, the employment of 

 spurs will generally be worse than useless. As I have 

 explained in Illustrated Horse-Breaking the rationale of all 

 this work, I need not go over the same ground here. 



When the horse shows that he has "given in" by going 

 forward, we should not display our bad horsemanship and 

 vile temper by flogging, spurring or jobbing the animal in 

 the mouth ; for no horse has sufficient intelligence to connect 

 any of these forms of cruelty with his previous act of dis- 

 obedience. On the contrary, his most natural conclusion 

 would be, that they were meant as a punishment for his 

 going forward. The frequency with which such punishment 

 produces a fresh exhibition of jibbing, proves the correctness 

 of this statement. 



Most of us no doubt have read Dick Christian's story as 

 told by the Druid, of Mr. Marriott of Welby, who bought a 

 restive horse whose former owner could do nothing with him. 

 " Mr. Marriott takes him home ; and the very first time he 

 rides him, he stops dead at a gate. A man came up and 

 Mr. Marriott shouts to him : ' Here's a shilling for you, my 

 man ; go to my house and bring me the Leicester newspaper.' 

 Blame me, but he sat on his back six hours reading the 

 newspaper, the horse wanted to come back and tried it on 

 several times, but he would not let him. Now and then he 

 tries quietly to get him up to the gate, and about tea time 

 he does it. He then rode him through, making much of 

 him ; he was such a patient, clever man ; he'd have sat on 

 him for a week, and have his victuals and his umbrella sent 

 him, rather than be beat ; that evening he rode him to 

 Kettleby, Grimstone, Ashfordby, and so home, and opened 

 all the gates on the road. He gave him no trouble no more ; 

 you see as time and good judgment brings all things to pass." 

 The part of Mr. Marriott's performance which I specially 

 admire is his "making much of him" after the horse had 



