282 RIDING VICIOUS HORSES. 



that finding I could not ride my charger, as there was some- 

 thing wrong with him, I thought it would be fun to go to 

 parade on a very good-looking selling plater I owned. He did 

 not quite like the look of the sepoys at first, but calmed down 

 very soon. The order was given to fire a feu de joie, which I 

 may tell my non-military readers, tries a horse's steadiness as 

 much as any noise I have ever heard. I saw the other officers 

 drawing up their reins and going through their usual " Whoa- 

 ho boy " performance. As I knew that my lately enlisted 

 mount had never heard a. feu de joie, I tried the experiment of 

 sitting still and leaving the reins slack. At the word of 

 command, the rattle of musketry came down the front rank, 

 and then up the rear rank, causing all the old chargers to 

 whisk round and to try to " jump out of their skins ; " but 

 neither the plater nor I took the slightest notice of the row. 

 So surprised was I at his tranquillity that I thought he was 

 deaf, until I had to go out to " take up a point ; " for after 

 cantering a few yards, I spoke to him, and he went up to 

 his bridle in a moment ; thus showing that he paid far 

 more attention to an indication from me, than to one from 

 outside. 



Shying is sometimes due to defective sight caused by 

 cataract and shortsightedness, which is frequently present 

 with that prominent appearance of the eyes called among horse- 

 men " buck eyes." It may also be a silly trick practised even 

 by the best tempered horses. We can recognise this form by 

 the fact that the animal will go on with his game of, say, 

 shying at every heap of stones he sees by the side of a road, 

 only when he is fresh, but not when he is tired. A well-bred 

 mare I once owned was a very bad shyer when ridden by 

 grown-up persons out hacking or going to a meet, but would 

 never shy after seeing the hounds or when ridden by a child. 



Habitually prancing and dancing about is a very disagree- 

 able variety of unsteadiness that is in almost all cases a vice, 



