8 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



The colt, it seemed, ran loose from a yearling in the 

 owner's straw-yard, but fed in a lofty out-house, across 

 the door of which was placed a single tough ashen bar 

 that would not break under a bullock. This was laid on 

 the ground till the young one had grown thoroughly 

 accustomed to it, and then raised very gradually to such 

 a height as was less trouble to jump than clamber over. 

 At three feet the two-year old thought no more of the 

 obstacle than a girl does of her skipping-rope. After 

 that, it was heightened an inch every week, and it 

 needs no ready reckoner to tell us at the end of six 

 months how formidable a leap the animal voluntarily 

 negotiated three times a day. " It's never put no 

 higher," continued my informant ; " I'm an old man now, 

 and that's good enough for me." 



I should think it was ! A horse that can leap five 

 feet of timber in cold blood is not likely to be pounded, 

 while still unblown, in any part of England I have yet 

 seen. 



Now the Dorsetshire farmer's system was sound, and 

 based on common sense. As you bend the twig so 

 grows the tree, therefore prepare your pupil from the 

 first for the purpose you intend him to serve hereafter. 

 An Arab foal, as we know, brought up in the Bedouin's 

 tent, like another child, among the Bedouin's children, 



