COERCION. 15 



contests, that defeat is absolute ruin. We must be pre- 

 pared to fight it out to the bitter end, and if we are 

 not sure of our own firmness, either mental or physical 

 it is well to temporise, and try to win by diplomacy the 

 terms we dare not wrest by force. If the latter alter- 

 native must needs be accepted, in this as in most stand- 

 up fights, it will be found that the first blow is half the 

 battle. The rider should take his horse short by the 

 head and let him have two or three stingers with a 

 cutting whip not more particularly, if on a thorough- 

 bred one, as low down the flanks as can be reached, ad- 

 ministered without warning, and in quick succession, 

 sitting back as prepared for the plunge into the 

 air that will inevitably follow, keeping his horse's 

 head well-up the while to prevent buck-jumping. 

 He should then turn the animal round and round 

 half-a-dozen times, till it is confused, and start 

 it off at speed in any direction where there is room 

 for a gallop. Blown, startled, and intimidated, he will 

 in all probability find his pupil perfectly amenable to 

 reason when he pulls up, and should then coax and 

 soothe him into an equable frame of mind once more. 

 Such, however, is an extreme case. It is far better to 

 avoid the ultima ratio. In equitation, as in matrimony, 

 there should never arise " the first quarrel" Obedience, 



