1 8 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



much time in the saddle can have failed to notice. It 

 is the readiness with which all accommodate themselves 

 to a rider who succeeds in subjugating one. Some men 

 possess a faculty, impossible to explain, of establishing 

 a good understanding from the moment they place 

 themselves in the saddle. It can hardly be called hand, 

 for I have seen consummate horsemen, notably Mr. 

 Lovell, of the New Forest, who have lost an arm ; nor 

 seat, or how could Colonel Fraser, late of the nth 

 Hussars, be one of the best heavy-weights over such 

 a country as Meath, with a broken and contracted thigh ? 

 Certainly not nerve, for there are few fields too scanty 

 to furnish examples of men who possess every quality 

 of horsemanship except daring. What is it then ? I 

 cannot tell, but if you are fortunate enough to possess 

 it, whether you weigh ten stone or twenty, you will be 

 able to mount yourself fifty pounds cheaper than any- 

 body else in the market ! Be it an impulse of nature, 

 or a result of education, there is a tendency in every 

 horse to make vigorous efforts at the shortest notice in 

 obedience to the inclination of a rider's body or the 

 pressure of his limbs. Such indications are of the 

 utmost service in an emergency, and to offer them at 

 the happy moment is a crucial test of horsemanship. 

 Thus races are " snatched ' out of the fire," as it is 



