COERCION. 19 



termed, " by riding," and this is the quality that, where 

 judgment, patience, and knowledge of pace are equal, 

 renders one jockey superior to the rest. It enables a 

 proficient also to clear those large fences that, in our 

 grazing districts especially, appear impracticable to the 

 uninitiated, as if the horse borrowed muscular energy, 

 no less than mental courage, from the resolution of his 

 rider. On the racecourse and in the hunting 

 field, Custance, the well-known jockey, possesses this 

 quality in the highest degree. The same determined 

 strength in the saddle, that had done him such good 

 service amongst the bullfinches and "oxers" of his 

 native Rutland, applied at the happy moment, secured 

 on a great occasion his celebrated victory with King 

 Lud. 



There are two kinds of hunters that require coercion 

 in following hounds, and he is indeed a master of his 

 art who feels equally at home on each. The one must 

 be steered, the other smuggled over a country. As he 

 is never comfortable but in front, we will take the rash 

 horse first. 



Let us suppose you have not ridden him before, 

 that you like his appearance, his action, all his qualities 

 except his boundless ambition, that you are in a prac- 

 ticable country, as seems only fair, and about to draw 



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