RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



As in the choice of a horse and a wife a man must 

 please himself, ignoring the opinion and advice of 

 friends, so in the governing of each it is unwise to 

 follow out any fixed system of discipline. Much de- 

 pends on temper, education, mutual understanding 

 and surrounding circumstances. Courage must not be 

 heated to recklessness, caution should be implied rather 

 than exhibited, and confidence is simply a question of 

 time and place. It is as difficult to explain by precept 

 or demonstrate by example how force, balance, and 

 persuasion ought to be combined in horsemanship, as 

 to teach the art of floating in the water or swimming on 

 the back. Practice in either case alone makes perfect, 

 and he is the most apt pupil who brings to his lesson a 

 good opinion of his own powers and implicit reliance 

 on that which carries him. Trust the element or the 

 animal and you ride aloft superior to danger ; but with 



B 



