54 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



already mentioned. "A horse isn't a bucket," returns 

 Fist, triumphantly; " why, directly you let his 'head go 

 does he stop in a race, refuse a brook, or stumble when 

 tired on the road ? " 



It is a thousand pities that he cannot tell us which 

 of the two systems he prefers himself. We may argue 

 from theory, but can only judge by practice ; and must 

 draw our inferences rather from personal experience 

 than the subtlest reasoning of the schools. 



Now if all horses were broke by such masters of 

 the art as General Lawrenson and Mr. Mackenzie 

 Greaves, riders who combine the strength and freedom 

 of the hunting field with the scientific exercise of hands 

 and limbs, as taught in the haute tcole, so obedient 

 would they become to our gestures, nay, to the inflec- 

 tion of our bodies, that they might be trusted over the 

 strongest lordship in Leicestershire with their heads 

 quite loose, or, for that matter, with no bridle at all. 

 But equine education is usually conducted on a very 

 different system to that of Monsieur Baucher, or either 

 of the above-named gentlemen. From colthood horses 

 have been taught to understand, paradoxically enough, 

 that a dead pull against the jaws means, " Go on, and 

 be hanged to you, till I alter the pressure as a hint 

 for you to stop. " . 



