44 HOKSES AND EIDING. 



CHAPTER IX. 



RIDING ON THE EOAD. 



I WILL now proceed to another part of my subject, 

 and that is the art of ridnig^ a horse on the road. 



'Now, what is the first requisite to enable j^ou to 

 ride a horse with pleasure and safety? The first 

 requisite, I take it, is that you should be quite 

 certain that you can always stop him when you 

 want to stop him. 



The second requisite is that you should always be 

 able to make him go on when you want him to go on. 



I have given the first the precedence for this 

 reason, that if you can't make a horse go on when 

 you want, you only suffer inconvenience as a rule ; 

 whereas when you can't stop a horse when you want, 

 your safety may be endangered. 



Now, for a horse to be properly broke and trained 

 you ought to be able to set him going at any pace, 

 and he ought to continue at that pace, with his head 

 loose, until you require him to alter it. But hardly 

 any horse will fulfil these conditions. 



