DRUBBING HIS RIBS 93 



tions, the Indian scout has ridden an imitation of the cav- 

 ahy seat, and has broken himself of kicking his pon3^'s 

 ribs at every stride. The Indian is vain and imitative, 

 and these two quahties make him a servant of the repub- 

 lic equally tractable and reliable. We are indebted to him 

 for much of the best service, and in his ranks have been 

 numbered many men whose names are household words. 



This habit of drubbing the horse's ribs is one by no 

 means confined to the Indian, though he indulges in it to 

 excess. You see it in Central Park, in Rotten Row, in all 

 the cavalry of Europe, among the Arabs, on the steppes 

 of Russia. Its special use among all these appears to be 

 to keep the horse at a rapid walk ; when a horse is on a 

 faster gait, it is chiefly the Indian who keeps up the pound- 

 ing. It is of no particular value ; for, like the use of the 

 whip, familiarity soon breeds contempt, and the horse per- 

 forms no better for the punishment and less willingly for 

 the worry. It is an ungainly trick, too, much on a par 

 with swinging the legs at a trot. In a soldier particularly 

 one wishes to see that sort of precision which should be a 

 sequence of a perfect setting-up ; and the trick of using 

 the heels at everj^ moment sadly mars the military seat. 

 There are other ways of keeping a horse at his best which 

 are not so objectionable as this. 



