194 THE HORSE'S ENJOYMENT 



have a definite work cut out for them ; the saddle-horse 

 is merely a companion along the road. 



Each and every one of these accomplishments is dis- 

 tinctly useful. A busy walk enables you to rest your 

 horse frequently without either of you being bored or 

 losing ground by lack of speed. The trot enables you to 

 change gait and equally ease yourself and your steed's 

 muscles. To change lead in the canter saves the fore-feet, 

 for a horse which always leads on one foot runs danger 

 of going lame by-and-by. It also saves the houghs. The 

 rack is the easiest of all paces, and is, par excellence, a hot 

 weather gait, when a trot is all but impossible except to a 

 man in training. To shift the fore-quarters quickly means 

 handiness in turning and less danger of tripping a horse up ; 

 and the same applies to the shifting of the hind-quarters. 

 Moreover, without the latter, how can you place your 

 horse where you want him, as to open a gate, or to keep 

 your place in a group of riders ? The utility of the rest 

 goes without saying, and this is but a little of the practi- 

 cal side; while the pleasure of it all is hard to be ex- 

 plained to a man who has not been through it, or to a 

 horse which is not thus trained. For the horse, be it 

 said, is as keen in his enjoyment of it all as the man ; I 

 sometimes think more keen than most men. 



To whatev^er horse -owner there may be who cannot 

 hunt or play polo or breed, or who has not a long enough 

 purse to own racers, let me prescribe the stud}' of pure 

 saddle -work; he will be rewarded a hundredfold for his 

 experiment. And this especially if he is getting on in 

 years, and wants a quiet rather than a boisterous pleasure. 



To revert to the text, though we seem to have reached 

 a sort of Fourteenthly : it is not to be wondered at that 

 we Americans have sought our models in the Old Country. 

 It is the English who have taught us nearly all our sports. 



