140 Samples of Good and Bad Training, 



as I ought to do, the results of good training still 

 remain. I sometimes, when out of sight, canter 

 him quite a stretch, say quarter of a mile, chang- 

 ing lead, first every fourth stride, then every third 

 stride, then every second, in regular rhythmic suc- 

 cession. If Patroclus fails to do this feat vi^ith ex- 

 actness, I can always recognize my own error in 

 too late an indication, rather than his in obeying 

 it. It is possible to canter him very slowly with 

 a change of lead at every stride, but such work is 

 very exhausting to a horse, and I have not often 

 done it. This latter feat must be done so slowly 

 that the gait is properly not a canter ; but Patro- 

 clus can perform the true canter, and change at 

 every second step readily for several hundred 

 yards. 



There are undoubtedly many well-trained horses 

 in Boston, very likely more highly trained ones 

 than I am aware of ; but certainly the great ma- 

 jority of saddle beasts possess scarcely the rudi- 

 ments of an education. This seems to be a pity, 

 when it requires so little labor to give them one, 

 if their owners will but learn how to do so. 



Not long ago a friend of mine, and an old rider 

 too, was exhibiting to me a recently purchased 

 horse, for whom he had paid a high price, be- 

 cause he was said to have come fresh from the 

 hands of some noted trainer. The horse would 

 fall into a canter with his own lead readily enough, 



