HUNTING, AND RIDING TO HOUNDS. 55 



the man, — on the lightness of his hand, his coohiess, 

 his judgment, and unswerving determination of pur- 

 pose, — depend the future life and action and the 

 leaping of the hunting horse. 



Horses, as I have previously remarked, have 

 tempers . as well as men, and if put out of temper 

 by bad or injudicious riders, vice may be inculcated 

 in their dispositions, and confirmed thereafter, so 

 as to become a complete obstacle to any happi- 

 ness with hounds. A good and judicious horse- 

 man may ride a horse of this description several 

 times without the horse's temper being ruffled, sup- 

 posing that horseman to be simply one of the field, 

 who can sit still among the rest of the horses at a 

 check ; but if a horse of this description is called on 

 to do anything he dislikes, the cloven hoof is shown 

 directly. 



The action of horses in their gallop, trot, and 

 walk is very varied, not only in the pace arrived at, 

 but in their method of progression. The action of 

 some horses is so smooth that it really is as if their 

 joints were oiled, while the muscular movements of 

 others are just the reverse, and in their rough and 

 shaky or rolling gallop it seems to the rider as if 

 one of their fore legs was shorter than the other* 



