52 RIDING. 



lean upon your hand, more particularly when walking. 

 Should he stumble while thus leaning, he is not likely 

 to recover himself, but will fall helplessly on his knees. 



Keep him as self-dependent as possible, though not 

 with a rein so slack as to leave him to himself alto- 

 gether. It is the business or amusement of the rider 

 to be on the alert for all casualties.* 



To make a horse change his foot in canter, if you 

 find it difficult to do so by merely using hand and leg, 

 turn him as if to circle towards that side that you re- 

 quire the foot to lead — he will use the foot forward that 

 you wish in order to prop himself in turning. Thus, if 

 you circle round to the right, he will lead with the oft 

 fore foot ; and if you turn to the left, the near fore will 

 be advanced. 



In using a curb, the rider should remember that if 

 it is properly placed, with a fair leverage, rough-hand- 

 ling of the lower or bit rein may drive a fine tempered 

 animal into a state of great irritation, or even prove an 

 incentive to rearing ;t and directly anything like this 



* Talking of a horse being self-dependent in Ms movement on the 

 road, puts me in mind of a challenge once accepted by a very prac- 

 tical horseman, to ride a notorious stumbler (reduced by this de- 

 fect to mere farm-work) three times round Stephen's Green, Dub- 

 lin (a distance of over three miles), without falling. Given his 

 choice of bits, some being of the severest kind, he rejected them 

 all, desiring the groom to get him a common hemp halter, and 

 with this simple head-gear, riding bare-backed, he accomplished 

 the distance without the slightest mishap, and thereby won a large 

 bet. The groom, however, resumed the use of the bit to ride the 

 horse home (now feeling sufficient confidence to trust himself on 

 his back instead of leading him), when the animal fell on his knees 

 before he had gone a hundred yards. 



t The incautious use of that rein, which has leverage on the curb, 

 is very apt, with young unformed horses, or such as have been only 

 accustomed to the bridoon or snaffle, to induce a notion of rear- 



