THE HORSEMAN'S MANUAL. 5 9 



alacrity ; but compulsory obedience, and that which is ren - 

 dered only through dread of punishment, is utterly worthless, 

 as it may be withheld at the very moment we require it most. 

 We will dwell a little longer on this point, and suppose 

 a horse shies at an object on his right ; the inexperienced 

 rider will often pull his head round in the same direction, 

 and this arises not more from not knowing better what to 

 do, than to enable him by the assistance of his hand to re- 

 tain his seat, which is severely tested when the horse 

 swerves suddenly and unexpectedly, but which ought to 

 be preserved by a just equilibrium of the body, and not by 

 holding on by the bridle, which privilege no horse with a 

 light and delicate mouth will grant, for he will in all pro- 

 bability rear to take the pressure of the bit off his mouth, 

 and very often in this way gets rid of his rider, who will 

 not allow that he is at all in fault, but imputes the blame 

 to the horse. I will endeavour to show how he was wrong. 

 By bringing the horse's head round to the object that 

 alarmed him, and not using the left leg, he will in nine 

 cases out of ten run sideways to the left, away from the 

 object he is afraid of, and his rider's intended aids : but on 

 the contrary, should he feel the left rein the stronger, 

 applying at the same time the left leg, and also strongly 

 carrying his left hand over a little towards the right, at the 

 same time pressing the left rein firmly against the horse's 

 neck to assist the right hand, he would oblige him to go 

 sideways up to the object he was afraid of, with his head 

 turned a little from it. Should the horse shy at an object 

 on his left, the aids must be reversed. By adopting these 

 rules, and by kindness and forbearance, the horse will be 

 inspired with such confidence in his rider, and take such 

 pleasure in obeying him, that he will freely face those 

 objects to which he has a natural antipathy, thus over- 

 coming his constitutional timidity for the gratification or 

 advantage of his master; for which, the least he ought to do 

 is, to treat him with kindness and consideration, never tax- 

 ing his powers beyond what they are calculated to bear. 



