HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP. 7 



But correct, single-handed indications, with the fourth 

 finger only between the reins, will not be obeyed by one horse 

 in ten thousand. Try them in driving : there the terret- 

 pad prevents their being given incorrectly, and a bearing 

 rein, a severe bit, and a whip, give you every advantage in 

 keeping your horse collected : you will find them wholly 

 inefficient. The soldier, who is compelled to turn to the 

 right, by word of command, when the correct indication is 

 unanswered, in despair throws his hand to the right. The 

 consequence is, that no horse is a good soldier's horse, till he 

 has been trained to turn on the wrong rein. 



Without the same excuse for it, the same may be said of 

 all ladies, and all civilians, who ride with one hand only ; and 

 of almost all who ride with two hands ; for, strange to say, 

 in turning, both hands are generally passed to the right or 

 left ; and I have known many of what may be called the most 

 perfect straightforward hands— that is men, who, on the turf, 

 would hold the most difficult three-year-old to the steady 



