8 HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP. 



stroke of the two-mile course, and place him as a winner to 

 half a length ; who, in the hunting-field, would ride the 

 hottest, or the most phlegmatic made hunter, with equal skill, 

 through all difficulties of ground, and over every species of 

 fence, with admirable precision and equality of hand ; or, who, 

 on the exercise ground, would place his broken charger on 

 his haunches, and make him walk four miles an hour, canter 

 six and an half, trot eight and an half, and gallop eleven, 

 without being out in either pace a second of time ; but who 

 have marred all by the besetting sin of side-feeling — of turning 

 the horse on the wrong rein. The consequence is, that they 

 can ride nothing which has not been trained to answer wrong 

 indications. 



This is something like steaming without steering. Set them 

 on a finely-broken horse or a colt, and they become helpless 

 children, — the powerless prisoners of the brutes that they 

 bestride. How often does one see one's acquaintance in this 

 distressing situation, with courage enough to dare what man 



