HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP. 83 



suppling, you have never given him a false indication, or ever 

 forced him, he will be no more stiff than when he first began. 

 But if, as a million riders out of a million and one would have 

 done, you have been in the constant habit of doing both ; the 

 horse will long ago have become as stiff as a piece of wood. 

 Is it to be supposed that the best suppled manege horse is 

 more supple than the colt at the foot of his dam ? Can any 

 one, who has watched his pranks, think so ? How often have 

 I been told by a rider to observe how supple his horse's neck 

 has become ! — that he could now get his head round to his 

 knee ; whereas he could not at first accomplish more than 

 to see his horse's eye. If the same horse, loose, wished to 

 scratch his shoulder, or his ribs, or the root of his tail, would 

 he not forthwith do it with his teeth? When a cabriolet 

 or cart is turned in a narrow street or road, the horse is 

 forced to make half a pirouette, without any questions being 

 asked as to his capabilities or suppleness ; and the rein being 

 pulled strongest on one side, the whip applied on the other, 



g 2 



