THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 105 



become firm and good ; but a hand, the delicate sym- 

 pathy of finger with the mouth of the horse, is less 

 easily acquired. So rarely is it seen, that it may be 

 doubted whether it is to be attained, or if it be not alto- 

 gether a gift of nature. Old Chifney's rule was to "hold 

 your rein as a silken thread which you fear to break," 

 and the circumstance of so many horses becoming tem- 

 perate under the control of ladies, which are violent in 

 the hands of their lords, is proof positive of the advan- 

 tages of gentleness ; unless, indeed, the effect is attribut- 

 able to the ^li/^ which they have always over us, and the 

 horses are conscious of the kind of dominion, or rule, 

 of woman-kind to which they have submitted. Not one 

 horse in a hundred has a mouth for a snaffle-bridle only, 

 and, perhaps, one in a thousand is nearer the proportion 

 of those which can go with a loose rein. We know that, 

 in a race, to abandon a horse's head is to stop him at 

 once, and it is no less indispensably necessary to hold 

 him well together, across country. He cannot move 

 well over smooth ground, still less over ridge, and fur- 

 row, or plough, unless he is perfectly collected. In 

 this consists the horsemanship of riding to hounds, no 

 less than in the selection of the firmest ground, the 

 time and place for increase or decrease of speed, the 

 manner and rate of putting horses at their fences, and 

 the like distinguishing features, in the performance of 

 a first-rate workman. We read at school, 



" Hie moderatur equos qui iion moderabitur iram," 



and I fear that good riding will not be found so infallible 



