ONE OF THE ROUGH PATHS OF LIFE. 237 



ease. I then got him to a larger ; and by preventing 

 him jumping over it, which he attempted to do, I got 

 him to lift his legs as high as the most lofty action 

 in a trot would require. It was now clear he had the 

 power of lifting his legs. The desideratum then was 

 to make him do so in his paces : this I determined he 

 should do if patience and perseverance could make 

 him. 



Near my house was a common on which the ants 

 had at some time thrown up hills from six to eighteen 

 inches high : they were grown over by the grass, and 

 become so tough that breaking them was out of the 

 question : they were moreover so thick in places that 

 there was merely room for a horse's foot between 

 them : in short, parts of the plain were like a green 

 cloth table with inverted tea-cups all over the surface, 

 with an inch between them: the turf was soft as 

 velvet, so there was no fear of broken knees ; and 

 this I fixed on as the school in which Master Straight- 

 legs' education as to action should begin. I put on 

 a cavesson, and led him in every direction among the 

 hills : he was on his nose certainly twenty times in 

 the first hour : I perceived, however, he began getting 

 more careful, and after all this tumbling about, and 

 seeing him from fright and exertion in a profuse 

 sweat, I concluded lesson the first. 



In this way he was taken out twice and three times 

 a day for six weeks, daily improving, till at the end 

 of that time he marched like a soldier. During the 

 whole of this tutorage he had only been walked, and 

 no one on his back. I now mounted, and found, 

 during an hour's ride on the high road, he maintained 

 his newly acquired style of walk during the whole 

 ride. 



