202 UNASKED ADVICE. 



less he cares for these details. When he allows of the 

 sword and lance exercise being gone through by his 

 rider, and when he bears the firing of a pistol or carbine 

 off his back with tolerable equanimity, he is dismissed 

 the school, and ridden in the ranks; not at regular 

 drills, but at little parties made for him and his compeers, 

 at first under the riding master, then under the adjutant. 

 Finally, he makes his appearance at a field day (and 

 sometimes, by the way, makes an informal disappearance 

 thence in the direction of his stable, to the delight of 

 everyone but his rider, to whom, being run away with 

 round paved corners, and perhaps into a half-open stable 

 door, presents no attraction whatever), and thence forward 

 he is a " trained horse," and never forgets his lesson all 

 his life, wherever the vagaries of Fortune may lead him 

 into a hansom, a hunting stable, or what not. The 

 officer's charger is trained in just the same way, except- 

 ing that he is not ridden absolutely in the ranks ; but in 

 the place which he is likely to occupy, in rear of the line, 

 or when practicable, in front of it. Now this is a good 

 enough system of training, in the main, and would be 

 sufficient if cavalry always acted en masse on a plain like 

 Newmarket Heath. 



But as a man often has to be detached, and sent over 

 ground which has not been levelled for his accommoda- 

 tion, it is clear that a horse who won't go anywhere by 

 himself, and who declines altogether to cross any obstacle 

 but the bar in the school, is not the most useful animal 

 to carry a dragoon, and three-fourths of our troop horses 

 possess these amiable weaknesses. They are not un- 

 known in the hunting stable some good hunters are 

 restive on the road, others are refusers ; but they are the 

 exception, whereas the exception in the troop stable is 



