144 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



others on their guard. If a horse is known to be a runaway, 

 never be induced to trust yourself upon his back. He will 

 do it again at some time or another, even though his first 

 offence may have almost passed out of mind, and it will be 

 better that you should give him a wide berth. I must 

 candidly say, however, that I would rather, for my own 

 safety, ride ten practised runaways — what are called old 

 hands at it — than one mad, frightened horse that had lost 

 his wits from some real cause of alarm. 



The best advice that I can give in either case is this : Do 

 not keep a dead pull upon the reins, because that will not 

 be a particle of use ; in fact, by doing so you will only be 

 supporting his head, and giving him stamina to go faster. 

 Try by a snccession of strong jerks and pulls to prevent 

 him getting fully into his stride, for once he does so you 

 may bid good-bye to any chance of stopping him until he 

 has run himself clean out. A horse that is not a confirmed 

 runaway may be checked by sawing his mouth hard with 

 the snaffle, but my advice is, do not try to stop him at all, 

 if you have fair going ground before you, or that you can 

 possibly breast him up any sort of incline. In such case, 

 let him go — sit close down in your saddle — and when you 

 feel him slacken, take up your whip in earnest, and give it 

 him within an inch of his life. This latter advice, how- 

 ever, only applies to "rogues" — animals who habitually 

 run away and endanger their riders. To whip a really 

 startled horse would be both cruel and unwise ; nor is it 

 ever judicious to do so in cases where the going is not both 

 fair and open in front of you. If run away with in park or 



