3IO RIDING FOR LADIES. 



tive colt, take him to a skilled farrier — one who has a good 

 temper in addition to his other endowments — and while he 

 is working, take up your stand at the animal's head, at the 

 same side as that on which the farrier is engaged. Hold the 

 bridle loosely in your hands, dispense with blinkers, and let 

 the horse see what is going on. You can manage this by 

 allowing him to turn his head when he tries to do so. Do 

 not permit any third person to come in the way during the 

 operation. It is a good plan to stand a horse that is to be 

 shod close by a wall. If the smith be unfortunately a duffer 

 at his work, instruct him to smooth the leg downwards 

 from the shoulder or thigh, as the case may be, lifting it 

 up and putting it down again, if the horse seems frightened, 

 and even going away for a moment, and again returning, 

 in order that confidence may become fully established. 

 The safest and surest method of overcoming irritability or 

 nervousness is to exercise a quiet kindness, combined with 

 a cool firmness of purpose ; and to accomplish this end, 

 one, or at most two, persons, will be infinitely better than a 

 number. The adjoining sketch shows a horse under treat- 

 ment on principles of which I do not profess to approve, 

 although I am willing to acknowledge that there are cases 

 in which actual vice can only be overcome by severity and 

 brute force. The custom here depicted of casting an 

 intractable animal for the purpose of getting him shod is 

 common enough in almost all cavalry stables, and is seldom 

 accompanied by any cruelty, save on rare occasions, when 

 the attendant who carries the whip makes use of it to practical 

 purpose — a thing not often called for. When a horse is to 



