THE SADDLE-HORSE 



do so freely, promptly, and evenly, keeping him 

 straight with leg pressure, and being sure he is in 

 position to do so before the first step is asked. 

 He cannot back unless he is, it is physically im- 

 possible. 



The smaller the training inclosure, within cer- 

 tain limits, the quicker will the animal learn, and 

 the handier will he prove. A place fifty feet 

 square is ample, or thirty feet wide and sixty 

 feet long ; a twenty-foot box stall is sufficient for 

 all but the trot and canter. 



Read all the books on equestrianism you can 

 find, but sift out the chaff and remember that, 

 given a few facts and a certain amount of elemen- 

 tary instruction, all depends upon practice, com- 

 mon-sense, and " horse " sense. 



The hunting man and the equestrian who 

 "learned to ride before I could walk, and was 

 brought up on horseback " are apt to scout the 

 idea that the riding-school affords an arena where- 

 in may be learned anything likely to further their 

 accomplishments, scorning the suggestion that 

 they are not perforce competent for all emergen- 

 cies. The performer who " always rode with 

 popper from the time I was so high " is generally 

 as arrogant as he is dense. 



157 



