128 WINTER SKETCHES. 



that she cannot. We do not like to be told of 

 our faults. 



As I am unable to persuade any human 

 friend to accompany me on my long rides, 

 our companionship becomes closer. Fanny 

 knows the pocket in which I keep the lumps 

 of sugar. When she gets one of these little 

 dainties, she acknowledges it by a cordial 

 shake of hoof and hand. She knows perfectly 

 well whether we are about to take a long or a 

 short journey, for in the first case I always 

 show her the small roll of baggage before it is 

 buckled upon the saddle. So she adapts her 

 gait to the requirements of the trip. We talk 

 together along the road — that is to say, I talk 

 to her and she listens. Many people think 

 this is the best way to carry on a conversation. 

 It is not uncommon, and it always affords 

 pleasure to one person at least. By this 

 means the rider may place himself en rapport 

 with his horse. There is no exact English for 

 this French term. It means a great deal — not 

 precisely that a man is any part of a horse, or 

 that a horse is any part of a man, but that the 

 man for the time being is equine, and the 

 horse is human in his feelings. 



To the saying of Terence that because he 



