18 THE BARB AND THE BRIDLE. 



CHAPTER III. 



If a horse has been broken, so as to be obedient to the hand and 

 leg of a man, and steady to sights and sounds, it is considered by 

 many that the animal has only to be ridden with a skirt, and 

 accustomed to strike off without hesitation with its off legs in the 

 canter, and it is fit to carry a lady. 



This is a great mistake. It is true that teaching it to canter 

 collectedly Avith its off legs is necessary, as well as habituating it to 

 the skirt, but there are other and important matters to be con- 

 sidered which are too often overlooked. 



In the first place, a man, to break a horse properly for a lady, 

 must be sufficiently well up at his craft to train the animal to obey 

 the lightest possible application of the aids of the leg; because 

 a lady, having but one leg to the horse, cannot give him the 

 same amoimt of support that can be giren by a man, who apj)lies 

 both. 



To supply the absence of the leg on the off side, in the case of 

 the lady, the only substitute is the whip. But all men accustomed 

 to breaking know that the effect of the whip is altogether different 

 from that of the leg, and that while the whip is occasionally neces- 

 sary to rouse a slightly lazy horse, and put him into his bridle, in 

 the case of one very free, or at all hot, the whip must be used with 

 great caution by a lady. As I have remarked elsewhere, most young 

 horses are inclined to strike off in the canter with the near leg, which 

 is most unpleasant to the fair equestrian. To correct this, the 

 breaker applies certain well-known aids, which it is unnecessary here 

 to repeat. Bat in order to confirm the horse in his lesson of canter- 

 ing with his off leg, the man must give the animal a considerable 

 amount of support with both his own and both hands. If this is 



