64 THE HOESE AND HIS EIDER. 



pointment," unless tlie animal be able to maintain tlie 

 requisite pace. And yet in a run it does not at all follow 

 that the leading horse is the fastest, that the hindmost is 

 the slowest, that a heaving flank is an indication of im- 

 paired lungs, or a still one of good wind. On the contrary, 

 it is often but too true that the first ought to have 

 been the last, and the last the first; so much depends 

 on the manner in which the different horses have been 

 ridden. 



When a man, pursued by a detachment of cavalry, is 

 riding to save his own life, or when, at the risk of his 

 life, he is trying to take away that of a poor little fox, 

 success in either case depends of course on the pace at 

 which he can proceed. Now it is a very common mistake 

 in both the instances we have named to endeavour to 

 attain the desired object by maintaining, like the seconds- 

 hand of a clock, an equable rate, whereas, just as a ship 

 spreads out and unreefs all her canvas when the wind is 

 light, and before a hurricane scuds away under bare poles, 

 so should the pace which a rider exacts from his horse 

 depend on the state or character of the ground he has to 

 traverse ; that is to say, he should hold him together and 

 save him through deep-ploughed land, — race him across 

 light, dry turf, — grasping the mane, go slowly up the 

 last half of an ordinary hill, — spin him very fast indeed 

 down every declivity, — and in jumping fences endeavour. 



