INTRODUCTION ix 



in a way, his self-esteem is justified, for horse- 

 manship goes to the making of a man. Perhaps 

 when a man is thoroughly acquainted with horses, 

 when he knows and appreciates their good pro- 

 perties and when he is capable of using their 

 services without nervousness or misgiving — when 

 he understands the management and the con- 

 ditioning of them, there is nothing in the world 

 out of which so much pleasure can be got as a 

 horse. And the more a man studies horses, the 

 more he learns about their ways and the manage- 

 ment of them, the greater his pleasure in them. 

 I have known men, capable horsemen too, v/ho 

 got off their horse at the stable door, and scarcely 

 saw him again till they required his services. In 

 a way perhaps these men get their pleasure out 

 of their horses, but the man who sees to his horse's 

 comforts himself, who understands what stable 

 management should be and sees that his horses 

 are properly attended to, who takes a personal 

 interest in the welfare of his horses beyond the 

 mere paying for it — ^that is the man who gets 

 the greatest satisfaction from owning and using 

 horses. 



If is for men of this class that I am more 

 especially writing. I have been a horse owner 

 for many years, and during the period much has 

 been learnt about the management and the 

 conditioning of horses. In most matters con- 



