i82 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



one of Mine, which he would not Do ; I told him, 

 If you will but Sit Still, I warrant you the 

 Horse will go well with you. But a Man (said he, 

 with a great oath) cannot Sit Still. Which was 

 said Knowingly, and like a Horse-man ; for, to 

 sit still, belongs only to a Great Master." 



And so the things we were told to do and 

 avoid, as the Duke told Mr. Germain to sit still, 

 were impossible of attainment for us ; it was 

 simply as if we had been listening to someone 

 talking in a strange language. 



When one comes to think of it, the wonder is 

 that we have so many good horsemen, when the 

 majority of them are untrained, and it certainly 

 shows that there is a considerable amount of 

 pluck in those who attain to proficient horseman- 

 ship in this way, as well as indomitable perse- 

 verance. Someone, parodying Danton's famous 

 ** Uaudace, Faudace, et toujours I'audace," once 

 said that Horsemanship is nerve, nerve, and above 

 all things, nerve. There is something in it, but 

 it is not correct. Perhaps the opposite, namely 

 that without nerve there can be no horsemanship, 

 is nearer the mark, though I have known good 

 horsemen whose strong point was certainly not 

 their nerve. ^ 



But undoubtedly there are a number of very 

 fine horsemen who have found out for themselves 

 many of the principles which are taught in the 



^ They might have had nerve at one time. I knew one gentleman, 

 a brilliant horseman, who was a very hard man for 07te season only. 

 Why he gave up riding hard could never be made out. 



