TRAINING OF PONIES IN INDIA. 241 



than It is at present. I am confident that there is not 

 one pony in five hundred which does not play better 

 in a double bridle than in a snafiie ; 75 per cent, go 

 better with nosebands than without ; and the large 

 majority of Arabs and country-breds should not be 

 ridden without a standing martingale. A noseband 

 and martingale may be dispensed with, only when a 

 pony is perfectly broken, and when his rider is a really 

 fine horseman, but such a combination is rare in an 

 ordinary station game. 



An indifferent horseman can make an ordinary pony 

 handy enough for safety on a polo ground, by teaching 

 him to stop and turn in a riding school. Almost any- 

 one in India can get sufficient space for this in his 

 ** compound," or in some adjoining waste space, where 

 he can enclose a piece of ground thirty yards long and 

 ten yards wide, with a surrounding mud wall, five feet 

 high. Except in the rains, this will answer the 

 purpose as well as the most elaborate riding school. 

 The floor can be left alone, if it consists of ordinary 

 soil, and will merely require to be occasionally raked 

 over and levelled. 



Chapter V„ contains information on riding school 

 work ; but if the instructions therein given are too 

 elaborate for a beginner, he can do a great deal with a 

 pony by galloping him round the improvised school, 

 cutting figures of eight, turning about sharp both ways, 

 and stopping dead, on the loudly-shouted word 

 " whoa ! " All the aids may be incorrect and the 

 horsemanship bad ; but if the novice gets his pony to 

 do all this with a slack snaffle rein, the practice will 

 improve his mount in handiness and safety. 



Many a man has said to me, ''My pony won't play 



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