CHAPTER I 



Much has already been written on this subject, 

 and I do not claim to propound any new 

 theories. There are innumerable books about 

 horse-training, many of which are excellent, 

 but there is a general tendency amongst the 

 readers of such books to become too bigoted in 

 their views, accepting in its entirety the method 

 of one author, and discarding much that is 

 useful in that of another. 



Some people through love of innovations, 

 others through lack of reasoning, rush at 

 extremes, and if one but cast the right fly, a 

 bright and dazzling one for preference, it 

 seldom fails to attract the unwary and the 

 lazy. In these pages my plea is for mode- 

 ration and for the acceptance of what one 

 considers best from well-known books on 

 horse-training. 



Finally, experience must be our best and most 

 reliable teacher. 



I once asked the Commandant at Saumur if 

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