106 HORSEMANSHIP. 



medium of the will of the rider. The hands of the 

 mechanic are tender and delicate before the use of his 

 tools has defaced them. Abrasions, contusions, and 

 lacerations, instead of increasing the fineness of the 

 skin of the hands, add much to the coarseness of their 

 texture, but by correct usage they become sensitive to 

 the slightest touch ; for the same reason, it is by very 

 gentle and correct indications of the hands and of the 

 legs, that the education of the colt is to be carried on 

 and perfected, not by ponderous bits and rough treat- 

 ment. 



Young horses cannot be treated too gently, or with 

 too much forbearance. Reason will not be found on 

 the side of the horse, but it ought ever to be present on 

 the part of the rider. He cannot be too careful of his 

 method of riding ; for if the object of certain movements 

 is the attainment of certain specific ends, there exists 

 the greatest necessity that those movements be actually 

 the correct indications of his own will. But if his 

 hands, his legs, and his spurs move in every direction 

 and upon every occasion, the rider must not expect 

 such irregular action to be very intelligible to an 

 irrational creature, when it proves to be so imperfect 

 a development of his own wishes. 



