DESCBIPTION OF STRUGGLE. 79 



guiding him with the bridle away from the walls of the 

 training school when needful. It must be admitted that 

 to do this well requires considerable nerve, coolness, 

 patience, and at times agility ; for although a grass-fed 

 colt will soon give in, a corn-fed colt, and, above all, a 

 high-couraged hunter in condition, will make a very 

 stout fight; and I have known one instance in which 

 a horse with both fore-legs fast has jumped sideways. 



The proof that the danger is more apparent than real 

 lies in the fact that no serious accidents have as yet 

 happened ; and that, as I before observed, many noble- 

 men, and some noble ladies, and some boys, have suc- 

 ceeded perfectly. But it would be untrue to assert that 

 there is no danger. When held and guided properly, 

 few horses resist more than ten minutes ; and it is be- 

 lieved that a quarter of an hour is the utmost time that 

 any horse has ever fought before sinking exhausted to 

 the earth. But the time seems extremely long to an 

 inexperienced performer; and it is a great comfort to 

 get your assistant to be time-keeper, if there is no 

 clock in a conspicuous situation, and tell you how you 

 are getting on. Usually at the end of eight minutes' 

 violent struggles, the animal sinks forward on his knees, 

 sweating profusely, with heaving flanks and shaking tail, 

 as if at the end of a thirty minutes' burst with fox- 

 hounds over a stiff country. 



Then is the time to get him into a comfortable posi- 

 tion for lying down ; if he is still stout, he may be forced 

 by the bit to walk backwards. Then, too, by pushing 

 gently at his shoulder, or by pulling steadily the off- 

 rein, you can get him to fall, in the one case on the 

 near side, on the other on the off side ; but this assist- 

 ance should be so slight that the horse must not be able 

 to resist it. The horse will often make a final spring 



