TO MAKE THE MOST OF A HORSE. l'^5 



few hours, any colt and any pupil in horsemanship may 

 learn it. 



To make the most of a horse, the reins must be held 

 with a smooth, even bearing, not hauling at a horse's 

 mouth, as if it were made of Indian rubber, nor yet 

 leaving the reins slack, but so feeling him that you 

 can instantaneously direct his course in any direction, 

 " as if," to use old Chifney's phrase, " your rein was a 

 worsted thread." Your legs are to be used to force your 

 horse forward up to the bit, and also to guide him. 

 That is, when you turn to the right pull the right rein 

 sharpest and press with the left leg ; when to the left, 

 vice versa. Unless a horse rides up to the bit you have 

 no control over him. 



A good horseman chooses his horse's ground and his 

 pace for him. *' To avoid a falling leaf a horse will put 

 his foot over a precipice. When a horse has made a 

 stumble, or is in difficulties at a fence, you cannot leave 

 him too much at liberty, or be too quiet with him," 

 Don't believe the nonsense people talk about holding a 

 horse up after he has stumbled. 



The pupil horseman should remember to drop his 

 hands as low as he can on each side the withers, with- 

 out stooping, when a horse becomes restive, plunging 

 or attempting to run away. The instinct of a novice is 

 to do exactly what he ought not to do — raise his hands. 



By a skilful use of the reins and your own legs, wdth 

 or without spurs, you collect, or, as Colonel Greenwood 

 well expresses it, you condense your horse, at a stand, 

 that is, you make him stand square, yet ready to move in 

 any direction at any pace that you require ; this is one 

 use of the curb bit. It is on the same principle that 

 fashionable coachmen "hit and hold" their high-bred 

 horses while they thread the crowded streets of the west 



