130 THE ART OF TAMING HOKSES. 



easily be taught, and is of great practical value thus ap- 

 plied. A cover or country hack must be fast, but need 

 not be so showy in action or handsome as a town hack 

 —his merit is to get over the ground. 



Teach your hack to walk well with the reins loose 

 — no pace is more gentlemanly and useful than a good 

 steady walk. Any well-bred screw can gallop ; it is the 

 slow paces that show a gentleman's hack. 



If on a long journey, walk a quarter of a mile for 

 every four you trot or canter, choosing the softest bits of 

 road or urf. 



Do not permit the saddle to be removed for at least 

 half an hour after arriving with your horse hot. A 

 neglect of this precaution will give a sore back. 



A lady's horse, beside other well-known qualifications 

 of beauty and pace, should be up to the lady's weight. 

 It is one of the fictions of society that all ladies eat 

 little and weigh little. Now, a saddle and habit weigh 

 nearly three stone, a very slim lady will weigh nine, so 

 there you reach twelve stone, which, considering how 

 fond young girls are of riding fast and long over hai'd 

 roads, is no mean weight. The best plan is to put the 

 dear creatures into the scales with their saddles, register 

 the result, and choose a horse calculated to be a good 

 stone over the gross weight. How few ladies remem- 

 ber, as for houj-s they canter up and down Rotten Row, 

 that that famous promenade is a mile and a quarter 

 in length, so ten turns make fifteen miles. 



The qualifications of a hunter need not be described, 

 because all those who need these hints will, if they have 

 common sense, only take hunters like servants, with 

 established characters of at least one season. 



Remember that a horse for driving requires "cou- 

 rage," for he is always going fast — he never walks. 



