Pulling. 203 



in cover, she plunged violently, and was in a few minutes covered with sweat and foam. When 

 the hounds broke cover she became perfectly frantic. On the other hand, I have known an 

 old hunter, of the quietest temperament, become perfectly unmanageable at a review, when 

 the forces advanced in line with bayonets at the charge. 



These examples are mentioned to show how great a mistake it is to be angry with a horse 

 that is frightened at any unaccustomed sight or sound. Twenty years ago I wrote, "a perfect 

 horseman knows neither fear nor anger." 



A nervous horse, which cannot be accustomed to strange sights and sounds, is as dangerous as 

 a really vicious horse ; but a young or very fresh horse should not be condemned because he starts 

 at sounds, and shies, on first leaving the stable. 



PULLERS AND RUNAWAYS. 



A horse that "bridles well," that is, one that neither knocks out your teeth with his poll 

 nor pokes his head like a pig, but one that bends his neck, and champs the bit with a good 

 natural mouth, has been really well broken, can easily be soothed and restrained when boiling 

 over with high spirits from want of exercise, or excited by a gaMop over grass fields. But 

 there are a great many intermediate stages between the best mouth and a bull-headed brute. 



If a horse from his shape cannot or has not been taught to bend his neck at the will of 

 the rider, there is very little pleasure in riding him, however good he may be in other respects. 



With a new horse, the first thing is to find out what bridle suits him and you. An accom- 

 plished steeplechaser may ride a horse and make him do what he likes with a racing snaffle 

 or even a halter ; another less perfect horseman may get on very well with a plain double 

 bridle ; a lady, or a man deficient in strength,, may require a very powerful bit — a Chifney, 

 a Hanoverian, or even an Iron Duke. A horse may go perfectly well on five days of the 

 week ; but in high spirits, or frightened by something, or differing with his rider on the sixth 

 day on the propriety of taking a ditch in cold blood, he will try to bolt. If he succeeds, or 

 if he has been in the habit of succeeding, and if he has a mouth at all, you must get a bit that 

 will hold him, acting on the maxim of "ride on the snaffle, but have plenty of bit in his mouth." 



In the course of my journeys as Assistant Commissioner to the Great Exhibition of 185 1 

 and also on agricultural tours, I frequently hunted a dozen different horses in the course of 

 a month. I always carried with me, for making an ordinary bit more powerful, a bit of 

 whipcord, with which I could make a nose-band in five minutes and so keep a pulling horse's 

 mouth shut. 



If you find that with no bit can you comfortably hold a horse, get off him, and get rid 

 of him. A horse that cannot be controlled and stopped is dangerous, not only to the rider, 

 but to every living being he comes across. But a really good horse should not be given up 

 without a fair trial with difi"erent bits and bridles. Let a horse once feel that you can master 

 him, and in nine cases out of ten he will not try to rebel, or will give up the attempt at the 

 first hint from the curb-rein. 



Some horses become positively mad with fright or the mere excitement of galloping ; 

 they will rush without hesitation at iron bars or a brick wall. Others, scarcely less dangerous, 

 are cunning, and will thread their way through forest trees, to the infinite danger of the rider's 

 brains and knees. Other horses gallop off merely because they are fresh ; and if it is on the 

 way to cover, with a clear country road, you may go on at the rate of fifteen or sixteen 

 miles an hour without pulling, persuading them that they are going )'Our pace. 



