286 The Book oh hie Horse. 



towards the stable, to which your horse is eagerly looking for his corn. Although a perfect hack 

 may be trusted to walk with a loose rein, this is a practice which cannot be safely followed with a 

 tired horse. He must be held so that he will be compelled to move his legs alternately and 

 evenly. No man in the world can hold a horse up, at any rate as long as he sits on his 

 back; all that he can do is, by a judicious, smooth, steady feel of the reins, particularly 

 the curb rein, to draw the horse's head downward and toward his chest, and thus incline 

 him to bring his hind-legs under him, in regular time, in support of the fore-legs. 



Walking over deeply-ridged ploughed fields, and fields where turnips are grown on ridges, 

 is capital practice for young riders and young horses. Thoroughbred horses, recently drafted 

 from the turf into hack or hunter stables, and a fine class of park and ladies' horses, which 

 have been bred and trained on the smooth turf of counties where hills are unknown, may 

 be very much improved by being daily trotted and cantered over rough, undulating, and 

 hilly ground. 



Young riders are apt to despise the walking pace, and to be not unnaturally impatient 

 to press on the smart trot or the luxurious canter ; but they may depend on it that a close 

 observer will learn a great deal that must be learned to become a real horseman in walking 

 exercise, by studying a finished horseman and his horse when walking. 



Practised horsemen often appear very careless in their seat, and in the way they handle 

 their reins ; they have, not without reason, confidence in themselves. But young students 

 must not copy the carelessness of accomplished cavaliers, until that confidence is justified by 

 the essential habit of never being taken by surprise whatever the horse may do. And it 

 should always be remembered that every well-bred horse will, now and then, at the most 

 unexpected moments, take a fit of staring, starting, and plunging. I remember one very 

 hot summer's day kicking a thoroughbred mare along (who, though brilliant in the field, 

 was a slug on the road) past Apsley House, when suddenly I found myselt standing on my 

 feet at her head, with the reins in my hand, having performed an involuntary somersault, for 

 which I received the undeserved compliments of the Irish crossing-sweeper, anxious to earn 

 sixpence. 



"A horse should never be turned without being made to collect himself, without being 

 retained by the hands, urged by the legs, and guided by both. In turning to the right both 

 hands should retain him, the right the strongest ; both legs press him, the left the strongest, 

 the rider leaning to the right ; the shorter the turn and the quicker the pace, the more the 

 horse's hind-legs should be brought under him, and the more both horse and rider should 

 lean to the right ;" but the right rein must indicate, not haul. The practice of good polo 

 players illustrates this. A bad heavy horseman turning sharply to the right, and not leaning 

 in the same direction, but clasping his pony hard with his long muscular legs, will often bring 

 him over. 



In reining a horse back, the rider and also a driver must remember that he cannot move 

 if pulled back, so hard and suddenly as to get both hind-legs under him ; therefore, the 

 horse must be collected every time he resists, brought square on his four legs, and then 

 reined back. Brutal, ignorant carters may be seen beating a horse for not backing a loaded 

 cart, while the poor animal is in such a position that he cannot move his extended hind-legs. 



The pupil horseman must remember that there is to be no jerking of the reins, no hauling, 

 but a constant feel of the horse's mouth, so that when the animal is in movement there should 

 be a constant touch, or feeling, or play, or bearing between mouth and the rider's hands. " It 

 is," says Colonel Greenwood, " impossible to bestow too much pains and attention on the 



