Whips a.vd Spurs. 297 



No one who can help it will ride a hack that requires a whip to urge him a^ong ; a slug 

 is much more conveniently excited by a pair of spurs. The grand rule for using a whip is 

 never to apply it in anger. 



It is an even greater mistake to quarrel with an unreasoning brute than for a schoolmaster 

 to fall into a passion with a stupid pupil; and it is the greatest mistake of all to flog either 

 in a passion. 



The best whip for punishing purposes is in the form of a jockey's, which, tapering from 

 the butt, is not too flexible ; and if horses are whipped at all it should be eff"ectually. The 

 most assailable spot of a restive horse is the shoulder. I remember a clever breaker who 

 used to bring his right arm across his breast and left shoulder, making the point of the whip 

 play on a stubborn colt's croup in a way that subdued him when other applications had failed 

 to obtain obedience. Make a practice of starting a horse by touching him with whip or 

 stick behind the saddle, and the same to make him go faster. Reserve a cut down the 

 shoulder to punish vice ; but a horse ought to be started by pressure of the legs. 



As a general rule, you should not strike a horse about the head ; but there are occasions 

 in fighting with a truly vicious kicker or plunger, when a few calm, deliberate strokes with 

 the pointed end of a jockey whip across the ears or over the muzzle will bring the brute to 

 reason. Brutal men, in a passion, use the butt-end of a whip on a horse's head, hitting here 

 and there, and perhaps destroying an eye. 



Spurs, properly employed, are essential for making the best of most horses; but they 

 should not be worn until the rider can stick to his horse without involuntarily spurring — an 

 accident that happens at times to the very best horsemen in hunting. There are a few, 

 delicately thin-skinned, nervous horses which cannot be ridden with spurs at all ; there are 

 a great many that ride mucli more pleasantly with spurs, although there may never be any 

 need to use them. Such horses are conscious of their presence, and obey the indications 

 of a slight pressure of the legs which they would not notice if they found that the rider's 

 heels were unarmed. 



Almost every good hack and hunter has been broken with spurs, and obeys a pressure 

 of the legs or a kick of the heel, because he has been made to move forward or to either side 

 by the prick of the spur. Although the best horsemen seldom ride without spurs, they use 

 them rarely, and only for some real reason. But when they mount a strange horse, they 

 generally commence by letting him know that they have spurs on, so that he may be prepared 

 for punishment if inclined to be disobedient. 



With well-broken horses there is not the least reason for the rowels of the spurs being 

 sharp; on the contrary, they are just as useful in giving a needful indication to move from 

 too close vicinity to a cart-wheel if ground down to perfect bluntness. It is in riding in crowded 

 streets that the use of spurs is most essential, and of a whip the most useless; the reins in 

 both hands, and spurs on both heels, you are in a position to restrain and urge simultaneously, 

 and with the utmost rapidity thrust through the smallest possible opening. It may truly be 

 said that, in a crowd of carriages, the "horseman who hesitates is lost.'" 



Spurs are essential for forcing a horse at slow paces " up to his bit," so that you can 

 guide him with the greatest certainty ; they are also essential for enlivening a slug, and for 

 keeping a tired horse on his legs, but they must be employed with a clear meaning and with 

 discretion. The horsemen who are most able to dispense with spurs are endowed with long, 

 muscular legs, with which they can give a resisting or lazy animal a vice-like squeeze. 



For road-riding two kinds of spurs are in use— the box spur, which is fixed into the heels 



M M 



