56 UNASKED ADVICE. 



on tail^ are de rigeur. His shoulders must be long and 

 oblique, or nothing but Ms ears will be visible to bis 

 rider in front of the cloak and sheepskin, which gives an 

 insecure sensation. AVithout hocks well under him he 

 will not be able to turn handily across the school, and 

 will rarely canter well. His action must be good before 

 and behind; the knee more bent than in any other 

 description of horse, with the exception of the park 

 hack ; and the action, however extravagantly high, must 

 be smooth, as the animal has to be ridden not unfre- 

 quently without stirrups. A light-bodied charger loots 

 very bad ; he must be possessed of deep ribs and a good 

 appetite, for he must always look big, whatever work lie 

 may be doing. His work is mostly on the hardest of 

 ground, so his legs and feet must be unexceptionable; 

 and, lastly, his temper must be perfect — that is, a mixture 

 of courage and amiability. A hot horse is unbearable on 

 parade, where an officer has plenty to do without rough 

 riding ; a fiery charger is suited for the pages of a bygone 

 species of novel, but not for real life. A slug is prefer- 

 able, though unpleasant in his way ; and an animal in 

 whom docility is not a very strongly developed quality 

 will be likely to object to jumping time after time over 

 an unnatural-looking obstacle, in the shape of a " bar,^^ 

 which he can run round. If the charger is also a hunter, 

 he will be the safer and more pleasant in rough ground 

 or among ditches, &c., which have often to be crossed on 

 duty ; and there is every probability of being ridden over 

 in the event of a fall in front of a squadron — though that 

 is not the certainty it is when the fall is in front of a 

 crowd in. many fashionable hunting countries. In some 

 few regiments first chargers have been hunted from time 

 immemorial, but this is not according to the law, and is 



