66 Horse and Man. 



which are likely to protect you from serious 

 risk in case of mismanagement. 



i. Sitting a Restive Horse. In order to 

 acquire a firm seat upon a restive horse, you 

 must first of all put out of your head the 

 precepts of those teachers who advise you to 

 assume particular attitudes in particular emer- 

 gencies. A moment's reflection will show that, 

 whether wise or foolish in themselves, they 

 cannot be of the slightest use to a novice. 

 You are told, for example, to lean backwards 

 when your horse kicks. Does this mean that 

 you are to lean backwards when you feel him 

 kick, or that you are to lean backwards when 

 he is going to kick ? In the former case you 

 are told to do what you will find physically 

 impossible ; in the latter you are supposed to 

 know what you have no means of knowing. 

 Your only present chance of success is to select 

 a position in which you are likely to be se- 

 cure, whatever your horse may do, without 

 any conscious change of attitude. 



There are only two ways in which a restive 

 horse can unseat his rider. He may kick and 

 plunge so as to throw you from the saddle 



