254 ON RIDING A CRAVING HORSE 



is well on his legs and settled in his stride ; and from 

 his having rode different young horses, he knows some- 

 thing of the pace a horse is going either in his gallop 

 or sweat. He also knows what strength to apply to 

 the reins in holding his horse, in order to let him go 

 quietly within himself, and not balk him of his stride 

 by pulling at him, but just to have a gentle pull, and 

 to give and take with his reins so as to keep his horse's 

 mouth alive ; and if he does this properly, he prevents 

 him from breaking away with him. 



A boy being thus forwarded in riding, is next to be 

 put to ride such horses in their gallops and sweats as 

 will, by the exertion which is required of him, rouse 

 them into and rate them at a fair and even pace, and 

 make the boy very strong and determined on horse- 

 back. The horses which require to be thus persevered 

 with in their work, are such as are termed craving ones, 

 and to bring some of them through their sweats at the 

 pace they are sometimes ordered to go, is by no means 

 an easy task for the rider, whether he be man or boy ; 

 as in their sweats, some of them will hang, and swerve, 

 and lay out of their ground. Indeed, for the time it 

 lasts, it is often very laborious, much more so than 

 riding them in their races ; for in their sweats they are 

 not so easily got at, either with an ash plant or wis'p, 

 as they are when stripped for running. 



When a boy is first put to ride such horses in their 

 sweats, the better way of doing it is to let the head lad 

 ride with a young boy of this class for a few times, on 

 any horse that is stripped or nearly so, that may want 



