INSTRUCTIONS TO RIDING ROYS. 129 



boys he may have (perhaps fifteen or twenty) luilf 

 a dozen of the lightest of them, that are the best 

 conducted, best riders, and least inclined to talk. 

 The com'se of discipline I would recommend is, 

 by mild and civil treatment, progressively to 

 make them acquainted with their duty, so as at 

 last to thoroughly understand such secret or 

 scientific orders as he may have occasion to give 

 them. It is true, that boys should be kept in 

 the dark ; but this is not at all times practicable, 

 especially with those that are good riders, as 

 these are often wanted to ride horses under par- 

 ticular circumstances. 



A groom should take occasional opportunities 

 of talking to those boys in whom he has often 

 to place confidence, and endeavour to instil into 

 their minds, how necessary it is for them to be 

 secret with regard to what is going on in the 

 training of the horses; and to point out to them 

 the consequences that may arise from their being 

 too communicative with boys of other stables, or, 

 indeed, any persons they may come in contact 

 with in the neighbourhood in which they may 

 live, and more particularly with strange persons 

 whom they may meet when they are travelling 



VOL. II. K 



