HOW TO BENDER HORSES OBEDIENT. 279 



enclosed space a riding-school, for instance where it 

 sees that escape is impossible, and there, after having 

 perhaps first lounged it, get on its back and ride it 

 quietly. Under such circumstances, to attempt to 

 screw it into a particular form, or endeavour to apply 

 school methods directly, would most probably end in a 

 fresh display of insubordination, and we should find 

 ourselves pretty nearly at the end of our tether, and 

 without any further resource. The great thing is to get 

 the horse to go somehow if only in a walk or a jog-trot, 

 no matter ; if we can only get thus far, half the battle 

 is won, and by degrees we get into a good smart regular 

 trot, if we take care to keep out of the corners, and 

 avoid sharp turning. Now the English method, as 

 described above, is precisely that best adapted for 

 getting a horse to cover ground, and therefore, for the 

 purpose indicated here, it is like getting way on a vessel 

 by means of the head-sail, without which the rudder 

 is perfectly useless ; after a while we can haul aft our 

 sheets till we get a weather-helm and steer any course 

 we please. The English plan is therefore invaluable 

 for getting way on, but to get a weather-helm we must 

 have recourse to 



The Continental or School System. As the objects 

 this proposes to attain are essentially different from 

 what the majority of English riders aim at, so are also 

 the means employed for the purpose. Whilst the latter 

 demand from each individual horse the greatest possible 

 amount of speed on straight lines it is capable of afford- 

 ing treating the question of wear and tear of the 

 animal's fore legs as a matter of secondary importance 

 the proper objects of the school are : first, to fix on 

 standards of speed and work attainable by the averages 



