SHOWING HORSES 



in such competitions, because they are not so 

 assertive as the sterner sex, and being willing that 

 the animals should do their best in their own 

 way do not hamper them by misdirected efforts 

 to better the performance ; their hands are lighter 

 and more firm, and they are usually more self- 

 possessed. 



Most people entirely misconstrue the phrase 

 " good hands," and the people who pride them- 

 selves upon these possessions will be generally 

 found not to send their horses up to their bits ; 

 instead of the " give and take," their method is 

 all " give." Nor is manipulation the only requi- 

 site of this accomplishment. It must include the 

 intuitive knowledge of what a horse is about to 

 do ; how he is about to do it ; and the instant 

 frustration of any outbreak or mistake in just 

 the proper degree, which is so instinctive that it 

 becomes automatic. " Horse sense " and sym- 

 pathetic intelligence are essentials which may de- 

 velop through association, but are usually a 

 matter of personality alone. The very best 

 " hands " often appear rough, and are when re- 

 sistance demands coercion, for the definition of 

 " hands," roughly put, is " the faculty of making 

 a horse do what we want in the way we want it, 



291 



