5 ROAD, PARK, AND SCHOOL 



action of the Spanish march, and again with the 

 same exaggerated motions at the trot. 



'Circles and serpentines are repeated at the 

 gallop, and he changes lead ; while, with the appli- 

 cation of the spurs, he is brought to a dead halt 

 as he is going at full gallop. A small wooden 

 barred hurdle, thirty inches high, and about as 

 wide as an ordinary cottage garden-gate, is placed 

 in the ride ; the rider, taking off his spurs and 

 throwing away his stirrups, walks Alidor up to 

 the jump, and the obedient creature goes over 

 the bars with a lightness one would hardly have 

 suspected, even after witnessing his previous per- 

 formances. Another narrow gate, of the same dimen- 

 sions as the first, is set up little more than the 

 length of the horse away, and he takes the two, 

 in and out, as comfortably and unconcernedly as 

 the one. 



' What is most noticeable, perhaps, is the perfect 

 habit of obedience which is the outcome of this 

 system of education. The animal seems to have no 

 idea of refusing to do whatever is required of him ; 

 he went at a gallop straight at the wall, only stop- 

 ping when the rider brought him up with the spurs 

 just as his nose would have touched the bricks ; and 

 throughout the whole hour's ride it was evident that 

 the most perfect accord subsisted between man and 



