THE HACK. 131 



away ; but if he starts there is no need to take it for granted 

 that he is going to run away. If you yourself are not in a 

 fright the chances are that your horse will retain his com- 

 posure. 



People who train shooting ponies and chargers know quite 

 well that the best way is to leave the reins as slack as pos- 

 sible ; the horse just starts at the unaccustomed report, but 

 after a short experience he becomes quite indifferent to the 

 sudden noise. If the reins were nervously clutched, and he 

 were given to understand that firing was about to take place, 

 he would be unsettled. Try the same sort of experiment 

 among your friends with a bottle of soda water. Let them 

 see that you mean to open it ; remove the wire, turn the 

 cork very slowly, and extract it more slowly still. You will 

 then see some of your audience making grimaces, contracting 

 their eyebrows, and giving other evident signs of the agony of 

 suspense ; and when the cork does at last come out with a 

 pop, more than half of the company will instinctively recoil 

 and jump ; yet they do not do so at dinner when servants 

 open champagne or aerated waters. Then they do not know 

 when the noise is coming, and it is over before they have 

 time to start. 



In treating of horses, however, it is assumed that they 

 have been gradually accustomed to different sights and sounds 

 during their early breaking. Lastly, the hack, like the hunter, 

 should be taught to stand as still as a rock while the rider 

 mounts, and the rider, in his turn, on becoming possessed of a 

 well-broken hack, should be very careful not to spoil him by 

 accustoming him to start almost before he is settled in the 

 saddle. It is the custom to abuse colt breakers, but more than 

 one-half of the faults of horses are caused, not by the breaker, 

 but by the mismanagement of those into whose hands they 

 subsequently fall. 



