164 THE HORSE. 



should be by the checks of the bridle, not the reins, 

 least of all by the curb rein. 



Being mounted, the rider may find the stirrup 

 leathers too long or too short. In applying the 

 remedy the attendant should be careful to draw the 

 buckle of the stirrup leather to the top, and to leave 

 the pad of the saddle smooth and even. The arms 

 should hang easily down the waist, and, though the 

 elbows be bent, they must not be awkwardly elevated 

 or protruded. The bridle is held about level with, 

 or rather above the pommel of the saddle, at a length 

 somewhat beyond it, towards the rider. The reins 

 should not be held so Ions; and loose as to diminish 

 the rider's power of supporting the horse by a pull, 

 in case of a false step. Few are left now, I appre- 

 hend, of the school of Bake well, who taught that the 

 rider, being upon the horse, could afford him no pos- 

 sible support in case of stumbling, but that, by pull- 

 ing at him, would rather accelerate his fall. The 

 horse, well aware of the purpose for which he is 

 mounted, will, in general, proceed, on his head being 

 loosed ; if not, an intimation by the rider gently 

 moving the reins, or pressing the horse's sides with 

 the calves of his legs, will be sufficient. If a steady 

 and quiet hack, and on such only should a tyro be 

 mounted, he will commence with a walk, and, in all 

 probability, continue that pace till put forward by 

 his rider. Horses, indeed, full of good keep, high 

 spirited, and having had little work, will, at starting, 

 be impatient of a slow pace and cut a few capers, on 

 which the rider has nothing to do but to sit quiet 

 with a mild and steady hand, until his nag's merry 



