10 HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP 



intended doing ^\dth so valuable a horse. " Oh," 

 he said, " it is just a hack." I suggested it was 

 a rather large figure to give for a hack alone, to 

 which he replied, "It is impossible to have too 

 perfect a hack, and he is worth every penny of it." 

 I heartily concur. When sitting a perfectly trained 

 horse, every stride is a pleasure, and no distance 

 is too far. It is a joy which none but those who 

 have ridden one can appreciate, and it is a pleasure 

 which transcends ever}i:hing else. The satisfac- 

 tion and the pride one feels in riding a perfectly 

 balanced horse, who answers to the slightest 

 pressure of either leg or rein, who bridles equally 

 well at the walk, the trot or the canter, and who is 

 absolutely obedient to the will of the rider, is one 

 which has only to be experienced to be realized. 

 Good training, amongst other things, means 

 absolute obedience, and this rule is as old as the 

 hills; it only seems to have been of recent date 

 that it has fallen into desuetude, probably because 

 people have lived too fast to devote either time 

 or trouble to their horses. In the days of Frederick 

 the Great there lived a well-kno^\Ti cavalry leader 

 called Seydlitz. He had been brought up \^'ith 

 horses all his life, and in his young days had been 

 made by his father to break in all the horses on 

 the estate. His father had been a great martinet, 

 and young Seydlitz had many a rough passage in 

 carrying out his stern orders. But his training 

 had been very thorough, and in later life, when he 

 got command of a cavalry brigade, put all his 

 previous experience into perfecting the training 



