PROLOGUE 



The books which have been written on horses 

 and horse management are legion, and yet, without 

 the customary apology, I lay yet another before 

 the public. I do so because I have long realized 

 that much of the most interesting part of horse- 

 manship, of training, and of ownership is as yet not 

 fully appreciated by a large majority of the riding 

 public. In doing so I have made no attempt to 

 write exhaustively. Did I do so, much would be 

 a repetition or plagiarism of other works, and that 

 is not my intention. I have, instead, endeavoured 

 to explain the more abstruse points in the theory 

 of horsemanship, and to disclose continental views 

 which, as far as I know, are not to be found else- 

 where, and which I hope may prove of interest 

 and be novel to many. Horse -management is only 

 lightly touched upon. That is a subject in which 

 few countries can approach and none can equal 

 us, and there are many very valuable works 

 already written on the subject. Also I do not 

 deal with the early handling, bitting, and breaking 

 in of yearlings. If I did, I would again trespass 

 needlessly. The training of racehorses I leave to 

 those more qualified, and my sole endeavour is to 

 help those people who would like to ride better 

 and straighter to hoimds, who are interested in 

 training horses to jump, and who wish to under- 



