'HANDS' AND OTHER MATTERS 113 



Sometimes horses do not go so well with us as 

 usual. Keep jogging when we want them to 

 walk, or throwing their heads about, or " yawing " 

 constantly. These so-called faults are not cured 

 by a jab in the mouth, but by thinking. Perhaps 

 the bit is imcomfortable, or a shoe is pinching, or 

 the girth is too tight, perhaps he hasn't had enough 

 exercise, or the saddle is touching the withers. 

 So we should look to these things. Then the world 

 will say, " What splendid hands he has, every horse 

 goes so well with him." 



Thus, we see, there is no mystery about it ; there 

 is nothing a child cannot understand. Balance, con- 

 fidence and sympathy, these three, make up the 

 gift of hands, and there is nothing more in it to 

 think of or to wonder at. 



The education of " hands " is, however, quite 

 another matter. A man may be born a natural 

 artist, but without constant training and practice 

 his work will be of little value. So with riding, 

 however natural a rider's gifts may be, he will 

 never become a fine horseman without a great deal 

 of experience. My point is that I believe the so- 

 called gift of hands is far more common than 

 people suppose. It is the education which is lacking, 

 not the capacity in a very great number of cases. 



People sometimes ask me how it is that good 

 hands sometimes means playing delicately upon a 

 horse's mouth at every stride, and yet a rider is 

 called good who keeps his hands still. This may 

 sound paradoxical, and yet the reply is a very 

 simple one. At all slow paces, the walk, collected 

 I 



