COLONIAL RIDING 165 



fundaments of error. For this very reason it 

 should be a subject more ready for reconstructive 

 survey than others which have a sounder basis for 

 their origin. 



Now I have come to the conclusion of my task. 

 Briefly summarized, my object in presenting the 

 public with yet another book on riding has been 

 to point out the faults in horsemanship which we 

 see occurring round us every day, to attempt to 

 demonstrate where the faults chiefly lie, and to 

 explain the fimdamental principles upon which 

 good riding can be founded. To help those, who 

 lack the necessary experience, in training their 

 horses so as to make them better men across 

 country, and ride to hounds with more enjoyment 

 and greater safety; and to instil a more sympa- 

 thetic treatment of our horses, whether it be in 

 the manege or the stable. It is far more than I 

 can expect to succeed in any of these tasks, but 

 if I have helped only one enthusiast, so as to 

 make him and his horses better than they were 

 before, I shall feel sufficiently rewarded. But if 

 I do more than this : if I have been the cause, 

 however indirectly, of reducing the abuse of both 

 whip and spur, to the encouragement of sympathy 

 and thoughtfulness for those animals that provide 

 us with some of the greatest joys of life, and who 

 are unable to speak for themselves, then I shall 

 be more than rewarded. Horses each have their 

 different natures and characters, and like a suc- 

 cessful schoolmaster with his class, they should be 



