LEARNING TO RIDE. 25 



who is willing and able to instruct him what and what not 

 to do, A quiet cob in a country lane, where there is 

 no fear of interruption, is perhaps as good a beginning 

 as can be suggested ; but in these articles it is not 

 intended to offer instructions as to learning to ride, 

 but rather at the moment to suggest that no one should 

 go out hunting until he has learned to sit his horse, 

 and is able to keep him in perfect control. The novice, 

 too, should always remember that horses " which a 

 child could ride," and which are as quiet as a lamb 

 if taken out hacking, are very often quite different 

 in the hunting field. Many horses, possibly most 

 horses, who have not an atom of vice about them will 

 to some extent alter their manner and character during 

 the early part of a day's hunting. The quiet hack 

 who trots along the road quite sedately, and takes 

 no notice of anything unusual on an ordinary day, 

 will prick his ears and fidget when hounds and a crowd 

 of horses are in his vicinity, and even the lightest 

 mouthed nag will often pull a little at the beginning of a 

 run. 



Some otherwise quiet horses, too, will give a few 

 playful bucks at starting, and I once possessed a good 

 hunter who, on hunting days, kicked freely half a dozen 

 times when he first got on to grass. He never kicked 

 at other horses, but merely lifted his heels in exuberance 

 of spirits when he first felt the grass underneath him, 

 and he never repeated the kick later in the day. Yet 

 in all other respects his manners were perfect. The 

 novice, then, should remember that a horse in the 

 hunting field is a different animal to a horse that is 

 being quietly ridden along a road, and be prepared 



