444 RIDING DIFFICULT HORSES. 



puller which wants to keep it open, and will thus 

 help the rider to control him. If a lady possesses 

 doubts as to her ability to hold her horse, she should 

 keep well away from the field, so that she may not 

 endanger the safety of others. It is always best to 

 put animals which are at all likely to pull, through 

 a regular course of cub hunting from the very begin- 

 ning of the season, so that they may gradually work 

 along from the " pottering " to the galloping stage. 

 A course of such instruction sobers them down, 

 and they will then give their rider far less trouble 

 than if they are dashed off into the excitement of 

 fox - hunting without having had good preliminary 

 training. This is a fact which ladies should bear in 

 mind ; for I have found it work very successfully. 



There is nothing like plenty of regular w^ork for 

 taking the nonsense out of pulling horses. Mr. Caton, 

 a well-known American trainer of match trotters, 

 whom I met in St. Petersburg, told me that he 

 always sent his bad pullers to do a week or two's 

 work in one of the city tram-cars, for they always 

 came back with a good deal of the ''stuffing" taken 

 out of them. Pulling is of course a very bad vice ; 

 for a pulling horse know^s well enough what his rider 

 is asking him, through the medium of the reins, but 

 he shakes his head, or throws it up, if he can, as 

 much as to say that he will no^ obey. A lady should 

 not be alarmed if she finds her mount getting out of 

 hand ; but should, if possible, let him go for a short 

 distance and then take a pull at him, at the same 



