that when a man shouts at his horse, it shows his 

 nerves are bad. But that's only fool talk; do the 

 best you can for your young one, and never mind what 

 people say or think about your nerves. 



All young ones that are worth anything will want 

 a "set to" at times; they only want a game of romps, 

 just as a puppy does. If you let them go half across 

 a field, bucking, kicking, and pretending to bolt, 

 they are soon done with it and come to hand in a good 

 temper. One must not, of course, encourage a young 

 horse to play the fool, or it may become a habit or 

 trick; but it is far better to let him have his fling 

 than to hang on to his mouth. A young hunter, as 

 long as he retains his mouth, can, as his education 

 goes on, be taught anything and put just where you 

 want him. But if the moment he shows any desire for 

 a little play he is taken hard by the head, his mouth 

 will very soon deteriorate. 



In nothing are nerves so essential as in giving 

 a youngster a good mouth. The nervous rider is always 

 expecting his mount to "play up", and in order to 

 check this tendency keeps him fast by the head, so that 

 the young tender mouth is inevitably deadened and even- 

 tually quite spoilt. Then very often the last state 

 of that rider is worse than the first, for a horse with 

 a really hardened mouth can "set to", no matter how 

 hard his rider hangs on to it. 



Fortunately, young mouths that have been hardened 

 can generally be got perfectly right, if taken in time 

 and ridden with long reins and very light hands. 

 I have at different times taken over the riding of 

 four-year-olds whose mouths had been hardened and dead- 

 ened," and who had grown used to an iron grip. 

 Their surprise at not being taken hard by the head was 

 almost comic, and it was clear to me that the grip 

 was most expected when the pace was increased from 

 walk to trot or from trot to canter. It was from this 

 I argued that the iron grip was due to nerves, for in 

 changing pace the rider naturally thought there was 

 an increased chance of his mount bucking and kicking, 

 so increased his grip to try and counteract the tend- 

 ency. Such mouths with care, it is true, can be put 



