Spurs 127 



mould and fashion his actions to your way of thinking by 

 association and by example. 



A horse learns by absorption, by companionship, not by 

 reason ; and as his sense of intuition is many times keener 

 than a man's, one will be surprised to notice how quick and 

 clever he is at divining his rider's thoughts and wishes. 

 The man's is the master mind, and if he is a genuine sports- 

 man in all things he will in no way seek to take advantage 

 of his less fortunate companion. A man is affected by the 

 company he keeps. A horse is so affected, too, only a great 

 deal more so, because intuition is the keenest of all his 

 faculties. 



Let your greater strength of mind direct his greater 

 strength of body. Place yourself in the attitude toward 

 him that will best enable his keener instinct to acquire con- 

 fidence in you. Thus he will learn to lean on you, respect 

 you, consult your wishes, have faith in all you say and do. 

 This once accomplished, every day's sport together only 

 cements that indescribable bond of friendship which is yours 

 for the cultivation, and makes a day to hounds one of the 

 most enjoyable things in life. This sympathetic bond of 

 friendship is what makes English riders the keenest cross- 

 country men in the world, and it is itself easily explained 

 by their natural love for animals. Without this compan- 

 ionship between rider and mount in England fox-hunting 

 would never have come to be what it is ; it is the very 

 essence of the game. 



The spur is a relic of barbarism. Here is an ancient 

 prescription for its effective use from " Records of the 

 Chase " by Cecil. It is given as a quotation from a very 



