PREFACE. 



THIS book is an account of the way in which 

 I gained whatever knowledge I may possess 

 about horses. Horse-lore is an extremely difficult 

 science to acquire, owing, I believe, to its immense 

 extent, and to the difficulty in finding out the schools 

 in which its various branches are taught. If this story 

 of my life among horses in many lands fails to be 

 amusing, it may serve the useful purpose of a guide 

 book to others who know less about horses than I 

 do, though equally interested in them. In the 

 teaching books which I have written on Veterinary 

 Work, Riding, Breaking, Training, etc., I have had 

 so much to say pertinent to the matter in hand, 

 that I have had in them little or no opportunity of 

 illustrating principles by the narration of my own 

 personal experience. The good opinion of my 

 publisher gives me the happy chance of ' holding 

 forth ' about myself ; but instead of doing so with 

 an air of superiority and assumed infallibility, I find 

 that I have written as a student ever seeking for 

 more light by which to acquire knowledge of the 

 subject to which he has devoted the best years of his 



