116 LADIES ON HORSEBACK. 



too close upon the withers. By adopting this 

 plan you will, when you again get upon him, 

 find him a new animal. If you or I were 

 carrying a heavy burthen upon our shoulders 

 for a certain number of hours in precisely the 

 same position, would it not make a new being 

 of us to have it eased and shifted ? And 

 exactly so it is with the horse. A selfish man 

 will sit all day upon his beast, rather than 

 take the trouble of getting off his back ; but 

 against himself does it tell, for his animal is 

 fagged and jaded when that of a merciful man 

 is able to keep its place in the run. 



There is nothing which should more fully 

 engross the thoughts of the humane hunter 

 than kindly consideration towards the noble 

 and beautiful creature which God has sent to 

 be the help of man. Your horse should be 

 your companion, your friend, your loved and 

 valued associate, but never your wronged and 

 over-tasked slave. Humanity cries out with 

 ready uproar against the long Hst of grievances 

 which animals have to endure, yet how few of 

 us exert ourselves to lighten the burthen by 

 so much as one of our fingers ! There is not 



