52 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



buying, or you must break them down by training. 

 They tell of a hard mouth and wrongly balanced 

 head as surely as exaggerated front forearm muscles 

 tell of a slow mover. 



My friend H of the Army Remount Department, 

 as shrewd a judge of a horse as he was a brilliant race 

 rider, always maintains that a horse tires first in 

 the neck. A beaten horse always lowers his head. 

 In getting a horse really fit his first endeavours are 

 therefore directed to the muscles of the animal's 

 neck. 



It is obvious that you will not buy a horse with 

 real bad formation of any sort or crooked action. 

 Apart from crookedness, a pounding action is to be 

 deprecated. It is hard to tell from seeing him over 

 the open how a horse will shape over grass and rough 

 country. Some horses would never be seen for 

 dust on the flat by others who would leave them 

 hopelessly behind in a run. Courage and devil are 

 large factors in a horse to help him over a blind or 

 thick country. The really good horse goes straight 

 and seems to take everything on chance, yet with a 

 fifth leg always ready. This requires a wise horse : 

 a fool will fall. I think nothing describes the 

 action of a good horse across country so well as the 

 word " sailing " : the smooth, apparently effortless 

 motion. I do not believe that most of us attach 

 half enough importance to action. A perfect action 

 can never be mistaken nor can it ever turn out 

 wrong. I have seen a young horse's action de- 

 teriorate badly, but only when he has been a common 

 under-bred beast. 



Now for the question of expense. 



Except in outlying districts you will no longer 

 get the best of sport, for almost nothing, on the 



