CAPTAIN CUNNINGHAM' S HORSE STILTON 65 



winninof if his owner could be ofot fit to ride him. that 

 we laid freely against every other horse in the 'field,' 

 but very nearly lost our money. 



Although It is indisputable that horses can very 

 rarely go in a style of country different to that to which 

 they have been accustomed, they can of course be 

 trained to go in any country, and there are some men 

 who are such superb horsemen, though they are very 

 rarely met with, who can go anywhere on anything. 

 Nerve, temper, and ' an eye for a country,' are doubtless 

 prominent factors, but I take it that hands are the 

 chief secret in the performance, and it is the knowing 

 how to drop the hands when requisite, instead of 

 ' hustling ' and ' shaking up ' a horse at his fences ; 

 and the ' collecting ' a horse at the proper time, which 

 enables one man to cross a country successfully, when 

 another with bad hands would most certainly come to 

 grief. 



