FIELD TRAINING 85 



of carrot, and good manners and performances 

 should be rewarded with a piece every now and then. 



Thus these "schooHngs," instead of being a bore 

 to the horse, are looked forward to with pleasure. 

 During all these the voice also should be constantly 

 used {vide p. 49), and at each pause the riding- 

 school phrase, " Make much of your horses," should 

 be remembered. 



In a word, what should be aimed at is, to 

 "humanize" your horse. In this respect we have 

 much to learn from the Boers. A properly trained 

 Boer horse is quite an ideal animal for a Mounted 

 Infantry or a Mounted Rifle man, a shooting pony, 

 or for a gentleman to pay afternoon calls on. Take 

 the reins over his head and let them hang down to 

 the ground, and he stands as still as if tied to a post 

 for as long as you like to leave him. 



With other different conditions of elaborate stables, 

 crowded and noisy streets, etc., etc., and, above all, 

 the high condition of our horses, we cannot attain 

 to such perfection, but a great deal can be done by 

 treating our horses less artificially than is usually 

 the custom. 



Horses when in camp in close proximity to men 

 become quieter and more sensible — " humanized " in 

 fact. This is not entirely due to the fact that they 

 are probably having harder work, and are exposed 

 to that great detractor from a horse's condition — 

 when he is tied to a picket-line — wet ; but it is due 

 also to their closer acquaintance with man and with 

 the sights and sounds which accompany man. 



