The Neck, the Head, etc. 125 



Nor is this mere theory, for every one that has mounted 

 a great variety of horses, and paid even a moderate de- 

 gree of attention to their different styles of action, will 

 at once recognize here the true reason of the star-gazer 

 appearing to have his fore legs nailed to the ground by 

 the lightest pull on the rein, while the croup and the 

 hind legs are flung wildly about, no pressure of the 

 rider's leg being capable of steadying them and keeping 

 the brute straight, either at rest or in motion. Again, 

 who that ever rode one of those long, thin-necked, un- 

 stable, rainbow quadrupeds that are so a^Dt to dazzle 

 the eye of the uninitiated, can ever forget the slipperi- 

 ness of all its movements, and the painful sensation of 

 being mounted on a machine composed of gutta percha 

 and glass? — all of which, making due allowance for 

 the irritable tempers of such horses, is a necessary 

 consequence of the pull of the reins being in a wrong 

 direction. 



Let us look at cavalry horses. The soldier has one 

 hand for the reins and the other for his weapon ; his 

 efficiency depends altogether on his being able to use 

 the latter with precision and rapidity ; and this is an 

 impossibility, unless, to use Sir Charles Napier's words, 

 "the steed watches the ^(\^q^ of the weapon" — that is 

 to say, follows the lightest movement of hand and heel 

 instantaneously, as it were intuitively. The Minister 

 of War of a certain German State once represented to 

 his sovereign that it would be necessary to give the 

 whole of the cavalry sabres of a new pattern, the ex- 

 isting ones being two hiches shorter than any others in 

 use in foreign services, which would put our troops to 

 great disadvantage, quoth his Excellency. " Then let 

 my cavalry soldiers get two inches nearer to their op- 

 ponents than has been hitherto the practice," replied 

 Serenissimus. It is just this — it is an affair of inches ; 

 and these inches are widened into yards when the horse 

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