21 o Restivcness : its Prevention and Cure. 



can take a horse that proves restive on the road into a 

 ploughed field, and lounging it on a wide circle, compel 

 it to go w^ithout risking a conflict of authority in which 

 we might probably have the worst of it. Or we may 

 take the same animal into some enclosed space — a riding- 

 school, for instance — where it sees that escape is impossi- 

 ble, and there, after having perhaps first lounged it, get on 

 its back and ride it quietly. Under such circumstances, 

 to attempt to screw it into a particular form, or endeavor 

 to apply school methods directly, would most probably 

 end in a fresh display of insubordination, and we should 

 find ourselves pretty nearly at the end of our tether, and 

 without any further resource. The great thing is to get 

 the horse to go somehow — if only in a walk or a jog- 

 trot, no matter : if we can only get thus far, half the battle 

 is won, and by degrees we get into a good smart regular 

 trot, if we take care to keep out of the corners and 

 avoid sharp turning. Now the English method, as de- 

 scribed above, is precisely that best adapted for getting 

 a horse to cover ground, and therefore, for the purpose 

 indicated here, it is like getting way on a vessel by 

 means of the head-sail, without which the rudder is per- 

 fectly useless ; after a while we can haul aft our sheets till 

 we get a weather-helm and steer any course we please. 

 The English plan is, therefore, invaluable for getting 

 way on, but to get a weather-helm we must have re- 

 course to 



The Continental or School Systein. — As the objects 

 this proposes to attain are essentially different from what 

 the majority of English riders aim at, so are also the 

 means employed for the purpose. Whilst the latter de- 

 mand from each individual horse the greatest possible 

 amount of speed on straight lines it is capable of afford- 

 ing — treating the question of wear and tear of the ani- 

 mal's fore legs as a matter of secondary importance — 

 the proper objects of the school are : first, to fix on 



