RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



a bullock. This was laid on the ground till the 

 young one had grown thoroughly accustomed to 

 it, and then raised very gradually to such a height 

 as was less trouble to jump than clamber over. 

 At three feet the two-year-old thought no more 

 of the obstacle than a girl does of her skipping- 

 rope. After that, it was heightened an inch every 

 week, and it needs no ready reckoner to tell us at 

 the end of six months how formidable a leap the 

 animal voluntarily negotiated three times a day. 



"It's never put no higher," continued my in- 

 formant; *' I'm an old man now, and that's good 

 enough for me." 



I should think it was ! A horse that can leap 

 five feet of timber in cold blood is not likely to 

 be pounded, while still unblown, in any part of 

 England I have yet seen. 



Now the Dorsetshire farmer's system was 

 sound, and based on common sense. As you 

 bend the twig so grows the tree, therefore prepare 

 your pupil from the first for the purpose you 

 intend him to serve hereafter. An Arab foal, as 

 we know, brought up in the Bedouin's tent, like 

 another child, among the Bedouin's children, is 

 the most docile of its kind, and I cannot but think 

 that if he lived in our houses and we took as 

 much notice of him, the horse would prove quite 

 as sagacious as the dog ; but we must never 

 forget that to harshness or intimidation he is the 



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