KINDNESS 



irritability will never provoke him to lose his 

 temper with a horse. 



Presence of mind under difficulties is the one 

 quality that in riding makes all the difference 

 between getting off with a scramble and going 

 down with a fall. If unvaried kindness has tauofht 

 your horse to place confidence in his rider, he will 

 have his wits about him, and provide for yot0' 

 safety as for his own. When left to himself, and 

 not flurried by the fear of punishment, even an 

 inexperienced hunter makes surprising efforts to 

 keep on his legs, and it is not too much to say 

 that while his wind lasts, the veteran is almost as 

 difficult to catch tripping as a cat. I have known 

 horses drop their hind legs on places scarcely 

 affording foothold for a goat, but in all such feats 

 they have been ridden by a lover of the animal, 

 who trusts it implicitly, and rules by kindness 

 rather than fear. 



I will not deny that there are cases in which 

 the suaviter in modo must be supplemented by 

 the fortiter in re. Still the insubordination of 

 ignorance is never wholly inexcusable, and great 

 discretion must be used in repressing even the 

 most violent of outbreaks. If severity is 

 absolutely required, be sure to temper justice 

 with mercy, remembering that, in brute natures 

 at least, the more you spare the rod, the less you 

 spoil the child ! 



II 



