THE USE OF THE BRIDLE 



"You pull him into his fences," argues Finger. 



" Vou will never pull him out of them," answers 

 Fist. 



" Get into a bucket and try to lift yourself by 

 the handles ! " rejoins Finger, quoting from an 

 apposite illustration of Colonel Greenwood's, as 

 accomplished a horseman as his brother, also a 

 colonel, whose fine handling I have already 

 mentioned. 



" A horse isn't a bucket," returns Fist 

 triumphantly; "why, directly you let his head 

 go, does he stop in a race, refuse a brook, or 

 stumble when tired on the road ? " 



It is a thousand pities that he cannot tell us 

 which of the two systems he prefers himself. 

 We may argue from theory, but can only judge 

 by practice, and must draw our inferences rather 

 from personal experience than the subtlest 

 reasoning of the schools. 



Now if all horses were broke by such masters 

 of the art as General Lawrenson and Mr. 

 Mackenzie Greaves, riders who combine the 

 strength and freedom of the hunting - field with 

 the scientific exercise of hands and limbs, as 

 taught in the /lauU ^co/e, so obedient would they 

 become to our gestures, nay, to the inflection of 

 our bodies, that they might be trusted over the 

 strongest lordship in Leicestershire with their 

 heads quite loose, or, for that matter, with no 



51 



