RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



in affirming that his pupil "would change on the 

 edge of a razor, and never let ye know he was 

 off the Queen's high-road, God bless her, all the 

 time ! " 



The Irishman, like the Arab, seems to possess 

 a natural insight into the character of a horse ; 

 with many shortcomings as grooms, not the least 

 of which are want of neatness in stable-manao^e- 

 ment, and rooted dislike to hard work, except by 

 fits and starts, they cherish extraordinary affection 

 for their charges, and certainly in their dealings 

 with them obviously prefer kindness to coercion. 

 I do not think they always understand feeding 

 judiciously, and many of them have much to 

 learn about getting horses into condition ; but 

 they are unrivalled in teaching them to jump. 



Though seldom practised, there is no better 

 system in all undertakings than "to begin with 

 the beginning," and an Irish horse-breaker is so 

 persuaded of this great elementary truth that he 

 never asks the colt to attempt three feet till it 

 has become thoroughly master of two. With a 

 cavesson rein, a handful of oats, and a few yards 

 of waste ground behind the potato ground or the 

 pig-styes, he will, by dint of skill and patience, 

 turn the most blundering neophyte into an expert 

 and stylish fencer in about six weeks. As he 

 widens the ditch of his earthwork, he necessarily 

 heightens its bank, which his simple tools, the 



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