RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



for the field, or perhaps I should call it the task 

 of turning a bad race-horse into a good hunter. 



Like every other process of education, this 

 requires exceeding perseverance, and a patience 

 not to be overcome. The irritation of a moment 

 may undo the lessons of a week, and if the master 

 forgets himself, you may be sure the pupil will 

 long remember which of the two was in fault. 

 Never begin a quarrel if it can possibly be 

 avoided, because, when war is actually declared, 

 you must fight it out to the bitter end, and if you 

 are beaten, you had better send your horse to 

 Tattersall's, for you will never be master again. 



Stick to him till he does what you require, 

 trusting, nevertheless, rather to time than violence, 

 and if you can get him at last to obey you of his 

 own free will, without knowing why, I cannot 

 repeat too often, you will have won the most 

 conclusive of victories. 



When the late Sir Charles Knightley took 

 Sir Marinel out of training, and brought him 

 down to Pytchley, to teach him the way he 

 should go (and the way of Sir Charles over a 

 country was that of a bird in the air), he found 

 the horse restive, ignorant, wilful, and unusually 

 averse to learning the business of a hunter. 

 The animal was, however, well worth a little 

 painstaking, and his owner, a perfect Centaur in 

 the saddle, rode him out for a lesson in jumping 



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