1833.] HORSEMANSHIP IN CHILE. 153 
at last they started at a gallovo. The Gaucho never appears to 
exert any muscular force. I was one day watching a good rider, 
as we were galloping along at a rapid pace, and thought to my- 
self, “ surely if the horse starts, you appear so careless on your 
scat, you must fall.’ At thissmoment, a male ostrich sprang 
from its nest right beneath ihe horse’s nose: the young colt 
bounded on one side like a stag; but as for the man, all that 
could be said was, that he started and took fright with his 
horse. 
In Chile and Peru more pains are taken with the mouth of the 
horse than in La Plata, and thiy is evidently a consequence of 
the more intricate nature of the country. In Chile a horse is 
not considered perfectly broken, till he can be brought up stand- 
ing, in the midst of his full speed, on any particular spot,—for 
instance, on a cloak thrown on the ground: or, again, he will 
charge a wall, and rearing, scrape the surface with his hoofs. 
I have seen an animal bounding with spirit, yet merely reined 
by a fore-finger and thumb, taken at full gallop across a court- 
yard, and then made to wheel round the post of a veranda with 
great speed, but at so equal a distance, that the rider, with out- 
stretched arm, all the while kept one finger rubbing the post. 
Then making a demi-volte in the air, with the other arm out- 
stretched in a like manner, he wheeled round, with astonishing 
force, in an opposite direction. 
Such a horse is well broken; and although this at first may 
appear useless, it is far otherwise. It is only carrying that 
which is daily necessary into perfection. When a bullock is 
checked and caught by the lazo, it will sometimes gallop round 
and round in a circle, and the horse being alarmed at the great 
strain, if not well broken, will not readily turn like the pivot 
of a wheel. In consequence many men have been killed; for 
if the lazo once takes a twist round a man’s body, it will in- 
stantly, from the power of the two opposed animals, almost cut 
him in twain, On the same principle the races are managed ; 
the course is only two or three hundred yards long, the wish 
being to have horses that can make a rapid dash. The race- 
horses are trained not onJy to stand with their hoofs touching a 
line, but to draw all four feet together, so as at the first spring 
to bring into play the full action of the hind-quarters. In Chile 
