242 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



was proved year after year in the frontier war- 

 fare, can outride them even when the whites 

 carry more weight and more impedimenta. 



The best horseman usually gets his instruction 

 and acquires most of his skill in his early youth. 

 But there is no use in putting a boy on a horse un- 

 til he has intelligence enough to learn what he is 

 told to do and strength sufficient to keep his seat 

 and manage his horse. The pony for very young 

 children is merely a plaything. No child ever 

 learned much from a pony or by means of a pony. 

 The horse is what a man rides, and it is upon a 

 horse that a child should be taught. A large horse 

 would not be suitable for a boy of ten or eleven, 

 the earliest age that a boy can learn much that is 

 valuable of the art. But the small horse, some- 

 thing like a polo pony for instance, may be and 

 should be very much of a horse — all horse, in- 

 deed. Where there is a good riding school — that is 

 the place to send a lad for his first instruction. 

 There are some grooms, however, who make ex- 

 cellent instructors, even though as a general thing 

 grooms look like the dickens in the saddle. They 

 know horses, however, and know how to ride 



