MISCELLANEA. 
663 
give you every advantage in keeping your horse collected. You 
will find them wholly inefficient. The soldier who is compelled 
to turn to the right, by the word of command, when the correct 
indication is unanswered, in despair throws his hand to the right. 
The consequence is, that no horse is a good soldier’s horse until 
he has been trained to turn on the wrong rein.” 
“ Without the same excuse for it, the same may be said of all 
ladies, and all civilians, who ride with one hand only, and of al- 
most all who ride with two hands. For, strange to say, in turning, 
both hands are generally passed to the right or left. I have known 
many of what may be called the most perfect straight-forward 
hands — that is, men who on the turf would hold the most difficult 
three-year-old to the steady stroke of a two-mile course, and 
place him as a winner to half-a-length ; who in the hunting field 
would ride the hottest or the most phlegmatic made hunter, with 
equal skill, through all difficulties of ground, and over every spe- 
cies of fence, with admirable precision and equality of hand ; or 
who on exercise ground would place his broken-charger on his 
haunches, and make him walk four miles an hour, canter six and 
a half, trot eight and a half, and gallop eleven, without being 
out in either pace a second time ; but who have marred all by the 
besetting sin of side-feeling — -of turning the horse on the wrong 
rein. The consequence is that they can ride nothing but what has 
not been trained to answer wrong indications ' 7 
Hints on Horsemanship. 
Bitting Horses. 
To give the bit its most powerful action, it should be placed so 
low as only just to clear the tusks in a horse’s mouth, and to be one 
inch above the corner tooth in a mare’s mouth. The curb chain 
should be so tight as not to admit of more than one finger between 
it and the chin. These rules are simple, and should be attended 
to by all riders, ladies as well as gentlemen, for no groom knows 
(cares !) how to bit a horse ; and a horseman should no more mount 
with his bit improperly placed, than a seaman set sail with his 
rudder out of order. — Hints on Horsemanship. 
Infection among Sheep. 
To remove all fear that may have arisen in the public mind^ in 
consequence of the recent case of diseased sheep, said to be foreign, 
introduced into the market, as to the chance of similar importa- 
