176 
MISCELLANEA. 
HOW TO MANAGE SHY HORSES. 
SHOULD you have to pass a camp of gipsies, a carriage, or any 
other object at which your horse maybe expected, or has been 
taught habitually, to shy ; if the object be on the left, pass the 
right hand on the right rein, about a foot below the left hand, so 
as to keep his head straight, and to prevent his turning towards 
the object, and fronting it. This will be sufficient if the horse has 
always been well ridden. If he has been badly ridden, you must 
turn his head from the object of his alarm at least sufficiently to 
see his right eye. And if he has been ill used for being alarmed, 
you must turn his head still more towards the hedge or ditch on 
his right-hand side, so as to make him pass the object with his 
head inclined from it, and his croup towards it. Do not imagine 
there will be any danger of his going into the ditch on that ac- 
count : the very contrary will be the case. If, instead, you pull 
his head towards the object of his alarm, and oblige him to 
face it, he is very likely indeed to run backwards from it ; and 
while his whole attention is fixed before him, he will go back- 
wards over Dover cliff, if it chance to be behind him . — Hints on 
Horsemanship. 
Good Riding. 
There is nothing heroic, nothing grand, in good riding, when 
dissected. The whole thing is a matter of detail ; a collection of 
trifles. Its principles are so simple in theory, so easy in practice, 
that they are despised. The pupil on hearing them assents — “ Of 
course ! — we need no ghost to tell us that !” But, in fact, the great 
unpractised secrets in riding are simply these : When you go to 
the right, pull the right rein stronger than the left : when you go 
to the left, the left rein stronger than the right. Urge the horse 
strongest on the side opposite to the guiding rein, and let your 
bearing on his mouth be smooth and gentle. He who does this, 
if not a perfect horseman, will at least be a more perfect one than 
a million out of a million and one . — Hints on Horsemanship. 
Rural Farriery. 
The following is the sign of a village Caleb Quotem on the 
road between Birmingham and Oldbury: — “William Wright, 
beast, leash, and farrier, horse and cow, dranches, koinds, and 
oyles, of various, koinds, and medicines, sold here.” 
