the horse is up, the rider must yield his hand; and, when the horse is descending, he must vigorously determine him forwards; if this be done at any other time but while the horse is coming down, it may add a spring to his rearing, and make him fall backwards. With a skilful hand on them, horses seldom persist in this habit. If the foregoing method fail, make the horse kick up behind by getting somebody on foot to strike him behind with a whip; or by pricking him with a goad.

Starting often proceeds from a defect in the sight, which, therefore, must be carefully examined. Whatever the horse is afraid of, bring him up to gently, and caress him at every step. Nothing but great gentleness can correct this fault. If you let him pass the object without bringing him up to it, you increase the fault, and confirm him in his fear. Before such horses as are to a great degree fearful of any object, make a quiet horse, proceed towards it, and gradually entice them to approach nearer and nearer. If the horse thus alarmed be undisciplined and headstrong, he will probably run away with his rider; when his head must be kept up high, and the snaffle moved backwards and forwards from right to left, taking up and yielding the reins of it, as well as the reins of the bit; but this last must not be moved backwards and forwards like the snaffle, but only taken up and yielded properly. No man ever yet did, or ever will, stop a horse, or gain any point over him by main force, or by pulling against him. SECT. VIII-RULES FOR INEXPERIENCED HORSEMEN.

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On this subject Mr. Thompson has given the following rules:-In the first place, every horse should be accustomed to stand still when he is mounted. One would imagine this might be readily granted; yet we see how much the contrary is practised. When a gentleman mounts at a livery stable, the groom takes the horse by the bit, which he bends tight round his under jaw the horse, striving to go on, is forced back; advancing again, he frets, as he is again stopped short, and hurt by the manner of holding him. The rider, in the mean time, mounting without the bridle, or at least holding it but slightly, is helped to it by the groom, who, being thoroughly employed by the horse's fluttering, has at the same time both bridle and stirrup to give. This confusion would be prevented, if every horse were taught to stand still when he is mounted. Forbid your groom, therefore, when he rides your horse to water, to throw himself over from a horse-block, and kick him with his leg even before he is fairly upon him. This wrong manner of mounting is what chiefly teaches horses this vicious habit.

A constant practice of mounting in the proper manner is all that is necessary to prevent a horse from going on till the rider is fairly in the saddle. A common method is to stand near the croup or hinder part of the horse, with the bridle held long. By this manner of holding the bridle, before you mount, you are liable to be kicked; and, when you are mounted, your horse may go on some time, or play what gambols he

pleases, hefore the rein is short enough in your hand to prevent him. It is common likewise for an awkward rider, as soon as his foot is in the stirrup, to throw himself with all his force to gain his seat; which he cannot do, perhaps, till he has first overbalanced himself on one side or the other. The way to mount with ease and safety is, to stand rather before than behind the stirrup. In this posture take the bridle short, and the mane together in your left hand, helping yourself to your stirrup with your right, so that your toe may not touch the horse in mounting. When your left foot is in the stirrup, move on your right, till you face the side of the horse, looking across over the saddle. Then with your right hand grasp the hinder part of the saddle; and with that and your left, which holds the mane and bridle, lift yourself upright on your left foot. Remain thus a mere instant on your stirrup, only so as to divide the action into two motions. While you are in this posture you have a sure hold with both hands, and are at liberty either to get safely down, or to throw your leg over and gain your seat. By this deli berate motion likewise you avoid, what every good horseman will endeavour to avoid, putting the horse into a flutter.

To dismount, hold the bridle and mane together in your left hand, as when you mounted; put your right hand on the pommel of the saddle, to raise yourself; throw your leg back over the horse; grasp the hinder part of the saddle with your right hand; remain a moment on your stirrup; and in every respect reverse the actions of mounting your horse. Take care not to bend your right knee in dismounting, lest your spur should rub against the horse.

When you ride, hold your bridle at a convenient length. Sit square, and let not the purchase of the bridle pull forward your shoulder: but keep your body even, as it would be if each hand held a rein. Hold your reins with the whole grasp of your hand, dividing them with your little finger. Let your hand be perpendicular; your thumb will then be uppermost and placed on the bridle. Bend your wrist a little outward; and, when you pull the bridle, raise your hand towards your breast, and the lower part of the palm rather more than the upper. Let the bridle be at such a length in your hand, as, if the horse should stumble, you may be able to raise his head, and support it by the strength of your arms, and the weight of your body thrown backward. If you hold the rein too long, you are subject to fall backward as your horse rises. If, knowing your horse perfectly well, you think a tight rein unnecessary, advance your arm a little (but not your shoulder) towards the horse's head, and keep your usual length of rein. By this means you have a check upon your horse, while you indulge him.

If you ride with a curb, make it a rule to hook on the chain yourself; the most quiet horse may bring his rider into danger, should the curb hurt him. If, in fixing the curb, you turn the chain to the right, the links will unfold themselves, and then oppose a farther turning. Put on the chain loose enough to hang down on the horse's under lip, so that it may not risc and

press his jaw till the reins of the bridle are moderately pulled. If your horse has been used to stand still when he is mounted, there will be no occasion for a groom to hold him; but if he does, suffer him not to touch the reins, but that part of the bridle which comes down the cheek of the horse. He cannot then interfere with the management of the reins, which belongs to the rider only; and holding a horse by the curb (which is ever painful to him) is evidently improper when he is to stand still.

Take care not to ride with your arms and elbows as high as your shoulders; nor let them shake up and down with the motion of the horse. The posture is unbecoming, and the weight of the arms (and of the body too if the rider does not sit still) acts in continual jerks on the jaw of the horse, which must give him pain, and make him unquiet, if he has either a tender mouth or any spirit.

Riders wonder why horses are gentle as soon as they are mounted by skilful horsemen. The reason is, the horse goes on at his ease, yet finds all his motions watched; which he has sagacity enough to discover. Such a rider hides his whip, if he finds his horse is afraid of it; and keeps his legs from his sides. Avoid the ungraceful custom of letting your legs shake against the sides of the horse: and as you are not to keep your arms and elbows high, and in motion, so you are not to rivet them to your sides, but let them fall easy: an awkward horseman seems flying off at all points.

It is often said with emphasis, that such a one has no seat on horseback; meaning not only that he does not ride well, but that he does not sit on the right part of the horse. To have a good seat is to sit on that part of the horse which, as he springs, is the centre of motion; and from which, of course, any weight would be with most difficulty shaken. As in the rising and falling of a board, placed in equilibrio, the centre will be always most at rest, the true seat will be found in that part of your saddle into which your body would naturally slide if you rode without stirrups; and is only to be preserved by a proper poise of the body, though the generality of riders imagine it is to be done by the grasp of the thighs and knees. The rider should consider himself as united to his horse in this point; and, when shaken from it, endeavour to restore the balance.

The mention of the two extremities of a bad seat may help to point out the true one. The one is, when the rider sits very far back on the saddle, so that his weight presses the loins of the horse; the other, when his body hangs forward over the pommel of the saddle. The first may be seen practised by grooms when they ride with their stirrups affectedly short; the latter by fearful horsemen on the least flutter of the horse. Every good rider has, even on the hunting saddle, as determined a place for his thighs as can be made for him by the bars of a demi-peak. Indeed there is no difference between the seat of either: only, as in the first you ride with shorter stirrups, your body will be consequently more behind your knees.

To have a good seat for the rider, the saddle

must fit well. In general the saddle presses as nearly as possible on that part which we have described as the point of union between the man and the horse; but so as not to obstruct the motion of the horse's shoulders. Place yourself in the middle or lowest part of it: sit erect; but with as little constraint as in a chair. ease of action marks the good rider: you may repose yourself, but not lounge. The studied exactness acquired in the riding-house, by those whose deportment is not easy, appears ungenteel and unnatural.

The

If your horse stops short, or endeavours, by raising and kicking, to unseat you, do not bend your body forward, as many do in those circumstances: that motion throws the breech forward, and the rider out of his seat; whereas the advancing the lower part of the body, and bending back the upper part and shoulders, is the method both to keep your seat, and to recover it when lost. The bending your body back, and that in a great degree, is the greatest security in flying leaps; it is a security, too, when your horse leaps standing. The horse's rising does not try the rider's seat; the lash of his hind legs ought chiefly to be guarded against, and is best done by the body being greatly inclined back. Stiffen not your legs or thighs; and let your body be pliable in the loins, like the coachman's on his box.

This manner of sitting will counter-balance every rough motion of the horse; whereas the fixture of the knees, so commonly laid a stress on, will in great shocks conduce to the violence of the fall. Were the cricket-player, when the ball is struck with the greatest force, to hold his hand firm and fixed to receive it, the hand would be bruised, or perhaps the bones fractured by the resistance. To obviate this, he yields his hand to the motion of the ball for a certain distance; and thus, by a due mixture of opposition and obedience, catches it without sustaining the least injury. The case is exactly the same in riding the skillful horseman will recover his poise by giving some way to the motion; and the ignorant horseman will be flung out of his seat by endeavouring to be fixed.

Stretch not out your legs before you; this will push you against the back of the saddle; neither gather up your knees, like a man riding on a pack; this throws your thighs upwards; each practice unseats you. Keep your legs straight down; and sit not on the most fleshy part of the thighs, but turn them inwards, so as to bring in your knees and toes. It is more safe to ride with the ball of the foot pressing on the stirrup, than with the stirrup as far back as the heel; for the pressure of the heel, being in that case behind the stirrup, keeps the thighs down.

When you find your thighs thrown upwards, widen your knees to get them and the upper part of your fork lower down on the horse. Grasp the saddle with the hollow or inner part of your thighs, but not more than just to assist the balance of your body: this will also enable you to keep the spurs from the horse's sides, and to bring your toes in. Sink your heels straight down; for, while your heels and thighs keep down, you cannot fall; this, aided by the bend of the back, gives the security of a seat to those

who bear themselves up in their stirrups in a swift gallop, or in the alternate rising and falling in full trot.

As the seat in some measure depends on the saddle, because a saddle with a high pommel is thought dangerous, the other extreme prevails, and the pommel is scarcely allowed to be higher than the middle of the saddle. The saddle should lie as near the back-bone as can be, without hurting the horse; for the nearer you sit to his back, the better seat you have. If it does so, it is plain the pommel must rise enough to secure the withers from pressure; therefore a horse, whose withers are higher than common, requires a high pommel. If, to avoid this, you make the saddle straight, the inconvenience spoken of follows; you sit too much above the horse's back, nor can the saddle form a proper seat. There should be no ridge from the button at the side of the pommel, to the back part of the saddle. That line also should be a little concave for your thighs to lie at ease. In short, a saddle ought to be, as nearly as possible, as if cut out of the horse.

When you want your horse to move forward, raise his head a little, and touch him gently with your whip; or else press the calves of your legs against his sides. If he does not move fast enough, press them with more force, and so till the spur just touches him. By this practice he will, if he has any spirit, move upon the least pressure of the leg. Never spur him by a kick; but, if it be necessary to spur him briskly, keep your heels close to his sides, and slacken their force as he becomes obedient. When your horse attempts to be vicious, take each rein separate, one in each hand, and, advancing your arms forward, hold him very short. In this case it is common for the rider to pull him hard, with his arms low. But the horse, thus having his head low too, has it more in his power to throw out his heels: whereas, if his head be raised very high, and his nose thrown out a little, he can neither rise before nor behind; because he can give himself neither of those motions, without having his head at liberty. A plank, placed in equilibrio, cannot rise at one end unless it sinks at the other.

If your horse is headstrong, pull not with one

Almost every one has observed, that when a horse feels himself pulled with the bridle, even when he is going gently, he often mistakes what was designed to stop him, as a direction to bear on the bit, and go faster. Keep your horse's head high, that he may raise his neck and crest; play a little with the rein, and move the bit in his mouth, that he may not press on it in one constant and continued manner; be not afraid of raising his head too high; he will naturally be too ready to bring it down, and tire your arms with its weight, on the least abatement of his mettle. When you feel him heavy, stop him, and make him go back a few paces: thus you break by degrees his propensity to press on his bridle.

Many are pleased with a round neck, and a head drawn in towards his breast; but this is a mistake. Let your horse carry his head bridling in, provided he carries it high, and his neck arching upwards: but if his neck bends downwards his figure is bad, his sight is too near his toes, he leans on the bridle, and you have no command over him. If he goes pressing but lightly on the bridle, he is the more sure-footed, and goes pleasanter, as your wrist only may guide him. If he hangs down his head, and makes you support the weight of that and his neck with your arms bearing on his fore legs (which is called being on his shoulders), he will strike his toes against the ground, and stumble. If your horse is heavy upon the bit, tie him every day for an hour or two, with his tail to the manger, and his head as high as you can make him lift it, by a rein on each post of the stall, tied to the rings of the snaffle-bit.

Horse-breakers and grooms have a great propensity to bring a horse's head down, and seem to have no seat without a strong hold by the bridle. They know indeed that the head should yield to the reins, and the neck form an arch; but do not take the proper pains to make an arch upward. A temporary effect of attempting to raise the horse's head may perhaps be making him push out his nose. They will here tell you, that his head is too high already; whereas it is not the distance from the nose, but from the top of his head to the ground, which determines the head to be high or low. Besides, although the fault is said to be in the manner of carrying the

head, it should rather be said to be in that of the neck; for, if the neck was raised, the head would be more in the position of one set on a well formed neck.

The design, therefore, of lifting up the head is to raise the neck, and thereby bring in the head; for, even while the bridle makes the same line from the rider's hand to the bit, the horse's nose may be either drawn in or thrust out, according as his neck is raised or depressed. Instead of what has been here recommended, we usually see colts broken with their heads cavessoned very low, their necks stiff, and not in the least suppled. When the breaking tackle is left off, and they are mounted for the road, having more food and rest, they frequently plunge, and a second breaking becomes necessary. Then, as few gentlemen can manege their own horses, they are put into the hands of grooms, from whom they learn a variety of bad habits.

No curb, martingale, or other forcible method, will teach a horse to carry his head or neck in a posture which nature has made uneasy to him. By trying to pull in his nose farther than he can bear you will give him a bad habit. You could not indeed contrive a more effectual method to make him continually toss his nose up and throw his foam over you. It is a common custom to be always pulling at the bridle, as if to set off to advantage either the spirit of the horse, or the skill of the rider. Our horses therefore are taught to hola their heads low, and pull so as to bear up the rider from the saddle, standing in his stirrups, even in the gentlest gallop: how very improper this is we may be experimentally convinced; when we happen to meet with a horse which gallops otherwise we immediately say, he canters excellently, and find the ease and pleasure of his motion. When horses are designed for the race, and swiftness is the only thing considered, the method may be a good one.

It is not to be wondered that dealers are always pulling at their horses; that they have the spur constantly in their sides, and are at the same time continually checking the rein: by these means they make them bound, and champ the bit, while their rage has the appearance of spirit. These people ride with their arms spread, and very low on the shoulders of their horses: a method which makes them stretch their necks, and gives a better appearance to their forehands: it conceals also a thick jaw, which, if the head were up, would prevent its yielding to the bit; it hides likewise the ewe-neck, which would otherwise show itself. Indeed, if you have a horse unsteady to the bit, formed with a naturally heavy head, or one which carries his nose obstinately in the air, you must find his mouth where you can, and make the best of him.

Many horses are taught to start by whipping them for starting. How is it possible they can know it is designed as a punishment? In the riding house the horse is taught to rise up before, and to spring and lash out his hinder legs, by whipping him when tied between two pillars, with his head a little at liberty. If he understood this to be a punishment for doing so, he would not by that method learn to do it. He seems to be in the same manner taught to spring and

fly when he is frightened. Most horses would go quietly past an object from which they were beginning to fly if their riders, instead of gathering up their bridles and showing themselves so ready, would throw the reins loose upon their necks.

When a horse starts at any thing on one side the generality of riders turn him out of the road, to make him go up to the cause of his starting: if he does not get the better of his fear, or readily comply, he commonly goes past the object, making with his hinder parts, or croup, a great circle out of the road; whereas he should learn to keep straight on, without minding objects on either side. If he starts at any thing on the left, hold his head high, and keep it straight in the road, pulling it from looking at the thing he starts at, and keeping your right leg hard pressed against his side, towards his flank: he will then go straight along the road. By this method, and by turning his head a little more, he may be forced with his croup close up to what frightened him: for, as his head is pulled one way, his croup necessarily turns the other.

Always avoid a quarrel with your horse, if you can if he is apt to start you will find occasions enough to exercise his obedience, when what he starts at lies directly in his way, and you must make him pass; if he is not subject to start you should not quarrel with him about a trifle. It must be observed, however, that this rule, in going past an object, may perhaps be a little irregular in a maneged horse, which will always obey the leg: but even such a horse, if he is really afraid, and not restive, it may not be amiss to make look another way; unless the object be something to the sight of which you would particularly accustom him. The case will also be different with a horse whose fear is owing to his not being used to objects; but such a one is not to be rode by any horseman to whom these rules are directed the starting here meant arises merely from the horse's being pampered, and springing through liveliness.

The practice of making a horse go immediately p to every thing he is afraid of, and not suffering nim to become master of his rider, seems to be sometimes carried too far.

We are apt to suppose that a horse fears nothing so much as his rider: but may he not, in many circumstances, be afraid of instant destruction? of being crushed? of being drowned? of falling down a precipice? Is it a wonder that a horse should be afraid of a loaded waggon? may not the hanging load seem to threaten the falling on him? There cannot be a rule more general than, in such a case, to show him there is room for him to pass. This is done by turning his head a very little from the carriage, and pressing your leg which is farthest from it against his side.

A borse is not to stop without a sign from his rider. Is it not then probable that, when driven up to a carriage he starts at it, he conceives himself obliged either to attack or run against it? Can he understand the rider's spurring him, with his face directed to it, as a sign for him to pass it? That a horse is easily alarmed for his face

and eyes is evident from this, that he will even catch back his head from a hand going to caress him. That he will not go with any force, face to face, even to another horse, if in his power to stop; and that he sees perfectly sideways, are useful hints for the treatment of horses with regard to starting. Though you ought not to whip a horse for starting, there can be no good effect from clapping his neck with your hand to encourage him. If you take any notice of his starting, it should be rather with some tone of voice which he usually understands as an expression of dislike to what he is doing; for there is opposition mixed with his starting, and a horse will ever repeat what he finds has foiled his rider.

Notwithstanding the directions above given, of not pressing a horse up to a carriage he starts at, yet, if one which you apprehend will frighten him meets you at a narrow part of the road, when you have once let him know he is to pass it be sure you remain determined, and press him on. Do this more especially when part of the carriage has already passed you: for if, when he is frightened, he is accustomed to go back, and turn round, he will certainly do it if he finds, by your hand slackening and legs not pressing, that you are irresolute; and this at the most dangerous point of time, when the wheels of the carriage take him as he turns. Remember not to touch the curb rein at this time; it will certainly check him.

The person who would lead a horse by the bridle should not turn his face to him when he refuses to follow him if he raises his arms, shows his whip, or pulls the bridle with jerks, he frightens the horse, instead of persuading him to follow; which a little patience may bring about. Ride with a snaffle; and use your curb, if you have one, only occasionally. Choose your snaffle full and thick in the mouth, especially at the ends to which the reins are fastened. Most of them are made too small and long; they cut the horse's mouth, and bend back over the bars of his jaw, working like pin

cers.

The management of the curb is a very nice matter: a turn of the wrist, rather than the weight of your arm, should be applied to it. The elasticity of a rod, when a fish is hooked, may give some idea of the proper play of a horse's head on his bridle; his spirit and his pliableness are both marked by it. A horse should never be put to do any thing which he is not ready at, in a curb; you may force him, or pull his head any way, with a snaffle, but a curb acts only in a straight line. A horse may indeed be turned out of one track into another by a curb; but it is because he knows it is signal. When he is put to draw a chain, and does not understand the necessity he is then under of taking a larger sweep when he turns, you frequently see him restive, as it is then called; but put him on a snaffle, or buckle the rein to that part of the bit which does not curb him, and the horse submits to be pulled about, till he understands what is desired of him. These directions suppose your horse to have spirit, and a good mouth; if he has not, you must take him as he

is, and ride him with such a bit as you find most

easy.

When you ride upon a journey be not so attentive to your horse's nice carriage of himself as to your encouragement of him, and keeping him in good humor. Raise his head; but, if he flags, indulge him with bearing a little more upon the bit than you would suffer in an airing. If a horse is lame, tender-footed, or tired, he naturally hangs upon his bridle. On a journey, therefore, his mouth will depend greatly on his strength and the goodness of his feet. Be then very careful about his feet, and let not a blacksmith spoil them.

Few people, even though practised in riding, know they have any power over a horse but by the bridle; nor any use for the spur, except to make him go forward. A little experience will teach them a further use. If the left spur touches him, and he is at the same time prevented from going forward, he has a sign, which he will soon understand, to move sideways to the right; in the same manner to the left, if the right spur goads him. He afterwards, through fear of the spur, obeys a touch of the leg, in the same manas horse moves his croup from one side of the stall to the other, when any one strikes him with his hand. In short, his croup is guided by the leg as his head is by the bridle. He will never disobey the leg, unless he becomes restive. By these means you will have a far greater power over him; he will move sideways if you close one leg to him; and straight forward if both : even when he stands still, your legs held near him will keep him on the watch; and, with the slightest unseen motion of the bridle upwards, he will raise his head, and show his fore-hand to advantage. On this use of the legs of the rider, and guidance of the croup of the horse, are founded all the airs (as the riding-masters express themselves) which are taught in the manege; the passage, or side-motion of troopers to close or open their files; and indeed all their evolutions.

But some degree of this discipline is convenient even for common use. It is useful if a horse is apt to stumble or start. By pressing your legs to his flank, and keeping up his head, he is made to go light on his fore-legs, which is aiding and supporting him; and, if he does actually stumble, by helping him at the very instant to exert himself, while as yet any part of him remains not irrecoverably impressed with the precipitate motion. Hence this use of the hand and legs of the rider is called giving aids to a horse; for, as to holding up the weight of a heavy inactive horse by mere pulling, it is as impossible as to recover him when falling down a precipice. A horse is supporte and helped by the hands and legs of his rider in every action they require of him; hence he is said to perform his airs by the aids from his rider.

The same discipline is useful if a horse starts. For if, when he is beginning to fly to one side, you press your leg on the side he is flying to, he stops his spring immediately; he goes past what he started at, keeping straight on, or as you choose to direct him: and he will not fly back