On Horsemanship

it for riding, we will set down certain memoranda,45 which, if a

lost his mark teeth,46 not only will the purchaser's hopes be bligh

ears? There need be little ambiguity on this score, if the purchaser will see the bit inserted and again removed, under his eyes. Next, let it be carefully noted h

. Some horses again, as the result of bad training, will run away from the exercising-ground and make for the stable. A hard mouth may be detected by the exercise called the pede or volte,49 a

when let go at full speed the horse can be pulled up51 sh

in response to the whip. Every one knows what a useless thing a servant is, or a body of troops, that w

of: such as leaping ditches, scrambling over walls, scaling up and springing off high banks. We must test his paces by galloping him up and down steep pitches

rience. With teaching, practice, and habit, almost any horse will come to perform all these feats beautifully, provided he be sound and free from vice. Only you must beware of a horse that is naturally of a nervous tempe

wards other horses or towards human beings; also, whether he

n this score, if, when he has gone through his work, you will try and repeat the precise operations which he went through before you began your

enture to predict, will give the least trouble and the greatest security to his rider in the circumstances of war; while, conversely, a beast who either out of sluggishness needs much