The rider uses his first three horses and his second three horses on alternate days, keeping the seventh in reserve. These animals are not fed with grain, but live entirely on the range grass. By changing his mount six times in each two days he is able to ride on grass-fed ponies at an average rate of fifty miles a day for a period of eight months. The distance ridden in this season is 11,150 miles.
CHAPTER VII.
THE PLEASURE HORSE.
I. THE BENT LEG.
The human mind may be likened unto a stable with horses all in a row. That strong team Tradition and Custom are overworked. Bias and Prejudice have plenty to do. Passion and Vice get an occasional airing, and Vanity has daily exercise. But Reason is kept in his stall, the master's own mount, stale for want of use. He is not popular with the other horses, he is not easily ridden, is heavy to handle, and goes painfully lame from having been kicked too much.
Let us try him:
THE BENT LEG. So far we have traced the straight leg method of riding from savage life through the Greek practice and that of the Ages of Armour. We have seen the European war seat and war saddle adapt themselves to range practice in wild countries, and so become the basis of outdoor horsemastership.
Oriental horsemen