[92] The cavalry soldier is often required to perform independent duties and penetrate far into the enemy’s lines under conditions entailing danger and hardship. He should, therefore, not only be brave, strong, and determined, but also intelligent, enthusiastic, deliberate, and calm. He must be able to act on his own initiative in accordance with the orders he receives and the situation of the moment. His horse is the cavalryman’s best weapon. The soldier should prize his horse more than his own body, and thus in an emergency he will be able to rely without fail upon this weapon. It is only when the foregoing qualities have been acquired by training and experience in the field that a man can call himself a true cavalry soldier.--_Japanese, Cavalry Drill Regulations_, 1907, 44 (trans.). [93] For practical riding, however, turning on the forehand is not advocated. [94] At the same time these natural movements are not all that we demand of a horse; we must therefore add the proviso that with the weight of a rider on the horse’s back, some of the natural turns, and twists, and bearings can be, and need be, improved on. For instance, by means of the bit and legs, we pull a polo pony on to his haunches, and then turn him with the snaffle in order that on slippery ground we may save a slip, slide, or fall, which would very probably occur if we let him turn on the forehand in his own natural and easiest way. Nor does every horse, as he moves along at the walk, trot, or gallop, or as he jumps, necessarily do so in the best or safest way; he will often slouch, as we would describe it in a man, in doing so. We then use the aid of bit, leg, spur, or whip to make him go up to his bit, which we know by experience is a better fashion than his natural mode of carrying himself. Many a slack rider has let his horse, when he was wearily plodding his way home after a long day’s hunting, fall and break his knees; whereas, if the animal had been well balanced by the strong pressure of the legs and warning spurs, and light hand on the curb, of a good and alert horseman, he would have reached home safely. [95] The Boer system of training a horse not to fall in the antbear and porcupine holes was to put a native on the animal and lunge it where there were nests of these holes. [96] The pose, however, of decrying _haute école_ methods is a totally mistaken one. The finest all-round horsemen in the world are the masters of _haute école_, whilst some of the worst horsemen are the butchering hard-riders to hounds, who bunch up their reins in their mutton fists, and hold on by them till their mount stops pulling and going. They are little better than, though of another class to, the viceroy who said to his A.D.C., “Don’t talk to me now; don’t you see I am busy riding?” [97] _Cavalry Journal_, July 1910.