“When I travel on horseback,” says the same writer, “I make it a rule to walk every seventh mile, be the roads ever so level: it affords a wonderful relief both to man and horse, and, instead of producing a loss of time, helps you on. When you dismount for such ends, always slacken your girths, slightly lift up the saddle to let a little air under it, and teach your horse (what he soon will learn) to walk briskly by your side, and keep the step with you, taking care to hold either of the reins lightly in your hand, and without shifting it over the horse’s head. Your steed will soon give you demonstrations of his gratitude, for he will be full of affectionate playfulness as he jogs along at your side, only to be rivalled by his willingness to let you mount after you have tightened the girths again. I need hardly tell you not to put your arm or wrist through a rein whilst walking or running by the side of a horse, for it is replete with danger. A good run with one hand on the horse’s withers is pleasant, and greatly removes the stiffness of the joints so frequently occasioned by much riding; but the reins should be held between the fingers only, and rather loosely.” Hence, it follows that, although expedition be indispensable, the horse ought not to be put on his best pace at first, but considerably within it. Even this pace should be for a short space only; the reins should be loosened; the mouth played with; and if he do not evacuate, the pace may be repeated once more,--unless, indeed, he sweat much with the first, which is a sign of weakness, or that his dung is hard, and he requires purging. While on the journey, the rider should be less attentive to his horse’s nice carriage of himself, than to his own encouragement of him, and keeping him in good humour. Though generally he should raise his horse’s head, yet when he flags in consequence of a long day or hard work, he may indulge him with bearing a little more upon the bit than he would in taking a mere airing exercise, or afternoon’s canter in the Park. Keeping company with some other horseman facilitates a stage, by the emulation it excites; so that a dull animal, which one can scarcely get seven miles an hour from, will do nine or ten without fatigue when in company. In road-riding, a picker is indispensable both in winter and summer. In winter, it is necessary to relieve the sole when snow accumulates there. When, however, the traveller knows that snow is on the ground, he may avoid the trouble of dismounting, by previously ordering his horse’s soles to be payed over with tar, or with tallow having no salt in it. At all times, when the roads have received fresh dressings, a picker is indispensable, because a loose stone is very liable to lodge in the hollow of the foot, and is dangerously driven backwards between the frog and the shoe, at every step the horse takes.