734 



Reading-Course for Farmers. 



danger that the animal's back will become sore or abraded. If the 

 breeching is too loose or the hip straps too long, allowing the former 

 to hang low, they will wear the hair off the animal's hind legs and, in 

 addition, the rig will have a jerky motion. On the other hand, if they 

 are too tight they interfere with the horse's action and annoy him 

 very much. 



Fitting the back-band and crupper 



Perhaps next in importance to the bit and collar is the crupper. 

 If the back-band or the check-rein is too short and the crupper is drawn 

 too tight against the tail, it is likely to cause soreness; since this is a 

 very tender part it may lessen the reliability of the horse. A horse 

 with a sore tail is hard to manage. At any time he may get his tail over 

 the line, become excited through fear that the abraded part will be 

 injured, clamp his tail down on the line and be difficult to control. If 

 the back-band is too long and the crupper too loose, it is likely to result 

 in the back-band, crupper, hip-straps and breeching all slipping off 

 to one side of the horse, with the result that the animal may become 



Fig. 42 — -Illustration showing side-back 



