96 STATIONARY MOVEMENTS OF THE HORSE. 



should, therefore, lean well forward. If he wishes, by in- 

 flicting punishment, to stop the horse from rearing, he had 

 best hit the animal on one of the hind legs, so as to prevent 

 him from fixing them on the ground, in order to " get 

 up " ; but he should on no account strike him on the 

 shoulders ; for doing so would tend to make him raise his 

 fore-hand. We may break a horse of rearing by teaching 

 him to rein-back in a " collected " manner (p. 129, et seq.). 

 By doing this, we " lighten " the hind-quarters and 

 accustom him to lift them and move them freely. In 

 rearing, the horse usually keeps one hind foot advanced 

 more than the other, and his hind feet more or less 

 apart, so as to widen the base of support. 



Rearing is a particularly insecure and fatiguing 

 attitude for a horse to maintain ; as the column of 

 bones formed by the body and the hind legs has to be 

 kept in position, at its joints (angles), by the exercise 

 of muscular force. In a biped, like man, this column of 

 bones can be brought into a nearly vertical position, so 

 that its component parts can rest on each other, with 

 but little muscular exertion to maintain them in that 

 position. Owing to the large amount and continued 

 nature of this muscular effort in rearing, there will be 

 an appreciable backward and forward sway (caused by 

 the alternate contraction and relaxation of the opposing 

 muscles) at the various joints. This, added to the 

 narrowness of the base of support (formed by the hind 

 feet and the respective lines which join their toes and 

 heels), will render the rearing position so insecure that, 

 to support it, the horse will have to keep frequently 

 changing it. The danger of faUing backwards which the 

 animal incurs, if he gets too erect, will naturally help to 

 deter him from trying to assume a comparatively vertical 

 position. Hence, he has to keep the joints of his hind 

 limbs more bent than he would have to do, if he was not 

 exposed to this risk of falling backwards. 



The hocks are particularly liable to injury from 



