THE REIN-BACK. i^i 



back the right leg, and touch him with it on the side. 

 The weight then, on account of the head being turned 

 to the left, will be placed more on the near limbs than on 

 the off ones. Consequently, when the off flank is touched 

 by the drawn-back right foot, the animal will, as a rule, 

 readily lift up the off hind foot from the ground, and, 

 feeling the backward pull of the near rein, his natural 

 impulse will be to take a step to the rear with his off hind, 

 and, in order to preserve the previous distribution of 

 weight, he will follow it with his near fore. When the 

 rider has obtained this diagonal step (with the near fore 

 and off hind) to' the rear, he can get the other diagonal 

 step (with the off fore and near hind) by slackening the 

 near rein, taking a pull with the off rein, drawing back 

 the left foot, and touching the horse's left side with it ; 

 and so on. As each step is obtained, the drawn-back leg 

 of the rider should be brought forward. A straight 

 direction to the rear is maintained by the pressure of the 

 drawn-back leg^ whichever it may be at the time. We 

 may see that the tendency of the well-broken horse, when 

 reined back in this way, will be to adopt the diagonal 

 movement (or trot) to the rear. Of all unhorsemanlike 

 proceedings, the practice of " chucking " the animal in 

 the mouth with the reins, to obtain the rein-back, is one 

 of the worst ; for it will tend to make him, in his 

 endeavour to escape the painful pressure of the bit 

 (curb or snaffle), throw his weight to the rear and 

 '' run back," according to the second method, which 

 is dangerous from a riding point of view. Although 

 the well ''collected" rein-back may be done at the walk 

 or trot, the rein-back by the second method is never 

 executed diagonally; for the weight is too unequaUy 

 distributed to admit of the simultaneous action of an 

 off fore and a near hind, and of a near fore and an off 

 hind. The rein-back in light harness can of course be 

 made in a similar manner to the rein-back in saddle. 

 When the object of the rein-back is to push a great weight 



