RUNNING AWAY. gg-j: 



UNSTEADINESS WHILE BEING MOUNTED. 



When this merely amounts to eagerness to start (very unpleasant, ind&ed, 

 at times, for many a rider has been thrown from his seat before he was 

 fairly fixed in it), it may be remedied by an active and good horseman. 

 We have known many instances in which, while the elderly, and inactive, 

 and fearful man, has been making more than one ineirectual attempt to 

 vault into the saddle, the horse has been dancing about to his annoyance 

 and danger; but the animal has no sooner been transferred to the manage. 

 ment of a younger and more agile rider, than he became perfectly subdued. 

 Severity will here, more decidedly than in any other case, do harm. The 

 rider should be fearless; he should carelessly and confidently approach 

 the horse, mount at the first effort, and then restrain him for a while, pat- 

 ting him, and not suffering him to proceed until he becomes perfectly 

 quiet. These horses should not be too highly fed, and should daily have 

 sufficient exercise. 



' When the difficulty of mounting arises not from eagerness to start, but 

 unwillingness to be ridden, the sooner such a horse is disposed of, the 

 better. He may be conquered by a determined rider, but a skilful and 

 determined horseman alone will manage him ; and even he will not succeed 

 without frequent and often dangerous contests that will mar all the pleasure 

 of the ride. 



REARING. 



This sometimes results from playfulness, carried indeed to an unpleasant 

 and dangerous extent; but it is oftener a vice, and is a desperate and fre- 

 quently successful effort to unhorse the rider. The horse that has twice 

 decidedly and dangerously reared, should never be trusted again, unless, 

 indeed, it be the fault of the rider; unless he has been using a deep curb 

 and sharp bit. Some of the best horses will contend against these, and then 

 rearing may be immediately and permanently cured by using a snaffle- 

 bridle alone. 



The horse-bi'eaker's remedy, that of pulling the horse backward on a soft 

 piece of ground, is worthy of him, and would be practised only by reckless 

 and brutal men. Many horses have been injured in the spine, and others 

 have broken their necks, by being thus suddenly brought over; while even 

 the horse-breaker, who fears no danger, is not always able to extricate 

 himself from the falling horse. If rearing proceeds from vice, and is 

 unprovoked by the bruising and laceration of the mouth, it fully partakes 

 of the inveteracy which attends the other divisions of restiveness. 



RUNNING AWAY. 



Some headstrong horses will occasionally endeavour to bolt with the best 

 rider. Others, with their wonted sagacity, endeavour thus to dislodge the 

 timid or unskilful. Some are hard to hold, or bolt only during the excite, 

 ment of the chace ; others will run away, prompted by a vicious propensity 

 alone. There is no cure here. That method which affords any proba- 

 bility of success, is to ride such a horse with a strong curb and sharp bit; 

 to have him always firmly in hand ; and, if he will run away, and the place 

 will admit of it, to give him (sparing neither curb, whip, nor spur) a great 

 deal more running- than he likes. 



