THE HORSE BOUNDING ON HIS HIND LEGS. 169 
pupil. It is at this stage—that is to say, with the use of the leg-strap 
No. 1—that the predecessors of Mr. Rarey stopped, and they consequently 
failed to gain the absolute control which he has invariably obtained with 
the slight, but really important, additions which he has made, and which 
he uses in the ingenious manner which I shall now describe. It may be 
observed that, with a violent horse, it is always better to let him feel his 
want of power for doing mischief with the near fore leg strapped up, and 
the slight degree of fatigue which a few minutes’ hopping will produce, 
before the second strap is called into play, especially if the operator has 
not acquired great skill in the use of the apparatus. When this is done, 
and the second strap is applied, and slipped through the surcingle, as 
shown at page 168, taking care to put a stout glove on the right hand, 
the left rein is taken in the left hand, and gently jerked—using, if 
necessary, the usual slight stimulus with the tongue, to make the horse 
THE HORSE BOUNDING ON HIS HIND LEGS. 
nove, which he can only do by raising the off fore leg off the ground in 
the action known as hopping. The moment this begins, the right hand 
firmly draws the off leg up to the surcingle, and keeps it there, when the 
horse must either bound into the air on his hind legs, or he must go down 
on the ground, supported from falling on his side in the attitude: of 
kneeling. To avoid iischief, therefore, the loose-box or yard where the 
operation is carried on should be thickly bedded with straw; for no knee- 
caps are stout enough to protect the joints from injury on hard ground; 
nor, if they escape being bruised, will the shock to the body on falling 
be at all safe. Even straw can hardly be relied on, if the floor beneath is 
of brick, stone, pebbles, or hard natural soil; for it is apt to give way 
during the struggles of the horse, and allow the knees to reach it without 
the intended protection. When, therefore, there is no tanned riding- 
