I50 ORDINARY RIDING. 



preceding one, is applicable only to horses which are im- 

 perfectly broken. When a horse is well broken, he never 

 breaks into a pace which we do not want him bo adopt. 



If a horse does not readily take to the trot, we should not 

 be too ready to think he is lazy or bad-tempered. The fault 

 is often due to the fact that the rider's hands are bad for a 

 sensitive mouth, because they are either too heavy or they 

 move about too much. It may happen that the bit is too 

 severe,* or that the horse's mouth is sore, from having been 

 bruised. Also, the horse may be suffering in his loins or 

 other parts, and his reason for changing the pace may be only 

 to relieve himself In all these frequently occurring cases, the 

 best remedy is to remove the cause. 



In place of first putting the blame on the horse, which is 

 only natural, the rider ought perhaps begin by trying to find 

 out if he himself is not the culprit. 



The following is an excellent means of finding out if 

 soreness of the mouth is the cause of the horse not trotting 

 true. Instead of allowing him to bear on the snaffle, leave its 

 reins perfectly loose and catch hold of a good-sized handful of 

 the mane near the middle of the neck, and draw it towards 

 you. Horse dealers use this plan every da}'. 



The trainers of trotters, whose only object is a maximum 

 of speed, generally let their horses take a very strong bear- 

 ing on the hand. The regularity of the pace and lightness of 

 mouth are of little matter to them. Their horses, being im- 

 petuous, always pull very hard, and the rider, on his part, 

 pulls no less vigorously on the mouth ; because he thinks that 

 the more he pulls, the faster will the horse go. This is a 

 great error ; because, by pulling too strongly on the mouth, 

 we throw the weight of the bod)^ on the iiind (juarters, and we 



* Thin mouth-piece, long cheeks, high fJort, each one of which conchlions will 

 of itself make the bit severe ; and c<jml_)ined, tlicy will conveil it into an 

 instrument of torture. 



