98 RIDING 



REINING BACK 



' Reining back ' is a most useful and important lesson in the 

 training of the young horse, not only because it is very often 

 desirable that the horse should step backwards, to enable the 

 rider to put him exactly in the place he requires him to be, but 

 also because, especially in the case of horses which have bad, 

 heavy shoulders, are low in front, and consequently inclined to 

 be heavy in hand, it raises their forehands, and teaches them 

 to collect themselves better than anything else would do. It 

 should not be begun too early in his breaking, the first thing 

 being to teach the animal to go straight to his front freely, and 

 carry the weight, and afterwards to obey the feeling of the rein 

 and closing of the leg, which he has been taught to do in the 

 bending lesson. In beginning to rein back, if he has not 

 already done so during the lessons on the longe, the rider 

 should dismount, as it stands to reason that it is much easier 

 for the horse to do it with the weight off his back than with 

 his rider up. The man should place himself in front of the 

 horse, and take a snaffle rein in each hand, about three inches 

 from the rings of the snaffle, and, without sawing it, press 

 quietly against the bars of the horse's mouth. If the horse 

 yields, and goes back kindly and quietly, so much the better ; 

 make much of him, lead him forward a few steps, and repeat 

 it. On the other hand, it is quite possible that he may plant 

 himself firmly, and be obstinate about it, and any amount of 

 pushing at his mouth will not induce him to take one step to 

 the rear. In that case, the best thing to do is to place him 

 broadside on to the side of the house, take the near snaffle rein 

 in the left hand, and with the right hand tap him smartly on 

 the chest with a hand whip, which will generally have the 

 desired effect so that he will step back a few paces, and when 

 once he has been induced to do that, he will, if not forced too 

 much or abused, learn to do it quite easily in a few lessons. 

 Every horse should be taught to step freely to the rear when 



