1 30 RIDING 



round his back, and, by a succession of jumps, burst the girths 

 and so get rid of the saddle. Having once done this, there is 

 not much doubt that he will try the experiment again. Of 

 course, if this happens during the early lessons, the only thing 

 is to take more time, and be more careful in the succeeding 

 lessons, but sufficient care is not always taken, and the horses 

 get confirmed in the habit. It also often happens that horses 

 take to bucking even when they have been used to the saddle 

 for a long time. The horse is perhaps wanted in a hurry. He 

 has the saddle thrown on to his back and girthed up, the bridle 

 put on, he is taken out immediately and mounted. Perhaps 

 his stomach is distended by having been recently fed, and he 

 is very uncomfortable, when instead of starting off at his best 

 pace, from the application of his rider's heels or spurs, he takes 

 the liberty, for the first time perhaps in his life, of disagreeing 

 with his rider, jerks his head away, puts it between his fore legs, 

 rounds his back, so that there is very little left to sit upon, and 

 in less time than it takes to say all this, gets rid of his rider. 

 About two or three bucks do it, as a rule, in the first instance, 

 for the master, if he be the victim, is almost sure to be unpre- 

 pared, and the whole thing is over very quickly, at least for 

 that time. Very likely, if the horse be mounted again as 

 soon as the man has pulled himself together, he may go off as 

 quietly as if nothing had happened; but for all that the rider 

 may be pretty certain that the animal will remember it, and 

 will do the same thing again and again, so long as he gets the 

 best of it, even if he have been properly saddled, and mounted 

 carefully without hurry. 



There is one other way in which bucking is sometimes 

 caused, which it may be as well to mention here before going 

 on to the remedy, and that is from sufficient care not being 

 taken in examining the saddle before putting it on. When 

 a saddle has the pannels new lined, a nail may be left in the 

 lining. The rider may look round the horse before mounting, 

 and not see anything wrong, although he will notice the 

 animal is rather fidgety. However, he will not have been long 



