4 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



that we know of. No doubt we demand a greater 

 amount of hard work from our horses than other 

 people ; still broken knees are the opprobrium of the 

 rider, and point very evidently to great ignorance or 

 total disregard of the very simple mechanical principles 

 that govern the motion of a quadruped with or without 

 a burden on its back. Every one knows that the best- 

 constructed form or chair may be upset by sitting awk- 

 wardly on it and setting the laws of gravitation at 

 defiance ; whilst few people who have knocked down 

 their valuable horses by precisely the same process 

 seem to be in the least aware of what they have really 

 done : " the brute stumbled and broke both his knees," 

 is the only explanation they are capable of affording ; 

 of course it is never their own fault. 



Again, how many horses, especially young ones, are 

 made restive, and become plungers, bolters, or rearers, 

 through the intolerable pain occasioned by bits that 

 are wholly unsuited to their mouths, and sometimes 

 fitter for a rhinoceros than so sensitive and delicate 

 an animal as the horse. Many a curb, stringhalt, and 

 spavin, are originated by the use, or rather abuse, of 

 bits whose lever power is so excessive that it is impos- 

 sible to regulate their action, not to mention the very 

 numerous instances in which bits are placed in such a 

 position in the horse's mouth as to act on the animal's 

 head in exactly the opposite direction to that intended 

 by the rider, as shall be hereafter explained, and thus, 

 in conjunction with the misplaced burden of the rider, 

 assist in throwing down the bearer. 



It is well known that a very great and constantly- 

 increasing number of English saddle-horses are an- 

 nually exported to Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and other 



