266 RIDING VICIOUS HORSES. 



legs, while pulling him from side to side ; but above all 

 things we should avoid hitting him about the shoulders or 

 neck, because that would be the plainest possible hint to 

 him to rear, even if he had not had the idea of rearing in 

 his mind, by making him still lighter in front. If our 

 coercive efforts do not promptly have a good effect, we 

 should at once cease them, lest they might irritate the 

 animal to still further resistance ; and then we cannot do 

 better than follow the routine described for overcoming 

 rearing. In turning the animal round to one side and then 

 to the other, we should gradually increase the size of the 

 circles, until at last we can get the horse to go in any 

 direction we wish. We should on no account attempt to 

 rein him back, lest the movement to the rear might 

 prompt him to get up on end. Also, the employment of 

 spurs will generally be worse than useless. As I have 

 explained in Illustrated Horse-Breaking the rationale of all 

 this work, I need not go over the same ground here. 



When the horse shows that he has "given in" by going 

 forward, we should not display our bad horsemanship and 

 vile temper by flogging, spurring or jobbing the animal in 

 the mouth ; for no horse has sufficient intelligence to connect 

 any of these forms of cruelty with his previous act of dis- 

 obedience. On the contrary, his most natural conclusion 

 would be, that they were meant as a punishment for his 

 going forward. The frequency with which such punishment 

 produces a fresh exhibition of jibbing, proves the correctness 

 of this statement. 



Most of us no doubt have read Dick Christian's story as 

 told by the Druid, of Mr. Marriott of Welby, who bought a 

 restive horse whose former owner could do nothing with him. 

 " Mr. Marriott takes him home ; and the very first time he 

 rides him, he stops dead at a gate. A man came up and 

 Mr. Marriott shouts to him : ' Here's a shilling for you, my 



