276 RIDING VICIOUS HORSES. 



well disregard it, unless the animal is intended for show, 

 rather than for use. Many horses which have low and good 

 galloping action, trip or " toe " when walking. The animal 

 which stumbles from being heavy in front is dangerous to ride ; 

 because if he catches the ground with the toe of an advancing 

 fore foot, a fall will be the probable result, from the centre of 

 gravity being too far beyond the base of support. If the animal 

 be also infirm in front, he will have but a remote chance of 

 recovering himself in the event of a bad trip. All that the 

 rider can do to prevent such a catastrophe is to lean well to 

 the rear and ride the horse up to his bridle, so as to get the 

 weight back. In doing this, a properly adjusted curb will be 

 more efficacious than a snaffle. When a horse stumbles, I 

 think it is best for the rider to leave the animal's mouth alone 

 as much as he can ; because anything he may do with the 

 reins to prevent the horse coming down, will more or less 

 interfere with the efforts made by the animal to save himself. 

 These efforts, being instinctive, are no doubt the best for the 

 purpose. The fact that a horse which falls from a stumble 

 on a road, often cuts the fore part of his head and at the 

 same time does not injure his knees, shows that it is most 

 unwise to pull the reins when an animal stumbles ; because 

 a snatch at the reins would be very likely to prevent him 

 getting his head down and thus saving his knees. In such 

 cases, the injury to the head is usually trifling, and is 

 generally inflicted on one of the orbital arches, which are 

 the prominent bony arches that protect the eyes. 



A rider should on no account punish a horse for stumbling ; 

 because that would have the effect of only making him start 

 and prance about, after the mistake had occurred, and would 

 not make him go more collectedly in future. Besides, the 

 habit of dancing about after a stumble is particularly dis- 

 agreeable to the rider, and it betrays to all spectators the 

 unpleasant fact that the animal had previously erred in the 



