RIDING. 495 



side without scaring at you, because you have gentled him to that 

 position ; but if you get down on your hands and knees and crawl 

 towards him he will be very much frightened; and upon the same 

 principle he would be frightened at your new position if you had 

 the power to hold yourself over his back without touching him. 

 Then the first great advantage of the block is to gradually gentle 

 him to that new position in which he will see you when you ride 

 him. Secondly, by the process of leaning your weight in the stirrup 

 and on your hand you can gradually accustom him to your weight 

 so as not to frighten him by having him feel it all at once. And in 

 the third place, the block elevates you so that you will not have to 

 make a spring in order to get on the horse's back, but from it you 

 can gradually raise yourself into the saddle. When you take these 

 precautions there is no horse so wild but that you can at length 

 mount him without making him jump. When mounting, your 

 horse should always stand without being held. A horse is never 

 well broken when he has to be held with a tight rein while mount- 

 ing; and a colt is never so safe to mount as when you see that 

 assurance of confidence and absence of fear which will cause him to 

 stand without holding. 



HIDING. 



All this preliminary work may be done in the stable. The 

 young horse may be first ridden there if there is plenty of room for 

 turning freely back and forth. When you want mm to start do not 

 touch him on the side with your heel, or do anything to frighten 

 him and make him jump, but speak to him kindly and if he does not 

 start, pull him a little to the left until he starts and then let him 

 walk off slowly with the reins loose. Walk him around in the 

 stable a few times until he gets used to the bit and you can turn 

 him about in every direction and stop him as you please. It would 

 be well to get off and on a good many times until he gets perfectly 

 used to it before you take him out of the stable. After you have 

 trained him in this way, which should not take you more than one 

 or two hours, you can ride him anywhere you choose without ever 

 having him jump or make any effort to throw you. 



When you first take him out of the stable be very gentle with 

 him, as he will feel a little more at liberty to jump or run, and be a 

 little more easily frightened than he was while in the stable. But 

 after handling him so much in the stable he will be pretty well 

 broken, and you will be able to manage him without trouble or 

 danger. 



To Prevent Jumping When you first mount him take a 

 little the shorter hold on the left rein, so that if anything frightens 

 him you can prevent him from jumping by pulling his head around 

 to you. This operation of pulling a horse's head around against his 

 side will prevent any horse from jumping ahead, rearing up or run- 

 ning away. If he is stubborn and will not go, you can make him 



