REARING. 447 



down the leg. When the horse attempts to kick violently, his leg will receive 

 a severe blow : this, and the repetition of it may, after a time, teach him to 

 be quiet. 



A much more serious vice is kicking in harness. From the least annoyance 

 about the rump or quarters, some horses will kick at a most violent rate, and 

 destroy the bottom of the chaise, and endanger the limbs of the driver. Those 

 that are fidgetty in the stable are most apt to do this. If the reins should per- 

 chance get under the tail, the violence of the kicker will often be most outra- 

 geous ; and while the animal presses down his tail so tightly that it is almost 

 impossible to extricate the reins, he continues to plunge until he has demolished 

 every thing behind him. 



This is a vice standing foremost in point of danger, and which no treatment 

 will always conquer. It will be altogether in vain to try coercion. If the shafts 

 are very strong and without flaw, or if they are plated with iron underneath, and 

 a stout kicking-strap resorted to which will barely allow the horse the proper use 

 of his hind limbs in progression, but not permit him to raise them sufficiently for 

 the purpose of kicking, he may be prevented from doing mischief ; or if he is 

 harnessed to a heavy cart, and thus confined, his efforts to lash out will be 

 restrained : but it is frequently a very unpleasant thing to witness these 

 attempts, though ineffectual, to demolish the vehicle, for the shafts or the kick- 

 ing-strap may possibly break, and extreme danger may ensue. A- horse that 

 has once begun to kick, whatever may have been the original cause of it, can 

 never be depended upon again, and he will be very unwise who ventures behind 

 him. The man, however, who must come within reach of a kicker should 

 come as close to him as possible. The blow may thus become a push, and 

 seldom is injurious. 



UNSTEADINESS WHILE BEING MOUNTED. 



When this merely amounts to eagerness to start very unpleasant, indeed, 

 at times, for many a rider has been thrown from his seat before he was fairly 

 fixed in it it may be remedied by an active and good horseman. We have 

 \nown many instances in which, while the elderly, and inactive, and fearful 

 man has been making more than one ineffectual attempt to vault into the saddle, 

 the horse has been dancing about to his annoyance and danger ; but the animal 

 had no sooner been transferred to the management of a younger and more agile 

 rider than he became perfectly subdued. Severity will here, more decidedly 

 than in any other case, do harm. The rider should be fearless he should care- 

 lessly and confidently approach the horse, mount at the first effort, and then 

 restrain him for a while ; patting him, and not suffering him to proceed until he 

 becomes perfectly quiet. Horses of this kind should not be too highly fed, and 

 should have sufficient daily exercise. 



When the difficulty of mounting arises, not from eagerness to start, but unwil- 

 lingness to be ridden, the sooner that horse is disposed of the better. He may be 

 conquered by a skilful and determined horseman ; but even he will not succeed 

 without frequent and dangerous contests that will mar all the pleasure of the ride. 



REARING. 



This sometimes results from playfulness, carried, indeed, to an unpleasant 

 and dangerous extent ; but it is oftener a desperate and occasionally successful 

 effort to unhorse the rider, and consequently a vice. The horse that has twice 

 decidedly and dangerously reared, should never be trusted again, unless, indeed, 

 it was the fault of the rider, who had been using a deep curb and a sharp bit. 

 Some of the best horses will contend against these, and then rearing may be 

 immediately and permanently cured by using a snaffle-bridle alone. 



