SPECIAL FOEMS OF EESTIVENESS. 32*^ 



neck.* The safest way of managing confirmed rearers 

 is on the lonnge, without the dumb-jockey, which would 

 be very likely to injure the horse severely in case of its 

 throwing itself back. Of course the reader will at once 

 perceive that the general plan of treatment will consist 

 in getting the animal to bend its hocks and neck in the 

 manner already described above ; and we may there • 

 fore confine our observations here to what should be 

 done when it actuall}^ does rear, which will be usually 

 at the moment one attempts to put it into a trot on the 

 circle ; for which reason bending lessons, when halted 

 or at a walk, must be persevered in at first. Supposing, 

 now, the horse to be on the lounge, and suddenly to stop 

 and rear up, the trainer, who must have an assistant 

 that knows well how to use the whip, should shorten 

 the line in coils in his left hand, holding it firmly in 

 the right, just long enough to keep him clear of the 

 horse's fore legs should it make a plunge forwards, and 

 l^lacing himself exactly opposite to the animal's head, 

 so that, by stepping back a pace or two, he is sure to 

 retnin a good " feeling on the line when its fore legs 

 again touch the ground, the assistant with the whip 

 stepping meanwhile smartly up behind the animal. 

 The trainer should, in this position, merely keep a 

 feeling on the line, as one would with a heavy salmon, 

 never attempting to pull the horse's head forcibly 

 downwards, or to jerk at the lounge, as the steady pull 

 would only serve to make it lean on your hand and 

 persist so much the longer in rearing, whilst a sudden 



"■•■ In the English method of handling horses little attention 

 is paid to the horse's hocks or neck ; whilst, on the contrary, 

 the pasterns are severely M'orked, which is precisely the reason 

 whj' school methods must be employed for rearers. 



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