96 METHODS OF HORSE-CONTROL. 



arena is to be preferred to a circular one, or to a rectangu- 

 lar one which has two of its sides longer than the other 

 two. The ground inside should be soft ; so that the legs 

 and feet of animals worked in it may not get jarred, and 

 that horses which are made to lie down on it may not run 

 any chance of hurting themselves. 



I may here impress on my readers the danger there is 

 to the breaker of having anyone standing right behind him 

 when he is handling vicious horses ; for, in such a case, if 

 the animal makes an offensive movement, the breaker 

 will probably knock up against the other man, and will 

 thus fail to get out of harm's way. 



GENTLING THE HORSE. 



The term " gentling the horse " signifies the act of 

 handling him in a soothing, though firm manner, while he 

 is under such restraint that he will be unable to resist our 

 friendly advances. For instance, after having made the 

 horse lie down (see page 144), and while preventing him 

 from getting up, we may gentle him by running our 

 hands over him, patting him, and massaging his muscles, 

 especially those which he keeps in a contracted condition. 

 While standing at his back (when he is on the ground), so 

 as to be out of danger, we may bend forward and gentle 

 his legs, and draw them towards us with our hands or by 

 a hobble and rope, with the object of forcing him to readily 

 bend the joints of his limbs. 



When a horse " fights " us, he will more or less stiffen 

 his muscles (keep them in a state of contraction) against 

 any movement demanded from him by us. Hence, the 

 more we induce him to relax them, the nearer shall we be 

 to our object of making him " give in." Gentling is there- 

 fore a valuable means for making horses docile, and for 

 giving them confidence. 



