MOUNTING HORSE FOR FIRST TIME. 207 



employed, as circumstances may demand, before recom- 

 mencing the mounting lesson. A very efficient method of 

 reducing to obedience horses which deliberately throw 

 themselves down when secured in the way in question, is 

 to keep them on the ground, tied head and tail (see page 

 167), until they have given up all idea of resistance. 



When the horse has got accustomed to the presence and 

 weight of a man in the saddle, the rider may touch him 

 with his heels, lightly at first, and gradually with more 

 pressure, but without hurting him, so as to teach him to 

 bear the contact without resentment or fear. We may then 

 slacken off the cord a little, make the horse go round and 

 round again, and so on, until it will be safe to let him 

 altogether loose. Before doing this, we should, as before, 

 test -his quietness by stopping him with the leading rein, 

 and then pulling him round again. When we have loosened 

 out the cord to about half its full extent, we may give the 

 leading rein to the rider, to hold in his right hand, so that 

 he can stop the horse from turning round, if necessary. By 

 holding the near side of the headstall in the left hand and 

 by lightly touching the animal on the near quarter with the 

 whip, we can make him go round, as may be needed. 

 After the cord has been removed, the long reins may be 

 put on, and the breaking proceeded with as described on 

 page 203 et seq. Three-quarters of an hour will be ample, in 

 the large majority of cases, for completing the process of 

 mounting. A second lesson of the same kind, which will 

 take far less time than the first one, may be given on the 

 same day. As a rule, no further discipline in mounting 

 will be required, beyond the occasional use of the rope- 

 twitch to correct unsteadiness. 



In all my experience with scores of horses which had 

 for years successfully resisted every effort to mount them, 

 I have never failed to accomplish this object within an 



