THE CRUPPER LEADING-REIN. 193 



or two leading-reins, is an abomination that no 

 horseman should perpetrate ; for its tendency is 

 to make the animal jump in the very way he 

 ought not to do, namely, with the weight on the 

 fore-hand, and not on the hind-quarters. Besides 

 this, horses are very apt to resist any forward 

 pull on either cavesson or head-stall. The action 

 of the crupper leading-rein, on the contrary, 

 while leaving the head entirely free, is to make 

 the horse get his hind-legs well under him, as 

 we may see by the way he throws up his hind- 

 quarters, when being led by it over a fence. We 

 all have, of course, heard the well-founded ob- 

 jection to the use of the cavesson and leading- 

 rein for teaching horses to jump, that it makes 

 them slow to "get away" on landing over a fence ; 

 a fault, no doubt, caused by the habit of having 

 the weight on the fore-hand. If we want a horse 

 to jump "big" and " get away" quick, we must 

 " catch a good hold of his head ; " the very opposite 

 of which is done by the cavesson method. 



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