374 UNSTEADINESS WHILE BEING MOUNTED REARING, 



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- 

 Btrap 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 pre- 

 sented 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 kicking-strap may possibly break, and extreme dan- 

 ger 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 maj 

 thus become a push, and seldom is injurious. 



UNSTEADINESS WHILE BEING MOUNTED. 



When this merely amounts to eagerness to start — very un 

 pleasant, 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 known 

 many instances in which, while the elderly, and inactive, and 

 fearful man has been making more than one ineftectual attempt 

 to vault into the saddle, the horse has been dancing about to his 

 annoyance and danger ; but the animal had no sooner been trans- 

 ferred 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 carelessly 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 unwillingness 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 



