H E -:- H O R S E 



CHAPTER IV. 



Reining a horse — Use of different bits — How his mouth is 

 made— The natural gaits — The walk, the trot and the can- 

 ter — Natural gaits more useful than acquired gaits — Popularity 

 of five-gaited horses for show purposes — Jumping and swim- 

 ming. 



Reining a Horse. — There are many effect- 

 ive methods of reining a horse. I shall try 

 to describe one of these, which I consider 

 involves the principles pertaining to all. In- 

 cidentally, for general purposes, I consider it 

 the best. 



A horse should first be properly halter- 

 broken. Halter breaking is easily accom- 

 plished, and is largely done by merely tying 

 the horse by the halter to some stationary 

 object, so that no matter how much he strug- 

 gles he cannot break loose. After a time 

 the horse learns to keep his head toward this 

 object or to the manger of the stall, as the 

 case may be. When the first attempt to 

 lead a horse is made he will probably try to 

 run away. A man can usually maneuver so 

 that the animal will be running at right 

 angles to him, from which position a strong 

 pull on the part of the man will usually jerk 

 the horse's head around and end in pulling 

 him to a standstill. When the horse finally 

 gives up his idea of trying to break away, 

 and allows himself to be led around, he is 

 halter-broken. 



34 



