H E -:- H O R S E 



CHAPTER VII. 



Habits of the horse, natural and acquired — Getting Up and 

 lying down — Balking — A useful method of treating it — Roll- 

 ing — How to prevent it — Pawing — Rearing — Striking — Kicking 

 — Biting — Cinch Binding — Shying — How to make a shying 

 horse go past the object of his terror — Stumbling — Falling — 

 Prancing — Plunging — Crow-hopping — Bucking, buck jumpers 

 and how to ride them — Some general remarks about equine 

 idiosyncrasies. 



Getting Up and Lying Down. — A horse 

 rising from a lying position on the ground 

 will straighten out his forelegs first, raising 

 the forepart of his body until he is almost 

 in a sitting position, and then, by a contrac- 

 tion of the muscles, bring his hind legs under 

 his body, and raise his hindquarters from 

 the ground. When preparing to lie down, a 

 horse will often first go to his knees, and 

 will always nearly touch the ground with 

 his nose, letting the forepart of his body 

 rest on the ground first. 



Balking. — Balking, ordinarily, is the pre- 

 rogative of the mule. It is an unfortunate 

 inhibition on the part of an animal and dis- 

 turbs the less philosophical rider. The ani- 

 mal in this case stands perfectly still and 

 refuses to move in any direction. 



Some well-meaning persons advise as a cure 

 the building of a fire under the balking ani- 

 mal, or some other measure equally drastic. 

 Such treatment, however, is not be be en- 

 couraged, because although it will undoubt- 



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