THE-:- HORSE 



great care is taken in getting them gradually 

 accustomed to the feel of the saddle and the 

 ways of man. 



Bucking with all really wild horses is con- 

 genital, being part of the strongest instinct, 

 self-preservation. The horse in its evolution 

 was ever subject to attacks by beasts of prey, 

 and the great cats of prehistoric times were 

 probably the first living creatures to try 

 riding upon the back of a horse in order to 

 kill from this point of vantage. Thus it 

 has become instinctive with the horse to try 

 and throw the thing that may have obtained 

 a lodging upon its back. Experience taught 

 him that bucking was most effective, and 

 sometimes it does not take so very much 

 provocation to make the present-day horse 

 revert to the defensive measures used by its 

 ancestors. 



If a rider can stay on the back of a horse 

 for the first ten bucks he is not likely to be 

 dislodged, since most horses perceptibly tire 

 from that time on. The ordinary horse will 

 rarely make more than twenty or thirty bucks 

 at one time. Bucking is performed by the 

 horse placing its head between its front legs 

 and catapulting itself into the air, leaving 

 the ground usually with its front feet first. 

 To prevent a horse from bucking, the rider 

 should, by a succession of jerks on one rein, 

 try to keep him from putting down his head. 

 By pulling on one side in this manner, the 



67 



