458 



MOUTHING, ETC. 



dumb jockey (see Fig. 215) should be used, and the horse's 

 knees protected by knee-boots. The side reins should be 

 let out three or four holes from the tightest point hitherto 

 reached and a lounging- rein of webbing or leather, fifteen or 

 twenty feet long, fastened to the ring on the centre of the 

 nose-band of the lounging-bridle or cavesson. The object of 

 using this ring is to prevent any one-sided pressure falling 

 on the mouth, and also to obviate any pressure conflicting 

 with that of the side reins. The horse should be walked in 



FIG. 215. 



a circle four or five times in one direction and then in the 

 other. From time to time he should be stopped and started 

 and the side reins adjusted daily. The horse should be made 

 to change his gaits quickly, from a walk to a trot and vice 

 versa, and if a saddle horse to spring into a canter from either 

 a walk or a trot, leading with the right foot. These move- 

 ments should be repeated frequently until the horse becomes 

 thoroughly " handy," /. ^., obeys readily. Whatever type of 

 bearing-rein or martingale is to be used on the horse, 



