254 GUIDANCE AND CONTROL. 



down, and the whip hand on the reins, will generally be the 

 best means for bringing their hind quarters round. 



The whip or stick should of course be held in the hand 

 opposite to the side to which the horse usually swerves, which 

 he will generally do to the left side, owing to the fact of his 

 being more often handled, led, lunged, fed, mounted and 

 otherwise manipulated on that side than on the off side. Of 

 all silly things, the rider should avoid striking a horse on 

 any part of his fore-hand with the object of straightening him, 

 because that would be an attempt to turn the heavy end of 

 the animal round the lighter end. 



TO REIN BACK. 



Even on the race-course, it is well for a jockey to be 

 able at times to rein his horse back at the start, instead of 

 having to go round and come up again, in doing which he 

 might easily lose a good position. Also, among a crowd 

 of horses in the hunting field, when waiting for one's turn 

 to go through a gate or at the only practicable part of 

 a fence, especially when close behind a tail adorned with a red 

 bow, a like command over one's horse is to be appreciated. 

 There are two forms of the rein back : one, in which the pre- 

 ponderance of weight is placed on the hind legs ; the other, in 

 which it is put on the fore-hand. We see the former when the 

 carter tries to make his draught animal push back a heavy 

 load by raising the horse's head and forcing him to throw 

 all his weight into the breeching. In the latter, which is 

 alone applicable to saddle work, the horse increases the 

 proportion of weight on his fore-hand by lowering his 

 head, and consequently gives freedom and lightness to his 

 hind legs in the backward movement. If it be right for 

 a horse to be light in front when going forward, it is surely 

 correct for him to be light behind when reining back. Ex- 

 perience tells us that the best way for a saddle horse to rein 



