THROWING THE HEAD. 267 



some extent in his plunges and to prevent him breaking 

 away. 



Mr. John Stevens, from whom I bought some winners, when 

 he used to ship horses from New Zealand to India, tells me 

 that the Maories have a capital plan of riding buck-jumpers 

 bare-back, by passing a rope a couple of times round the 

 animal and then tying it, or by using a strong surcingle 

 inside which they get their knees. The more a horse thus 

 equipped bucks, the firmer are the rider's legs jammed between 

 the surcingle or rope and the animal's sides (Fig. 207). If 

 the horse throws himself down or falls, the rider can easily 

 get free, as his feet are outside the rope or surcingle, as the 

 case may be. 



THROWING UP THE HEAD. 



If a curb bit is used, we should be careful that the curb 

 chain cannot hurt the sharp edges of the branches of the 

 lower jaw (p. 80), and we should see that the mouth-piece 

 is low down in the mouth (p. 106) ; or we may try a thick 

 unjointed snaffle (Fig. 117). The most effective plan of all, 

 is to use a standing martingale attached to the rings of the 

 snaffle (p. 93). 



THROWING THE HEAD DOWN. 



This vice is by no means so common as the one alluded 

 to in the preceding paragraph. Though equally unpleasant 

 to the rider, it is not so dangerous, because it does not pre- 

 vent the horse seeing where he is going. It is put into practice 

 by the animal suddenly throwing his head down as near as 

 he can to the ground from time to time; his object apparently 

 being to annoy the rider by pulling the reins through his 

 hands. An effective way for stopping this trick, which, 

 according to my experience, is generally practised at the 



