270 RIDING VICIOUS HORSES. 



such men have to ride a horse that has a tendency to 

 rear, they ought to use only a snaffle bridle (with an 

 unjointed mouth-piece for choice), or if they are unwilling 

 to commit such a supposed solecism, they should dismount 

 the moment the animal shows any inclination to "get 

 up." The first thing therefore to do with a rearer is 

 to see if the bitting is in fault, and to rectify it, if such 

 be the case. With a double bridle, it will generally be 

 advisable to take off the curb-chain, the presence of which 

 might irritate the animal. In any case, the use of a curb is 

 out of the question. 



The two most important points about rearing are that 

 all rearers are too light in front, and that a horse cannot 

 rear unless his hind legs are fixed on the ground. We 

 should accordingly put all the weight we can on the fore- 

 hand, and should try to keep the horse's hind feet moving. 

 With these objects in view we should, when a horse 

 attempts to rear, bend forward as much as possible ; lower 

 the left hand for choice, as horses usually turn more 

 readily to that side than to the right ; and try to turn 

 the animal to the left with the snaffle rein, while leaving 

 the off rein slack, so as to avoid exerting any pressure 

 in a backward direction on the horse's mouth. If the 

 horse gets very straight up, it may be dangerous to 

 feel his mouth at all with the reins, and we may have 

 to content ourselves with catching hold of the mane or 

 even clutching the horse round the neck, ready to slip 

 off to one side in case he comes over. When in this 

 position, we should grip tightly with the knees, so as 

 not to put weight on the stirrups, which in such a case 

 might come out of the spring bars and thus cause us 

 to part company with our mount. While the horse is 

 playing up, it is generally safest to keep the feet away 

 from his sides. I have seen horsemen free themselves from 



