no An Arched Neck. 



must not suppose that an arched neck means 

 that the horseman is worrying his beast to make 

 him appear proud or prance for the purpose of 

 showing off. It is precisely this which a good 

 horseman never does. He always uses his bits 

 gently. It is cruelty, as well as ruin to the horse's 

 mouth, to hold him by the curb until his neck 

 tires, and he leans upon it, held suspended by the 

 equal torture of the chain and the aching muscles. 

 A horse never should pull on a curb. If your 

 hands are light, the curb rein may be loose and 

 still the horse's head be in its proper position, that 

 is, about perpendicular. The well-trained horse, 

 without the slightest effort, arches his neck to the 

 curb or snaffle alike, and keeps it so. It is only 

 when his rider releases it, or chooses to let him 

 " have his head " that he takes it. Often, in fact, 

 a horse will not do so when you give him the 

 chance. Patroclus here will get tired out, cer- 

 tainly completely tire me out, long before his bit 

 becomes irksome. When trotting, or when gal- 

 loping across the fields or in deep snow, I am 

 often apt to let him carry his head as he chooses 

 on account of the change or the extra exertion. 

 But with his well-suppled neck I always feel cer- 

 tain that the slightest intimation of the bit will 

 bring his head in place instead of meeting resist- 

 ance. And he generally seems to prefer to bring 

 his head well into the bit, so, as it were, to estab- 



