52 BIDING. 



To make a horse change his foot in canter, if you 

 find it difficult to do so by merely using hand and leg, 

 turn him as if to circle towards that side that you re- 

 quire the foot to lead — he will use the foot forward that 

 you wish in order to prop himself in turning. Thus, if 

 you circle round to the right, he will lead with the off 

 fore foot, and if you turn to the left, the near fore will 

 be advanced. 



In using a curb, the rider should remember that if 

 it is properly placed, with a fair leverage, rough hand- 

 ling of the lower or bit rein may drive a fine-tempered 

 animal into a state of great irritation, or even prove an 

 incentive to rearing ;* and directly anything like this 

 effect seems to be produced, that rein should be eased, 

 and the bridoon-rein borne up. 



In fencing, the snaffle or bridoon bit and rein onlfj 

 ought to be used ; this the ride?' should ixirticularly hear 

 in rtiind. A rider with a hold of the curb-rein in fenc- 

 ing, getting the least out of his equilibrium, or giving 



tica] horseman, to ride a notorious stumbler (reduced by this de- 

 fect to mere farm work) three times round Stephen's Green, Dub- 

 lin (a distance of over three miles), without falling. Given his 

 choice of bits, some being of the severest kind, he rejected them 

 all, desiring the groom to get him a common hemp halter, and 

 with this simple head-gear, riding bare-backed, he accomplished 

 the distance without the slightest mishap, and thereby won a large 

 bet. The groom, however, resumed the use of the bit to ride the 

 horse home (now feeling sufficient confidence to trust himself on 

 his back instead of leading him), when the animal fell on his knees 

 before he had gone a hundred yards, 



* The incautious use of that rein, which has leverage on the curb, 

 is very apt, with young unformed horses, or such as have been only 

 accustomed to the bridoon or snaflle, to induce a notion of rear- 

 ing, especially in anything of a rough attempt to " rein back" with ; 

 indeed, this latter pointy of training should^ be accomplished with 

 the bridoon only. 



