HINTS OX HORSEMANSHIP. 91 



understanding or not choosing to obey your aids, not from 

 want of suppleness. Let art supple the temper and under- 

 standing of colts, and leave nature to supple their limbs. 

 Cleaning a horse on the bit has also the additional merit 

 of preventing him from wearing his teeth, the sides of the 

 stall, and the manger, by biting them while being cleaned : 

 this last is probably the origin of crib-biting. By holding 

 the coifs head by the cavecon, or halter, or the strap of a 

 riding-school snaffle, which passes behind the chin, close and 

 fronting to a wall, and touching him with a whip on the side, 

 he may be easily made to passage, that is, cross his legs and go 

 sideways to either hand. For with the wall to show him that 

 he is not to advance, the hand to make his head and shoulders 

 lead, and the whip on one side, he instantly apprehends what 

 is required. He should also be taught to rein back by the 

 cavecon or halter : it is more simple than the bit, which, 

 from its severity, he at first mistakes for a punishment, instead 

 of an indication to rein back, and so becomes confused, and, 



