UNSTEADINESS WHILE BEING MOUNTED— REARING, &.c. So9 



a very unpleasant thing to witness these attempts, though ineffectual, to demolish the 

 vehicle, for the shafts or the kicking-strap may possibly break, and extreme danger 

 may ensue. A horse that has once begun to kick, whatever may have been the origi- 

 nal cause of it, can never be depended upon again, and he will be very unwise who 

 ventures behind him. The man, however, who must come within reach of a kicker 

 should come as close to him as possible. '" The blow may thus become a push, and 

 seldom is injurious. 



UNSTEADINESS WHILE BEING MOUNTED. 



When this merely amounts to eagerness to start — very unpleasant, indeed, at times, 

 for many a rider has been thrown from his seat before he was fairly fixed in it — it 

 may be remedied by an active and good horseman. We have known many instances 

 in which, while the elderly, and inactive, and fearful man has been making more than 

 one ineffectual attempt to vault into the saddle, the horse has been dancing about to 

 his annoyance and danger ; but the animal had no sooner been transferred to the 

 management of a younger and more agile rider than he became perfectly subdued. 

 Severity will here, more decidedly than in any other case, do harm. The rider should 

 be fearless — he should carelessly and confidently approach the horse, mount at the 

 first effort, and then restrain him for a while ; patting him, and not suffering him to 

 proceed until he becomes perfectly quiet. Horses of this kind should not be too 

 highly fed, and should have sufficient daily exercise. 



When the difficulty of mounting arises, not from eagerness to start, but unwilling- 

 ness to be ridden, the sooner that horse is disposed of the better. He may be con- 

 quered by a skilful and determined horseman ; but even he will not succeed without 

 frequent and dangerous contests that will mar all the pleasure of the ride. 



REARING. 



This sometimes results from playfulness, carried, indeed, to an unpleasant and 

 dangerous extent ; but it is oftener a desperate and occasionally successful effort to 

 unhorse the rider, and consequently a vice. The horse that has twice decidedly and 

 dangerously reared, should never be trusted again, unless, indeed, it was the fault of 

 the rider, who had been using a deep curb and a sharp bit. Some of the best horses 

 will contend against these, and then rearing may be immediately and permanently 

 cured by using a snaffle-bridle alone. 



The horse-breaker's remedy, that of pulling the horse backward on a soft piece of 

 ground, should be practised by reckless and brutal fellows alone. Many horses have 

 been injured in the spine, and others have broken their necks, by being thus suddenly 

 pulled over; while even the fellow, who fears no danger, is not always able to extri- 

 cate himself from the falling horse. If rearing proceeds from vice, and is unprovoked 

 by the bruising and laceration of the mouth, it fully partakes of the inveteracy which 

 attends the other divisions of restiveness. 



RUNNING AWAY. 



Some headstrong horses will occasionally endeavour to bolt with the best rider. 

 Others with their wonted sagacity endeavour thus to dislodge the timid or unskilful 

 oiie. Some are hard to hold, or bolt only during the excitement of the chase; others 

 will run away, prompted by a vicious propensity alone. There is no certain cure 

 here. The method which affords any probability of success is, to ride such a horse 

 with a strong curb and sharp bit ; to have him always firmly in hand ; and, if he will 

 run away, and the place will admit of it, to give him (sparing neither curb, whip, nor 

 spur) a great deal more running than he likes. 



VICIOUS TO CLEAN. 



It would scarcely be credited to what an extent this exists in some horses that are 

 otherwise perfectly quiet. It is only at great hazard that they can be cleaned at all. 

 The origin of this is probably some maltreatment. There is, however, a great differ- 

 ence in the sensibility of the skin in different horses. Some seem as if they could 

 scarcely be made to feel the whip, while others cannot bear a fly to alight on them 

 without an expression of annoyance. In young horses the skin is peculiarly delicate. 

 If they have been curried with a broken comb, or hardly rubbed with an uneven brush. 



