196 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



keep the spinal column — which is to the framework 

 of the horse what the keel is to the framework of a 

 ship — straight. Some say, indeed most say, . when 

 driving a race, watch your horse's head for the first 

 signs of unsteadiness. Hiram Woodruff said, that, in the 

 action of the head, the driver could see the first pre- 

 monitions of a break. Against such authority I would 

 not set any opinion of my own, save in the way of sug- 

 gestion. But while Woodruff may be right, and un- 

 doubtedly is right, in many, perhaps the majority of 

 cases, I am, on the other hand, confident, that, in some 

 horses, the signs of the coming break can be quickest 

 perceived in the action of the spinal column. My habit 

 is to watch the horse's back : so long as that is straight, 

 well-steadied, the action of the back-muscles regular 

 and in a straight line, I keep sending the horse along. 

 Only when a slight quiver or twist, a kind of kinking-up 

 or swaying motion, is seen in the back, do I take him 

 more firmly in hand, and steady him until he has time 

 to straighten himself out again. The advantage of 

 watching the line of the back, instead of the head, of 

 a horse, to perceive the signs of the coming break, is 

 found, as it seems to me, in this : The head sign is not 

 the same in all horses ; nor is it so unmistakable to the 

 eye, — unless you have driven the horse enough to become 

 acquainted with his peculiar habit of going, — and there- 

 fore not so much to be depended upon, nor so easily 

 discerned, as the vibratory movement of the spinal 

 column, which, while it invariably precedes the " tan- 



