142 UNASKED ADVICE. 



his point. A horse who is given to rear dangerously, on 

 what he considers provocation, will be taught better 

 manners by the use of a rearing bit; which, while it 

 keeps his head down, renders any attempt to get it up 

 futile, from the acute pain caused to the mouth, and has, 

 indeed, the same moral effect as a twitch. And the 

 kicking does not matter. A man who can be kicked off 

 when he expects, and is prepared for, the manoeuvre, had 

 better confine himself to pedestrian or carriage exercise. 

 (I have heard of horses kicking themselves head over 

 heels, but have never seen one do it, though I have had 

 them scramble, as it were, on their fore feet, while they 

 were performing a more than usually brilliant caper.) 

 Vice under the saddle takes different forms, the principle 

 being always the same to get rid of the man, if not to 

 damage him when disposed of. A restive horse almost 

 always shows his disposition by a certain sulk of the 

 eye, unmistakable to a horseman ; a vicious one, not in- 

 variably. ' ' Maneaters " especially I have seen with the 

 mildest of countenances. A vicious horse will bite or 

 kick a man in the stable, and possibly be quiet out of it ; 

 or he may be quiet to groom, and almost impossible to 

 ride. But in either case he dislikes man, and in most 

 cases, not to say all, has only too good reason for so 

 doing. A vicious horse under the saddle will plunge or 

 buck-jump until he or his rider is tired, and, if he 

 succeeds in dislodging the man, will probably kick at 

 him ; but the stable savage and the unrideable one were 

 not born so. In a few cases savage temper is hereditary, 

 but almost always it is the result of ill-treatment. The 

 stock of a horse called Manchester not unfrequently 

 inherited his savage disposition ; but how had the sire 

 become what he was ? A horse has the best of memories, 



