2 9<3 The Book of hie Horse. 



Occasionally a horse is met with which, although quite quiet when once mounted, will plunge 

 and kick violently when the rider is in the act of mounting or dismounting. Probably some 

 accident, such as the saddle turning round, has frightened the animal, and shown it how to 

 get rid of its rider. 



I once took in exchange from a horse-dealer in a small way — for a hunter that did not 

 suit me — a Prime Minister hack that I had often admired ridden on the road. When the 

 deal was completed, the groom, in return for my fee (not the first he had received at my 

 hands), whispered, " She's a capital bit of stuff, but you must not try to get on her or off her 

 without having her head held by a man." He laid stress on the word "man!" 



A few further inquiries the following day brought out the fact that the little mare had 

 more than once thrown a very good horseman over head by plunging before he was fixed in 

 the saddle ; but that once firmly mounted, all vice disappeared until the time came for 

 dismounting, when the same tricks were repeated, unless she was tired out by a long day's 

 work. Severity had failed to cure this most unpleasant vice, so I determined to try a 

 milder plan. 



I took the mare into a riding-school, put on a pair of knee-caps, strapped up her near 

 fore-leg, coaxed her into hopping about on three legs — very gently and very slowly — for a 

 quarter of an hour, in order to teach her that if she attempted to move violently she would fall. 

 No sane horse will willingly fall ; a mad horse fears nothing. 



When I had fully satisfied her on this point, I threw the rein of a single snaffle bridle loosely 

 on her neck, and, without any one standing near her head, proceeded to mount and dismount 

 many times. Then, unstrapping the near, I strapped up the off fore-leg, and again mounted 

 and dismounted on the off side until I was tired. This lesson was repeated for about half 

 an hour on five or six days, after which she would permit me to mount and dismount any- 

 where — in the street, on a racecourse, in the hunting-field — standing like a rock. Once 

 only, in a country lane, she showed signs of her old complaint. I tied up her leg with my 

 pocket-handkerchief, mounted, dismounted, untied her, and mounted again, without the least 

 signs of reaction. 



A more obstinate or vicious animal might have required more lessons to subdue, but the 

 principle of making a horse incapable of resisting is the foundation of all sensible horse- 

 breaking. 



In the same way many a horse that has felt the effect of a strong kicking-strap in single 

 harness will travel quietly as long as he feels the strap there, but will very often recommence 

 his old tricks as soon as he finds that it has been omitted in harnessing. 



When the soft tan-and-sawdust floor of a riding-school is not to be had, a cattle-yard well 

 filled with straw and muck may be used, or any other quiet place where a horse can fall without 

 damaging his knees. 



A distinction must be drawn between a really vicious horse — one intent on getting rid of 

 and damaging a rider at any cost : one that not only kicks you off, but kicks at you when you 

 are down — and a horse which from some accident has fallen into a single bad habit, such as the 

 one just described with its cure. 



WHirS AND SPURS. 



A whip in the hand of a horseman not riding a race or breaking a young horse is carried 

 more for ornament, or as a mild indicator, than for punishment. A lady's whip is supposed 

 to supply, on certain occasions, the squeeze or the kick of a man's right leg. 



