226 EDUCATING THE HORSE. 



and examples given of the various means 

 adopted by horse-handlers to create these habits. 

 In the present instance, it is rarely, if ever, known 

 that horses acquire the habit of rearing them- 

 selves, but are prompted so to do by the means 

 used, viz., starting and stopping suddenly ; pull- 

 ing sharply on the reins, and then striking the 

 animal with the whip, either of which is a sure 

 and certain means of producing this result — that 

 of causing the horse to rear up whenever you 

 desire to move off. 



The inconvenience and unpleasantness of such 

 a habit are too plain to need more than a men- 

 tion, besides its often occasioning great alarm to a 

 timid driver ; and the simple yet practical means 

 I have given for breaking up the habit, will be 

 found successful whenever it is tried, as it always 

 should be where the habit exists. 



