ON THE PULL AND HUSTLE. 275 



lad, or jockey, in holding a horse after he has started 

 in his gallop, is by putting his hands well down 

 on each side of the horse's withers. By this firm pur- 

 chase, he is mostly enabled to keep his horse's head up 

 and in place; for if, in the start, the horse gets his 

 head down, he will, if he feels inclined to do so, most 

 probably break away or begin his gambols, and 

 perhaps throw his rider. Yet it is not to be under- 

 stood that the rider is at all times to retain this firm 

 hold of his horse's head. When the rider finds that 

 his horse is settled in his stride, and that he begins, as 

 a horse sometimes will, to reach with his head for 

 a little more liberty of rein, the rider should (to pre- 

 vent the horse's changing his legs or altering his 

 stride) gently raise his hands off his horse's withers 

 or quietly let them slide along that part, and give him 

 the necessary liberty without letting the reins quite 

 loose. But if the horse makes too free with the pace, 

 the rider is to bring his hands gradually back to their 

 former position, and endeavour to keep the horse more 

 collected in his stride, by now and then giving and 

 taking in this way, as occasion may require. 



As the horse is proceeding in his sweat or race, 

 whether he reaches again with his head or not, it 

 is necessary that the rider should occasionally have 

 recourse to the same method of easing and pulling 

 his horse, with a view (as has already been noticed) 

 of keeping his mouth alive and sensible to the bit. 

 I mean by this, that the rider is never to have what 

 is called " a dead pull" on the animal's mouth, 



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