4 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



motion of a quadruped with or without a burden on its 

 back. Everyone knows that the best constructed form 

 or chair may be upset by sitting awkwardly on it and 

 setting the laws of gravitation at defiance, whilst few 

 people who have knocked down their valuable horses by 

 precisely the same process seem to be in the least aware 

 of what they have really done : " the brute stumbled 

 and broke both his knees " is the only explanation they 

 are capable of affording ; of course it is never their own 

 fault. 



Again, how many horses, especially young ones, are 

 made restive, and become plungers, bolters, or rearers r 

 through the intolerable pain occasioned by bits that are 

 wholly unsuited to their mouths, and sometimes fitter 

 for a rhinoceros than so sensitive and delicate an animal 

 as the horse. Many a curb, stringhalt, and spavin are 

 originated by the use, or rather abuse, of bits whose 

 lever power is so excessive that it is impossible to regu- 

 late their action, not to mention the very numerous 

 instances in which bits are placed in such a position in 

 the horse's mouth as to act on the animal's head in 

 exactly the opposite direction to that intended by the 

 rider, as shall be hereafter explained ; and thus, in con- 

 junction with the misplaced burden of the rider, assist 

 in throwing down the bearer. 



It is well known that a very great and constantly- 

 increasing number of English saddle-horses are an- 

 nually exported to Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and other 

 great Continental cities, and many of these are there 

 sold at prices perfectly remunerative to the dealers, but 

 which are much lower than animals of equally good 

 figure and proportions command with ease in the 

 English market. This was for a time a puzzle to the 



