294 EESTIVENESS I ITS PBEVENTION AND CUBE. 



ness it will be to keep sometimes alongside of your own; 

 horse, at others ahead, or again in the rear, making 

 circuits, riding away and returning the nosebag with 

 oats may be superadded to this method of treatment - r 

 and thus the animal may be got and kept under way 

 constantly, which gives the rider the desired opportunity 

 of working it for this is the main object to keep in 

 view. Two or three servants riding together, and think- 

 ing only of their own amusement, will teach horses to 

 cling to one another ; or one riding the same dull 

 constant round will stupefy a horse into restiveness, of 

 which it may be cured by the above method. 



But if you have an enclosed space of some kind to 

 work in, 25 to 30 yards long, and 15 to 20 wide, it 

 will be much better to use it in the first instance ; and 

 then, when you feel it to be safe, ride out occasionally 

 till the cure is complete. Of course your main object 

 will be to get the horse to go somehow in the first 

 instance, and then by degrees in obedience, the means 

 of effecting which have already been pointed out. 



Should the restiveness be traceable to physical defects. 

 to weakness of the back, loins, hind legs, or to some 

 peculiarity of conformation of the head and neck, as is 

 especially the case with horses that seek to defend 

 themselves by rearing or " bucking " you must adjust 

 your seat very carefully, and sometimes even change 

 your saddle with that view. It is a great mistake in 

 such cases, under the pretext of getting what is called a 

 good firm seat, to rest your whole weight on the horse's 

 loins, by placing yourself at one end of a long saddle, and 

 tucking up your legs with short stirrups at the other 

 end. On the contrary, one must get well down into 

 the centre of the saddle, with somewhat of a fork seat ; 



