MOUTHS AND MANNERS 



hands, and that he hurt his horse's mouth, which 

 very possibly he did, but both hands and manage- 

 ment were of the best and most appropriate for 

 that particular case, and any deviation from the 

 methods followed might have caused a serious 

 accident. What this man did, he is doing 

 all day long, and every day, and probably he 

 could not tell you why he adopts his methods, 

 or what those methods are ; condemn them 

 if you like, but be sure that, theory aside, the 

 individual who successfully handles all sorts of 

 raw horses in all sorts of places has hands of 

 the very finest, and given time, his charges will 

 usually acquire mouths and manners of the very 

 best. 



The novice commits his first (generally his reg- 

 ular) mistake when he sets out to "make" a horse's 

 mouth by asking the animal to change his balance 

 and yield to the bit before his muscles, especially 

 those of the neck and crest, are limber and supple. 

 Nothing is more likely to make a dead and hard 

 mouth than the practice of putting a " dumb 

 jockey " on a horse in his stall or box, bearing 

 him up, and leaving him to " fight it out." The 

 suddenly contracted muscles pain him, and he is 

 thoroughly uncomfortable ; he fights back and 



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