RUNNING AWAY. 837 



UNSTEADINESS WHILST BEING MOUNTED. 



When this merely amounts to eag;erness to start (very unpleasant, indeed, 

 at times, for many a rider has been thrown from his seat before he was 

 fairly fixed in it), it may be remedied bv an active and good horseman. 

 We have known many instances in which, while the elderly, and inactive, 

 and fearful man, has been making- more than one ineffectual attempt to 

 vault into the saddle, the horse has been dancing about to his annoyance 

 and danger; but the animal had no sooner been transferred to the 

 management of a younger and more agile rider, than he became perfectly 

 subdued. Severity will here, more decidedly than in any other case, do 

 harm. The rider should be fearless ;— he should carelessly and confidently 

 approach the horse, mount at the first effort, and then restrain him 

 for a while, patting him, and not suffering him to proceed until he 

 becomes perfectly quiet. These horses should not be too highly fed, and 

 should daily have sufficient exercise. 



When the difficulty of mounting arises not from eagerness to start, but 

 unwillingness to be ridden, the sooner such horse is disposed of the better. 

 He may be conquered by a determined rider, but a skilful and determhied 

 horseman alone will manage him ; and even he will not succeed without 

 frequent and even dangerous contests that will mar all the pleasure of 

 the ride. 



REARING. 



This sometimes results from playfulness, carried indeed to an unpleasant 

 and dangerous extent ; but it is oftener a vice, and is a desperate and fre- 

 quently successful effort to unhorse the rider. The horse that has twice 

 decidedly and dangerously reared, should never be trusted again, unless 

 indeed it be the fault of the rider — unless he has het^ using a deep curb 

 and sharp bit. Some of the best horses will contend against these, and 

 then rearing may be immediately and permanently cured by using a snaffle 

 bridle alone. 



The horse-breaker's remedy, that of pulling the horse backward on a 

 soft piece of ground, is worthy of him, and would be practised only by 

 reckless and brutal men. Many horses have been injured in the spine, 

 and others have broken their necks, by being thus suddenly brought over ; 

 while even the horse-breaker, who fears no danger, is not always able to 

 extricate himself from the falling horse. If rearing proceeds from vice, 

 and is unprovoked by the bruising and laceration of the mouth, it fully 

 partakes of the inveteracy which attends the other divisions of restiveness.^ 



RUNNING AWAY. 



Some headstrong horses will occasionally endeavour to bolt with the best 

 rider. Others, with their wonted sagacity, endeavour thus to dislodge 

 the timid or unskilful. Some are hard to hold, or bolt only during the 

 excitement of the chace ; others will run away, prompted by a vicious 

 propensity alone. There is no cure here. That method which affords 

 any probability of success, is to ride such a horse with a strong curb and 

 sharp bit ; to have him always firmly in hand ; and if he will run away, 

 and the place will admit of it, to give him (sparing neither curb, whip, nor 

 spur) a great deal more running than he likes. 



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