52 THEORY OF HORSE-CONTROL. 



heartedness." Thus, instead of Rareyfying a high-couraged 

 horse which had on previous occasions been made difficult 

 to mount by a bad rider prodding him in the side with his 

 toe when trying to get into the saddle ; it would be better to 

 attain our object by means of the rope-twitch (see page 129), 

 or by the head and tail method (see page 169), so as to prove 

 to him that he need not in future fear being touched by the 

 toe when being mounted. In fact, we should regard the 

 application of irksome means of control as a necessary evil 

 to be employed as little as practicable. The method of 

 reducing a horse to discipline by getting on his back and 

 sticking on until he gallops or bucks himself to a standstill 

 is not scientific ; for no matter how plucky and adhesive the 

 rider may be, the terrified or vicious horse may unseat him 

 by running into some obstacle, falling down, or throwing 

 himself back when rearing, in which case he will probably 

 acquire the evil knowledge of his own strength, and will 

 consequently be much worse than he was before. Even if 

 the man gets the mastery ; the effect, to become permanent, 

 has to be repeated several times, and, in many instances, is 

 disregarded after a rest of a few days in the stable, or with 

 a different rider. This rough style of breaking is, of course, 

 good only as far as it goes, and has no claim to teach the 

 manners which make the horse, as well as they do the man. 



Safety in breaking. — It is manifest that the methods 

 adopted in breaking should not alone be free from physical 

 danger to the horse ; but should also be in no way calcu- 

 lated to spoil him. Judging by the large proportion o 

 pullers, borers, refusers, and one-sided mouthed animals 



