GENTLING THE HORSE. 105 



should not exceed 25 yards square, except for breaking to 

 harness, when it might be a Httle larger (see page 274). 

 The minimum size for only saddle work may be put at 

 12 yards each side. A square arena is to be preferred to 

 a circular one, or to a rectangular one which has two of its 

 sides longer than the other two. The ground inside should 

 be soft ; so that the legs and feet of animals worked in it 

 may not get jarred, and that horses which are made to lie 

 down on it may not run any chance of hurting themselves. 



I may here impress on my readers the danger there is 

 to the breaker of having anyone standing right behind him 

 when he is handling vicious horses ; for, in such a case, if 

 the animal makes an offensive movement, the breaker will 

 probably knock up against the other man, and will thus fail 

 to get out of harm's way. 



Gentling the horse. — The term " gentling the horse " 

 signifies the act of handling him in a soothing, though firm 

 manner, while he is under such restraint that he will be 

 unable to resist our friendly advances. For instance, after 

 having made the horse lie down (see page 161), and while 

 preventing him from getting up, we may gentle him by 

 running our hands over him, patting him, and massaging 

 his muscles, especially those which he keeps in a contracted 

 condition. While standing at his back (when he is on the 

 ground), so as to be out of danger, we may bend forward 

 and gentle his legs, and draw them towards us with our 

 hands or by a hobble and rope, with the object of forcing 

 him to readily bend the joints of his limbs. I may point 

 out that when a horse "fights" us, he will more or less 



