204 BREAKING ON FOOT. 



By circling, turning, and reining back a horse with the 

 long reins, we can readily form a good idea of his manners, 

 mouth, and temper. 



When putting on the long-rein driving gear, we should 

 be careful to put on, first of all, the bridle and long reins ; 

 then the driving pad with one girth tightly buckled up ; 

 the standing martingale through which the second girth 

 passes ; the bearing-rein, if required ; and finally the 

 crupper. When removing these articles, the reversed 

 order of procedure should be observed. These precautions 

 are necessary in order that excitable or vicious horses 

 may not be prompted to kick or " play up," after the girths 

 of the driving-pad have been undone, but before the con- 

 nection of the pad with the martingale and crupper has been 

 severed. While on the subject of adjusting gear, I may 

 mention that if we want to put a bridle on a horse which 

 has a headstall on, and which we cannot depend upon 

 standing still with the headstall off; we can place the 

 bridle over the headstall, and then take off the headstall 

 without shifting the bridle in any way, by undoing the 

 buckle of the headstall and by taking off the browband 

 and the strap which goes through the buckle. If we then 

 draw the noseband forward (see Fig. 93), we can easily 

 detach the headstall by passing the noseband into the 

 mouth, over the snaffle, and finally out of the mouth. 

 On more than one occasion, I have had difficult horses 

 break away from me at that critical moment, between the 

 removal of the headstall and the putting on of the bridle, 

 which has to be passed through, unless the foregoing 

 precaution be adopted. 



