RESISTANCES OF THE HORSE. . 67 



ground, holding his head high. When he is almost 

 upright on his hind legs, he stands for a longer or 

 shorter time, moving his fore feet as if beating the 

 air, and then either comes down to earth again or 

 falls backward, which is acknowledged to be the 

 most dangerous thing which can happen on horse- 

 back. If the rider feels that her horse is on the 

 point of going over with her, she must instantly slip 

 her foot out of the stirrup, loosen the hold of her leg 

 on the pommel, and lean as far to the right as she 

 can, turning her body to the left in order to fall on 

 the right of the horse, who almost always falls to the 

 left, and, as soon as she is on the ground, she must 

 scramble away from her horse as quickly as possible. 



The best way of preventing a horse from rearing 

 is not allowing him to stop ; and, if it should be too 

 late or. too difficult to manage this, all effects of the 

 hands should stop at once, and the rider should 

 attack his right flank with her whip vigorously. If 

 a horse rears habitually, he should be got rid of. 



In order to kick, on the contrary, the horse braces 

 himself with his fore legs, lifting his hind quarters by 

 a contraction of his hind legs ; and, when his croup 

 is in the air, he kicks as hard as he can with his hind 

 legs, and brings them suddenly to the ground again, 

 holding his head low and sticking out his neck mean- 

 while. 



An inexperienced rider may be frightened by the 

 shock of this movement, which is very disagreeable, 

 besides being dangerous to people behind ; but, with 



