160 THE HORSE 



through the tugs and strapped them, and fastened 

 up the belly-band, put on two rems, one fastened 

 to each side of the bit, being careful to leave the 

 ends which pass to the hands separate. There are 

 several reasons for this. First of all, the longer 

 the reins, the greater the control of the man over 

 the horse ; secondly, if things do not go smoothly, 

 the horse can be pulled round by one rein and 

 stopped ; thhdly, the danger of the man getting 

 tripped up in the loop of the rein is done away 

 with. 



Some instinct of the horse leads it naturally to 

 pull against the indication of the rein. Thus, if 

 the left rein is pulled, the untrained horse always 

 endeavors to bear to the right, and vice versa. To 

 counteract this, a slight, sharp flick with a long 

 wliip must be given to the left side of the animal 

 when the right rein is pulled, and so on, the pull 

 and flick being simultaneous, and graduated to the 

 degree of turn required. It is wonderful how 

 quickly the colt learns to obey the indication of 

 the rein alone, its promptness being in exact ratio 

 to the precision with which the double indication 

 is given in the first instance. Once the horse has 

 learned the meaning of the various pulls on its 

 mouth — left rein, turn to the left; both reins, 



