RUNAWAY HOUSES. 211 



to horses which carry a superfluity of flesh ; and it is 

 a folly to suppose that this will deter the horse from 

 repeating the practice when he feels so inclined. 



A complete answer to this absurd theory is given in 

 the case of race-horses, who frequently gallop until par- 

 tially exhausted when nearing the winning post, and 

 are then flogged and spurred in a style and manner which 

 none but an experienced jockey can equal ; and still the 

 horses are as impatient to start for the second heat or 

 race as the first, even though it be only an hour after 

 they have been urged, by punishment, to finish the first 

 heat contrary to their will. 



The owners of these runaway horses are often at a 

 great expense in procuring severe bits, nose bands (to 

 compress the nostrils), &c., which are being continually 

 invented, advertised as new discoveries, and eventually 

 thrown aside as useless. Every week we notice reports 

 of accidents, (some ending fatally) that are as frequent 

 as ever, and although some of these bits may answer the 

 purpose for which they are invented, when properly 

 applied, they are useless in the hands of the timid in- 

 experienced horseman ; and perhaps the best advice to 

 these would be for them never to mount any horse 

 which they may have a doubt as to their being able to 

 manage. Eut, to those who disregard this advice, or 

 by accident find themselves on the back of a horse that 

 has commenced to run away, I may say the best plan 

 is to sit as still as possible. A horse is as easy to sit at 

 a fast smooth gallop as at a simple trot, and the rider 



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