T H E -:- H O R S E 



strain to do its utmost, a word in a firm reas- 

 suring tone will often elicit a response that in 

 no other way could be obtained. A word at 

 the wrong time will often have the opposite 

 effect and be disconcerting. 



A horse going to a high jump about to take 

 off, if spoken to at the wrong moment, is likely 

 to become confused, and make a worse per- 

 formance than if no word had been spoken. 



Many horses are made to obey words. If, 

 for example, "Get up" is said, accompanied 

 with a loose rein, the pressure of the heel, or 

 a rap of the whip, and this is done often 

 enough, the horse will learn to move forward 

 to avoid the rap which he expects to receive, 

 and in the same manner if "Whoa" is said 

 invariably before pulling on the reins, to stop, 

 the horse, at the time associating "Whoa" with 

 the pull of the reins, will stop before he feels 

 the pull which he expects, and thus seek to 

 avoid the pressure on his mouth. 



Falling Off. There are times when it is 

 wise to fall from the back of a horse, but 

 more frequently a fall is forced upon a rider 

 by the mistake of his horse. The use of short 

 stirrups is of great assistance in enabling a 

 rider to throw himself, without injury, from 

 a falling horse, because the rider, if adept, can 

 jump from such stirrups and fling himself out 

 of reach of the horse's falling body. Since the 

 knees have to be bent to jump, it can easily be 



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