THE DEFENSES OF THE HORSE 



recommend the progression: flexions, followed by 

 mobilization of the front and hind hands in place. 

 If this work is done with perseverance and ability, 

 the esquire will demonstrate by his success the 

 truth and value of his art. 



This defect occurs very often in horses in the 

 United States. The inbreeding of the native stock 

 has tended to make the loins weak; and since a 

 horse, in order to carry its head high, has to shift 

 some of its weight from the fore to the hind legs, 

 weakness of the loins tends to prevent this and so 

 to make the head hang too low. Moreover, the 

 theory, widely held in America, that the natural 

 way for a horse to eat is off the stable floor as if he 

 were cropping grass, tends to stretch the muscles 

 which hold up the head, and so make the horse 

 heavy upon the hand. 



CARRYING THE HEAD TOO HIGH 



To porter la tete au vent is to pivot the skull at the 

 atlas region, and swing it upward into a horizontal 

 position. The head thus carried, neither the curb 

 bit nor the snaffle bears upon the bars, but merely 

 pulls upon the commissure of the two lips, pressing 

 these against the first molar teeth. 



The cause of the fault may be too severe a bit, 

 too short a curb chain, too heavy-handed a rider, or 

 too injudicious and severe punishment, which has 

 produced a moral revolution in the horse and made 

 it try to escape the man's control. In these cases, 



324 



