THE DEFENSES OF THE HORSE 



progressive gymnastic until the requisite strength 

 is attained. 



BEATING AGAINST THE HAND 



NOTHING is more uncomfortable on horseback than 

 a mount which, at the slightest effect of bit or snaf- 

 fle on its bars, refuses to obey, and to avoid the 

 contact shakes its head in every direction, or, as 

 the French call it, battre a la main. 



There are several reasons for this defect. Most 

 generally, it is due to some rider's too severe hand 

 on bars that are too sharp, to a bridle wrongly ad- 

 justed to the horse's mouth, to too tight a curb 

 chain, or to some previous saccades against sensi- 

 tive bars. All these result from ignorance on the 

 part of the rider or of the caretaker. They are cor- 

 rected by the rider's greater experience, better 

 instruction in horsemanship, a change in the bit, or, 

 mechanically, by a standing martingale. 



Very often, too, the beating against the hand is 

 the consequence of some defect of conformation, 

 some wound or lameness. The horse's head and 

 neck are like the balancing pole of the rope dancer; 

 and if there is something wrong with the conforma- 

 tion of the backbone or its spine, some trouble with 

 the kidneys, the coupling, or the pelvis, if the mus- 

 cles of the back have become sore under the saddle, 

 the horse may, in consequence, shake its head. But 

 the cause will be in some derangement of the animal 

 mechanism. 



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