FAIRE DES FORCES 



If the trouble comes from weakness of the loins, 

 the corrective is progressive exercise of the loin or 

 ilio-spinalis muscles by such movements as reversed 

 pirouettes, backing, and standing ; but these are not 

 always effective. 



A horse which " makes forces " is not agreeable 

 to ride until it is cured of the failing, because of the 

 uncertainty of control, since it may, at the slightest 

 occasion for bad will or fear of objects, resist and 

 refuse to obey the rider's effects. Very generally, 

 too, the fault is accompanied by some other dif- 

 ficulty with the mouth, and the horse lolls with its 

 tongue, puts its tongue over the bit, or pulls its 

 tongue back behind the bit and carries it rolled into 

 a ball. 



Various bits have been invented to remedy these 

 tricks. Fillis recommends a bit with a palette to 

 come in the middle of the free portion of the tongue. 

 In a class for ladies' saddle horses at the National 

 Horse Show in New York City, among twenty-five 

 horses, I found five with rings in their mouths, 

 fastened with strings to the bits. The tongue passed 

 through the ring, and of course had to stay there. 



I have, myself, had a number of horses which 

 "made forces"; and I have tried every sort of bit. 

 No bit has been a complete corrective. Yet I have 

 cured every case but one, a thoroughbred steeple- 

 chaser named "Minstrel," a very powerful animal, 

 whose bars were too sharp, and so near together 

 that there was insufficient room for the tongue. 



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