THE DEFENSES OF THE HORSE 



road. The sure result is a fall or other accident. 

 When I am correcting any defense of a horse, I like 

 to be as free as possible and alone with the animal. 



RESTIVENESS 



A RESTIVE horse refuses obedience, but under cer- 

 tain conditions and circumstances. The disorder is, 

 then, moral; but it is not permanent, nor does it oc- 

 cur always for the same reason. 



A restive horse will, for example, carry its rider 

 most obediently for a certain distance. And then, 

 suddenly, without provocation, will insist on going 

 down some other road. It will persist in turning to 

 one side, and no effect of rein or spurs will make it 

 turn to the other. Or, again, the horse will come to 

 a stop with its head in a corner of the manege, and 

 no power will make it budge. Yet at another time 

 the horse will pass the spot where it was restive be- 

 fore without a sign of rebellion. In a word, the 

 horse's restiveness is intermittent, so that very 

 many horsemen attribute the condition to a state 

 of the horse's own will. 



But while it is entirely reasonable to suppose that 

 restiveness in a horse is predominantly a matter of 

 will, this volitional state must itself have had a be- 

 ginning at some point where the possibility of dis- 

 obeying first took root and started to grow into a 

 habit. 



Consider the case of a young horse, without 

 training, which knows nothing of the meaning of 



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