THE DEFENSES OF THE HORSE 



and the mouth and neck relaxed, the spine also 

 would be freed, and the buck-jump could not be 

 executed. 



Some horses, already trained, when they have 

 their girths too tight will buck- jump. But, in gen- 

 eral, the movement is consequent to some provoca- 

 tion, and employed by the horse as a defense. Not 

 infrequently, a horse, having once freed its back 

 from its rider's weight, will continue to practice 

 this defense until it develops the habit. 



Whether the buck- jump be sporadic or the re- 

 sult of a fixed habit, the reason is always the same 

 the horse refuses to go forward. It makes no 

 difference what the reason is, whether the girths 

 are too tight or whether the weight of the rider is 

 greater than that to which the horse is accustomed, 

 the result is the same. 



The remedy is to see that the girths are not too 

 tight, and to accustom the horse to the rider's 

 weight. But when the horse begins the defense, the 

 rider should at once lift its head as high as possible. 

 In this position the horse can raise its front legs, 

 but not its hind ones, which remain on the ground. 

 If, then, the rider is sufficiently sure of himself, he 

 should make the horse back. This will prevent 

 the rigidity of the coupling, and the hind legs will 

 act in alternation. The result will be the walk or 

 the trot, but not the buck-jump. 



The effect of too tight a girth is to inhibit the ac- 

 tion of the great pectoral muscles, so that these do 



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