THE DEFENSES OF THE HORSE 



its weight aloft on its hind legs. Since the best 

 remedy is to carry the horse forward, it is correct 

 in doing this to use legs, spurs, and whip. But these 

 are not a corrective after the horse has already 

 reared. 



A horse which takes frankly the contact of the 

 bit will, if the rider's hand is intelligent, very sel- 

 dom try to rear. But, naturally, this contact can- 

 not be obtained without the effects of the rider's 

 legs to give the impulse forward. If, then, the 

 rider's legs are able to send the horse forward, so 

 long as the horse is under the control of their ef- 

 fects it cannot stop and cannot attempt to rear. 



KICKING 



IN executing the kick, the horse stops its forward 

 motion, plants its fore legs firmly on the ground, 

 and using these as a point of support, sends both 

 its hind legs backward and up. This true kick 

 should not be confused with the kick with one hind 

 leg only, which is called in French made. In the 

 made, the horse is trying to reach some object with 

 the purpose of damaging it. A kick out with both 

 feet may, of course, injure anything that is near 

 enough to be touched; but it is seldom that a horse 

 of good temper will actually try to hit a man in this 

 way. This does not, however, hold for another horse ; 

 so that, if one animal approaches too near the hind 

 quarters of another, the second is likely to deliver 

 either a kick in the proper sense or a made. This is 



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