General Rules, 229 



taking care always to stop each movement and limit its 

 extent with the cavesson ; real obedience is thereby 

 established, and the horse will soon follow you in a 

 wide circle, when, the assistant taking your place at its 

 head, you at length arrive at lounging, and proceed as 

 already described. 



A horse that backs — and some will actually trot back- 

 ward — must be somewhat differently handled, but still 

 on the same principle : there is even less difficulty than 

 in the cases just now alluded to, because the animal does 

 move somehow. The position assumed by a backing 

 horse is that described above ; the remedy is, therefore, 

 to alter the carriage of the head and neck, getting these 

 uf as high as possible without violence, and the weight 

 being more thrown inward, the back is flattened and 

 the hocks bent instead of being stiflened as before. This 

 soon brings the animal to stand still, which, however, 

 should not be permitted ; on the contrary, it must be 

 made to go backward in obedience to the cavesson one 

 or two steps, the head well up ; which done, reward it 

 by suffering it to go ahead ; and repeat this backing pro- 

 cess until it goes willingly forward, when it may be 

 handled as already directed. 



In applying this method when on the horse's back, 

 care must be taken to use each hand and heel (spur) in 

 unison, " stopping" with the latter the backward tread 

 of each hind leg alternately on the off and near sides, 

 and not suffering the horse to put one hind foot to the 

 ground too far away from the other, for one hock is then 

 sure to be stiff'. The pull on the rein must be, of course, 

 upward and backward at the side corresponding to the 

 hind leg you want to act on, and only upward at the 

 other side. If the rider hurries the horse back, fails to 

 sit perfectly upright in the saddle, and makes a muddle 

 of the action of his hands and heels, there will always 

 be danger of the horse rearing up and falling back : in 

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