CHAPTER III. 



SPECIAL FORMS OF RESTIVENESS. 



IN the preceding chapter the general method of treat- 

 ing restiveness has been sketched in outline ; what 

 is there put forward will be found applicable to nearly 

 all cases, and also suffice for the cure of most forms of 

 disobedience. There are, however, some others which, 

 in addition, require special methods of treatment, espe- 

 cially when they have become inveterate ; and these 

 are — bolting or running away, bucking or plunging, 

 rearing and kicking. 



Bolting. — The first step to be taken is to ascertain 

 why the horse bolts. A nervous and excitable temper- 

 ament is sometimes the cause, and the only remedy will 

 be quiet and judicious treatment. Much more fre- 

 quently, however, bolting is resorted to by horses that 

 have some physical defect or peculiarity of conforma- 

 tion, as a means of avoiding what gives them great 

 pain ; in fact, it is frequently rather an effort of despair 

 than anything else, and an evidence that something has 

 been demanded of the animal that was beyond its 

 strength. 



Fig. 7 shows the heads and necks of two runaway 

 horses ; in the one case the animal's nose is poked 

 straight out — in the other, the chin comes back so as 



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